Protests bring down Iceland’s government

by Chris Bambery

The government of Iceland became the first to be driven out of office in this recession by a wave of popular protest this week.

Weeks of demonstrations forced prime minister Geir Haarde and his cabinet to resign.

Some 10,000 people converged on parliament when it re-opened after the Christmas break.

Protesters pelted the prime minister’s car with eggs. They surrounded the vehicle and banged on it with cans.

Haarde was rescued by riot police, who used tear gas for the first time since 1949.

The demonstrations targeted Iceland’s parliament, government ministers and the country’s central bank.

Iceland has been hit badly by growing unemployment as well as sharp rises in food and petrol costs following last October’s bank collapse. Interest rates are now nearly 20 percent.

People know they will be expected to pay for the huge foreign debts amassed by the banks.

The resignation of Haarde, who belongs to the right wing Independence party means his coalition partners, the Social Democrats, will head the new government, probably in coalition with the Left-Green Movement.

The collapse of the Icelandic government follows the announcement that European Union (EU) leaders are to hold emergency talks in March about mounting social unrest caused by the economic crisis.

Just two weeks ago 10,000 protesters laid siege to the Latvian parliament over austerity measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and EU.

Protesters hurled eggs, paint and ice at the parliament, demanding the government resign.

Police attacked the crowd with tear gas and rubber-tipped bullets.

There have also been riots and protests in Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Greece as well as Latvia.

One Latvian diplomat posted the following comment on the EU observer website, “Latvians are normally very quiet. People are seeing what is happening in other countries… such as Greece, and they thought: ‘Why are we so calm?’”

The IMF-imposed austerity measures come at a time when personal debt is far higher in eastern Europe than it is in western Europe and governments preside over huge budget deficits.

The Financial Times talked of mounting unease among EU officials: “In Brussels there is growing concern that the public protests could spread across the entire region where many governments depend on narrow majorities or are based on shaky coalitions.”

Meanwhile French president Nicholas Sarkozy is facing a mass strike on Thursday of this week which will bring together public and private sector workers.

Rail workers, bank staff, air traffic controllers, lecturers, postal workers, supermarket employees and school students are just some of the groups set to take part in protests against Sarkozy’s free market reforms and mounting job losses.

Unemployment is particularly high among young people.

A recent opinion poll found that 70 percent of French people either support or sympathise with the strikes.

How to fight Redundancies, Socialist Style!

Redundancy is a shocking experience.
It disrupts your plans and hopes for your future.

Your company is also conveying a message: We do not care about you
– profit is all that counts. Of course, they don’t put it as bluntly as this.
Your CEO or manager will probably appear on the media and
talk about how sad they are but it had to be done for ‘competitiveness’.
But they mean: workers are worth nothing, profit is all that counts.

Global society is experiencing a 1930s style crash and we can no longer accept this.
This is the 21st century and all of us have a Right to Work.
It is time to assert that people and our lives are more important
than a company’s ‘bottom line’
If you are facing redundancy,
socialists advise you to take the following steps:

❶ Call a meeting of your workmates to discuss the situation.
Elect people to represent you, either by endorsing your existing
delegates or electing new representatives. Make sure that the
meeting is conducted properly by asking people to vote for what they
want.

❷ The first thing you need to decide is whether you want to
oppose the redundancies or accept voluntary redundancies.
Your union officials will almost invariably urge you to accept
voluntary redundancies. Socialists, however, urge you to
consider resistance: There is very little work out there and you need a
wage packet now.

❸ Do some research on your company. Find out the following items:

■ Are they making a profit? If they are suffering a temporary loss,
what sort of profits did they make in recent years? How much do they
pay their CEO?
■ How much did your company get in state grants? Have they been
paying proper taxes in this country?
■ Are they re-locating or closing down in order to benefit from
cheap labour? Or are they trying to intensify work for the remaining
staff.

❹ Organise an occupation of your workplace to resist
redundancy. It is the only message that profit
addicts understand. Remember: You
have two great levers that help you.
■ First, the company will want to get hold of the machines, office
space or factory space to sell off or use elsewhere. You should use
these as a bargaining lever to secure concessions.
■ Second, as governments have been bailing out banks, the obvious
question is: why can’t they bail out redundant workers?

❺ You should use the occupation as a base to
launch a major campaign to demand that the government protect
your right to work. Tell them to recover any grants
given to a company that has treated its workers like disposable products
and to use that money to fund alternative employment.
Demand that the government either get you all places on
community employment schemes on Pay Related Benefit or that they take
the company into public ownership to guarantee jobs.

❻ Resistance will bring you some results – acceptance
will give you nothing. Some might argue that this is very ‘radical’. But
we are living in changed times. When a US President like
Barack Obama promises that the US state will help fund the creation of
3 million jobs, you know ‘the times they are a changing’.
We need real, radical change here and that will come through
‘people power’ – not taskforces, committees and crocodile tears.

If you want any further advice on resisting redundancies or want
support for your actions, you can simply
text - REDUNDANCY to 021 186 1450
and we will ring you back.

Israel’s bloody war fails to achieve aims

by Simon Assaf

Israel claimed victory over Hamas and other Palestinian resistance organisations as it announced a unilateral ceasefire last Sunday after spending three weeks pounding Gaza.

Israeli leaders hoped they could destroy the resistance by demolishing Palestinian government buildings, schools, offices and homes. They launched wave after wave of attacks, which killed over 1,300 Palestinians.

But Israel failed in its objectives. Despite the devastation visited upon them, Hamas survived and was not driven from Gaza. Many Palestinians have rallied to its support.

A second central aim of the war was to stop the Palestinian rockets, but they were still flying as the ceasefire came into effect.

Huge protests around the world have also increased the pressure on Israel, and opposition to its oppression of the Palestinians has grown.

Israel’s military has not regained its aura of invincibility, which it lost after its defeat at the hands of the Lebanese Hizbollah group in 2006.

And the huge movement that has sprung up against the slaughter in Gaza has severely weakened the pro-US Arab regimes.

You can measure the fear felt by these regimes by the size of the new fortifications that have appeared around the Egyptian embassy in west Beirut, Lebanon’s capital city.

Rolls of razor wire surround the neighbourhood near the embassy. Behind them soldiers point machine guns at groups of demonstrators who often gather to demand Egypt open its border crossing with Gaza.

Public criticism of Egypt’s dictator Hosni Mubarak, a key US ally in the region, has become common, as have street clashes between demonstrators and security forces.

From Egypt to Jordan, Turkey to Saudi Arabia, diverse and spontaneous protests have rattled the regimes. When they appeared in Arab capitals, they were met by riot police, tear gas, rubber bullets and mass arrests.

Immense

In response ordinary people have taken to the streets of villages and towns – a wave of protest made up of thousands of local actions.

These protests have put immense pressure on opposition parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to call for major demonstrations.

I got a glimpse of these protests in Beirut on the day of Israel’s ceasefire. Health workers and emergency crews drove ambulances around the city with sirens blaring against the refusal of Israel to allow in humanitarian aid.

Organisations as diverse as the Sunni Islamists and the left held protests outside the Arab League building, the Egyptian consulate and the US embassy compound.

One indication of the depth of the mood was an unprecedented vigil last week held in the heart of Christian east Beirut, a place long under the control of right wing parties who are deeply hostile to the Palestinians.

These protests have galvanised opposition to imperialism into harsh criticism of the Arab regimes. In protesters’ sights are Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – all of which have close links to the US.

Mubarak has become the main focus of anger. To try to defuse this, he dispatched his son to the border with Gaza as a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians. But it did not work.

Other leaders who were seen as complicit with Israel’s actions could not escape the public humiliation. Protesters denounced Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, along with the Jordanian king.

Israel’s strategy of mass terror relied on the Arab regimes to deflect blame for Gaza’s suffering onto the “intransigence” of the Palestinian resistance.

But this plan backfired, with pro-US regimes finding themselves isolated across the region.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia boycotted a conference for Arab heads of states organised by Qatar to push for a ceasefire. During the conference, Qatar, which has some diplomatic ties with Israel, announced these links would be suspended.

In response to the Egyptian and Saudi boycott, Qatar invited Iran – considered a pariah state by the West – and Turkey, which has longstanding military links to Israel and is a key member of the Nato military alliance.

Implement

The Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan used the meeting to demand that the United Nations expel Israel from the world body for refusing to implement its ceasefire resolutions. Iran seized the opportunity to break its international isolation.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia found themselves out in the cold.

Despite their overwhelming military superiority, the Israelis found they had run out of time and friends.

Israel and its allies are now also paying a hefty political price for the war on Gaza.

The US had been pushing Arab regimes to ease any criticism of Israel and crush those who advocated support for the resistance.

Whatever its claims to victory, Israel’s war has rebounded badly on it and pro-Western regimes in the Middle East.

The mood of anger and frustration against imperialism has grown deeper and become more widespread.

Eyewitness report: Israel is guilty of war crimes

Human rights worker Caoimhe Butterly speaks out from Gaza

Israel has been using banned weapons such as white phosphorus and Dime bombs during its assault on Gaza, according to eyewitness evidence from Irish activist Caoimhe Butterly.

Caoimhe is a human rights worker based in Gaza since September. She was out of the country when the bombing started, but managed to slip back in around two weeks ago. She has since visited some of the places shelled by the Israelis.

“I was in the city of Beit Lahia and the Jabalia refugee camp not long after a UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] school was hit,” she told Socialist Worker on Tuesday of this week. “Two young brothers were killed and over 40 people were wounded.

“The boys were killed by tank shells fired into the school – but there was also white phosphorous dropped there. When we arrived there were still sponge-like particles on the ground. They remain ignited for hours after they’ve been dropped.

“I’ve visited lots of hospitals and talked to doctors. They point to the burns that are coming in and saying they’ve never dealt with such burns before.

Fragments

“Doctors also point to the use of Dime bombs. These contain a type of explosive that fragments into tiny metal filaments. These get carried around in the bloodstream and shred your internal organs.

“The doctors pointed to patients who had been admitted in a stable condition – but later died of these Dime wounds.

“There has to be recognition that the Israeli army perpetrated war crimes against a captive civilian population.”

Caoimhe explained how Israeli ground troops used bulldozers to clear areas of Gaza that had already been devastated by three weeks of bombing.

“Yesterday I went to a farming village in the north of Gaza,” she said. “There’s not a single building left standing – they bombed every single house.

“People are completely alone. You just see people in shock sitting in the ruins of their homes. Others are still digging in the rubble, often with their bare hands, looking for the bodies of loved ones. The Palestinians have very little access to earth-moving machinery or bulldozers. Help from relief agencies is also very scarce.”

As Socialist Worker spoke to Caoimhe over the phone we heard explosions in the background. “That’s more shelling starting, by the way,” she casually commented.

“There are regular ceasefire violations by the Israeli army. I was working up north on the first day of the ceasefire when they started shelling. Four people were killed – a mother and child and two farmers.”

Caoimhe initially tried to return to Gaza on the boat Dignity, which set sail from Cyprus to try and bring in medical supplies for the Palestinians. But the Israeli navy rammed the boat and it had to divert to Lebanon.

She eventually managed to return via the

Rafah crossing to Egypt – despite the border being kept shut on the orders of Egypt’s dictator Hosni Mubarak.

“Israel’s siege has had a devastating effect on Gaza’s humanitarian structure,” said Caoimhe. “But this would have been so much less if the Rafah crossing had been open. People understand that the Egyptian government has been complicit in perpetuation of the siege.”

Defend Thai Socialist Giles Ji Ungpakorn

An edited version of the letter below was published today in the London Guardian. Please make use of the letter and organize protests/pressure on your local Thai embassy. The threat to Giles is very real, and Amnesty International has been shamefully slow in taking his case up.

We wish to express our deep concern at the decision of the Thai Police Special Branch to prosecute Associate Professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn,of the Political Science Faculty at Chulalongkorn University, with lèse majesté – that is, with insulting King Bhumibol. Mr Ungpakorn is a well-known commentator on Thai politics, widely quoted in the international media. The charge arises from his book A Coup for the Rich, published in 2007. In that book he criticized the coup of 19 September 2006, in which the military seized political power in Thailand. Mr Ungpakorn argued that the army, along with the rest of the Thai establishment, used the monarchy to legitimize its political interventions. This is the kind of analysis that political scientists make as a matter of course, but various bookshops withdrew A Coup for the Rich from circulation, forcing Mr Ungpakorn to make it available on the Internet.

Now his academic freedom and basic citizenship rights have come under much more serious attack with this prosecution. Lèse majesté has fallen into disuse in most of the world as a relic of the pre-democratic past. Thailand is an exception. The Economist commented on 14 August 2008: 'The king said in 2005 that he could be criticised and was not afraid of this. But those posing as his majesty's protectors conveniently forget his words. So, despite their democratic institutions, Thais are not free to debate matters regarding their head of state, including appropriate limits on criticizing him.'

Lèse majesté carries a maximum sentence of 15 years, and MPs from the government party headed by Abhisit Vejjajiva, which came to office thanks to the connivance of the army, want to increase this to 25 years. The prosecution of Mr Ungpakorn therefore represents the most fundamental attack on freedom of speech. We demand that the charges against him are unconditionally withdrawn.

Yours etc.,

Professor Gilbert Achcar, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Professor Luc Boltanski, École des hautes études en sciences sociales

Professor Dennis Brutus, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Professor Alex Callinicos, King’s College London

George Galloway MP

Susan George

Professor Barbara Harriss-White, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford

Professor Domenico Losurdo, University of Urbino

Professor David McNally, York University, Toronto

China Miéville, Writer

Professor Beverley Skeggs, Goldsmiths, University of London

and

Dr. Geoff Abbott, Newcastle University

Dr Talat Ahmed, Goldsmiths, University of London

Dr Kieran Allen, University Collhe Dublin

Heidi Armbuster, University of Southampton

Dr Sam Ashman, University of East London

Professor Tayfun Attay, Ankara University

Dr Miryam Aouragh, University of Oxford/University of Amsterdam

Hans Baer, University of Melbourne
Professor Abigail Bakan, Queen’s University, Canada

Chris Bambery, Editor, Socialist Worker

Colin Barker, Manchester Metropolitan University (Emeritus)

Dr John Baxter, Open University

Dr Tom Behan, University of Kent

Dr Sue Blackwell, University of Birmingham

Professor Patrick Bond, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Helen Bowman, Manchester Metropolitan University

Pat Brady, Council for Academic Freedom and Academic Standards

Dr David Camfield, University of Manitoba

Mark Campbell, London Metropolitan University, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Dr Steve Cannon, University of Sunderland

Joe Carolan, Editor, Socialist Aotearoa, New Zealand

Agger Carsten, Denmark

Jim Casey, Vice President, Fire Brigade Employees Union, New South Wales

Dr. John Charlton

Professor Simon Clarke, University of Warwick

Paul Coates, President, University of Melbourne Graduate Student Association

Dr Alejandro Colas, Birkbeck College University of London

Petros Constantinou,,Campaign GENOA 2001 Greece

Adrian Cousins, UNITE rep, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

James Cussens, University of York

Bernice Daly, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Neil Davidson, University of Strathclyde

Dr Jonathan Davies, University of Warwick

Dr Andy Durgan, Barcelona University

James Eaden, Chesterfield College, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Manfred Ecker, Vienna

Professor James Fairhead, University of Sussex
Dr Sue Ferguson, Wilfrid Laurier University

John Fernandes, Co-Chair, Council for Academic Freedom and Academic Standards

Panos Garganas, National Technical University of Athens

Lindsey German, Convenor, Stop the War Coalition (pc)

Professor Mike Gonzalez, University of Glasgow (Emeritus)

Dr Peter Goodwin, University of Westminster

Sarah Gregson, Vice President Academic, National Tertiary Education Union, University of New South Wales

Dr Phil Griffiths, University of Southern Queensland

Sylvia Hale, Member of Parliament, New South Wales

Professor Nigel Harris, University College London (Emeritus)

Marion Hersh, University of Glasgow

Tom Hickey, University of Brighton, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Brian Ingham, Richmond-upon-Thames College, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Feyzi Ismail, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Nick James, University of Leicester, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Professor Seongjin Jeong, Gyeongsang National University, South Korea

John Kaye, Member of Parliament, New South Wales

Paul Kellogg, Trent University, Peterborough, Canada

Dr Anna Laerke, Open University

Jens Laerke, Journalist

Dr. Mogens Laerke, University of Chicago

Maeve Landman, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Councillor Michael Lavalette, Liverpool Hope University

Melanie Lazarow, Secretary, National Tertiary Education Union, University of Melbourne

Dr Elizabeth Lawrence, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Professor Michael Lebowitz, San Francisco University

Craig Lewis, Coleg Harlech, National Executive Committee, University and College Union (pc)

Dr Nancy Lindisfarne, School of Oriental and African Studies, London (Emeritus)

Dr Steve Ludlam, University of Sheffield

Alan Maass, SocialistWorker.org, USA

Judith McVey, Coursework Education Officer, University of Melbourne Graduate
Student Association

Georges Menahem, University of Paris-13/Dalhousie University, Canada

Laura Miles, Bradford College

Dr Sally Mitchison, Consultant Psychiatrist

Professor Colin Mooers, Ryerson University

Dr Carlo Morelli, University of Dundee

Dr Tim Morris

Pablo Mukherjee, University of Warwick

Antony Nanson, Bath Spa University

Dr Jonathan Neale, Bath Spa University

Jakob Nerup, National Board, Red-Green Alliance, Canada

Professor Alan Norrie, King’s College London

Allison O'Toole, Joint Queer Officer, University of Melbourne Graduate
Student Association

Dr George Paizis, University College London

Jamie Parker, Mayor of Leichhardt, New South Wales

Dr John Parrington, Worcester College Oxford

Dr Diana Paton, University of Newcastle

David Pejoski, Joint Queer Officer, University of Melbourne Graduate Student
Association

Professor Malcolm Povey, University of Leeds, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Dr Nat Queen, University of Birmingham

Maloti Ray, Research officer, University of Melbourne Graduate Student
Association

Lee Rhiannon, Member of Parliament, New South Wales

Dr. Elaheh Rostami-Povey, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Professor Werner Ruff, University of Kassel (Emeritus)

Professor Alfredo Saad Filho, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Dr Alison Sealey, University of Birmingham

Dr Alan Sears, Ryerson University, Toronto

Dr Claude Serfati, Université de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

Anwar Shah, International Student Officer, University of Melbourne Graduate
Student Association

Yiannis Sifakakis, Stop the War Coalition Greece

Sasha Simic, USDAW Shop Steward, Central Books (pc)

Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM)

Professor Colin Sparks, University of Westminster

Dr Simon Speck, Derby University

Maria Styllou, editor, Socialism from Below (Greece)

Dr. Viren Swami, University of Westminster

J.G. Taylor, Leeds Metropolitan University

Jennifer Toomey, University of Newcastle

Dr Alberto Toscano, Goldsmiths, University of London

Charles-André Udry, Editions Page deux, Switzerland

University and College Union, Branch Committee, University of Dundee

Turkan Uzun, Antikapitalist, Turkey

Professor Kees van der Pijl, University of Sussex

Vegard Velle, member of national executive committee, Red Party, Norway

Sean Vernell, City & Islington College, National Executive Committee, University and College Union

Christine Vié, Manchester Metropolitan University

Dr. Max Wallis, Cardiff University

Dr Vron Ware, Open University

Tony Williams, Activities Officer, University of Melbourne Graduate Student
Association

Dr Jim Wolfreys, King’s College London

A Letter from Ireland

Ireland is a country much praised by neoliberal economists, paternership trade unionists and mainstream politicians in New Zealand as an example to follow. But the Global economic crisis is ripping the country apart, and points to how deep cuts and mass unemployment can radicalise workers, students and pensioners in a nation the same size as NZ. Irish socialist James O Toole writes for Socialist Aotearoa-

In the last week the Irish government has announced that it is about to undertake another round of cuts,this time amounting to close to 2billion euro .These new cuts come of top of last year's huge attacks on working people, students, pensioners and the unemployed in the Fianna Fail/Green Party coalition's budget.

Creches are closing down. Hospitals are like warzones. Cervical cancer vaccines for young girls have been canceled. Education provisions for the deprived Traveller community are to be cut. Fees are to be introduced in the colleges. Up to 2000 teachers are to lose their jobs. Now they want to cut 200 bus drivers and half our bus services (and all this with the so called 'Green Party' in coalition with the right). IBEC (the bosses union) is calling for far more vicious cuts on the public sector and are joined in this neo liberal chorus by most of the mainstream parties who accept, to a greater or lesser extent, the'logic' of the market.

This same week the government has also announced that it has nationalised the Anglo Irish Bank, a move which burdens the irish tax payer with a debt of up to 33 billion euro, and now there's talk of the nationalisation of two more of our biggest banks, Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland. The government has already used half the 18 billion that was saved in the National Pensions Fund to re-capitalise the banks to maintain 'liquidity'. These massive debts, of the various banks, arose as a direct result of the insane logic of capitalism itself. The banks formed a tight triangle with the builders and the Fianna Fail party to stoke up a property boom. They borrowed vast sums on the international wholesale markets and then lent these out to fuel the property market. As long as the housing bubble lasted the banks and the builders made vast fortunes and re-cycled a small proportion back into the coffers of Fianna Fail. But when the bubble crashed, they ran to the government looking for a bailout. Of every 100 euro saved or invested in Allied Irish Bank, for example, 70 euro was re-invested in property.

Every day on the news there are more and more job losses, Ireland has gone from being the 'Celtic Tiger', an economy praised by neo-liberals everywhere,to being now described as the '4th Baltic state' (there have been riots in Latvia and Lithuania as a result of the crisis there). The Irish economy which saw huge growth year after year for a decade is now expected to shrink by over 4% this year. Dell computer's huge plant is Limerick has closed, Waterford Glass went into receivership and the Grocery chain Superquinn is to lay off hundreds.These are just a few examples.

The response of the Irish ruling class to the job losses? 'Cut more' they say! Workers responses have been quiet on the industrial front (although there was a plant occupation by Calcast worker in Derry) but the severity of this weeks cuts will face the unions here with no choice but to fight. On the streets though since the last budget in Autumn 2008 the fight back has been amazing! In the budget the government attempted to cut off Medical Cards for the over 70s, which would condemn any elderly people, reliant on welfare to pay for their medical needs, to sickness and death but 15,000 pensioners marched on the Dail (irish parliament) in what was one of the most angry and radical protests we've seen. A line of cops had to separate the pensioners from 15,000 students who were marching over the issue of fees on the same day and who's arrival outside parliament was greeted with cheers from the old folks! When speakers from any of the mainstream parties attempted to take to the stage to calm down and patronise these grey haired protesters they were greeted with boos and jeers and had to leave. One of the Fianna Fail ministers was quoted in a mainstream paper as saying 'This is what a revolution looks like'.

A few weeks later the teachers organised a national demonstration against the obscene cuts in schools-70,000 teachers, parents and children marched. We haven't seen a demo that big since the 120,000 on Feb15th 2003 against the attacks on Iraq (you also have to remember that Ireland has a population of just over4 million to understand the gigantic scale of these demos).

There is an air of radicalisation going on. The working class may be stunned and slow to react on the economic front, through the unions etc but the growing anger against this crisis, the cuts are pouring out in tens of thousands onto the streets! 6,000 farmers marched in rural Donegal against cuts. 10,000 people marched in Galway city alone and then just in the last week or two we've seen thousands back on the streets demanding an end to the horrors inflicted uponthe people of Gaza. It's becoming normal to hear of protests of a few thousand in small towns that have never had a demo before.

On February the 4th all the Student Unions of Ireland have called for a massive demonstration against the cuts the title of which is 'Join the Revolution- lets build Ireland's biggest protest ever'. Join the Revolution...every day that phrase is making more and more sense to more and more people here.

Auckland vigil remembers the dead, celebrate's Bush's fall

Rose's poem was powerful
[In square brackets, italics: small amendments/updates by Rose Hollins, night of Tues Jan 20, 2009, as read to activists marking the end of George Bush's Reign of Terror, at US Consulate, Auckland.]

BEFORE I START THIS POEM

Emmanuel Ortiz, 2002

http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/music/Moment-of-Silence.mp3

Before I start this poem, I'd like to ask you to join me

In a moment of silence

In honour of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

on September 11th, 2001.

I would also like to ask you

To offer up a moment

of silence

For all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned,

disappeared,

tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes,

For the victims in both Afghanistan and the US

And if I could just add one more thing...

A full day of silence

For the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of

US-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation.

[A silence for evermore for Gaza.

WE ARE ALL GAZA.]

Six months of

silence for the million and-a-half Iraqi people, mostly children, who

have died of malnourishment or starvation as a result of an 11-year US

embargo against their country.

[And now for the millions, murdered since US invasion].

Before I begin this poem,

Two months of silence for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa,

Where homeland security made them aliens in their own country.

Nine months of silence for the dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

Where death rained down and peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and

skin

And the survivors went on as if alive.

A year of silence for the

millions of dead in Vietnam - a people, not a war - for those who know a

thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives' bones

buried in it, their babies born of it.

A year of silence for the dead in

Cambodia and Laos, victims of a secret war .... ssssshhhhh....

Say nothing ... we don't want them to learn that they are dead.

Two months

of silence for the decades of dead in Colombia,

Whose names, like the

corpses they once represented, have piled up and slipped off our tongues.

Before I begin this poem.

An hour of silence for El Salvador ...

An afternoon of silence for Nicaragua ...

Two days of silence for the Guatemaltecos ...

None of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years.

45 seconds

of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas

25 years of

silence for the hundred million Africans who found their graves far

deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky.

There

will be no DNA testing or dental records to identify their remains.

And for those who were strung and swung from the heights of sycamore trees

in the south, the north, the east, and the west...

100 years of silence...

For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from this half of

right here,

Whose land and lives were stolen,

In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Sand Creek,

Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of Tears, [Parihaka].

Names now reduced to innocuous

magnetic poetry on the refrigerator of our consciousness ...

So you want a moment of silence?

And we are all left speechless

Our tongues snatched from our mouths

Our eyes stapled shut

A moment of silence

And the poets have all been laid to rest

The drums disintegrating into dust.

Before I begin this poem,

You want a moment of silence

You mourn now as if the world will never be the same

And the rest of us hope to hell it won't be.

Not like it always has been.

Because this is not a 9/11 poem.

This is a 9/10 poem,

It is a 9/9 poem,

A 9/8 poem,

A 9/7 poem

This is a 1492 poem.

This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written. And if

this is a 9/11 poem, then:

This is a September 11th poem for Chile,

1971.

This is a September 12th poem for Steve Biko in South Africa,

1977.

This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at Attica Prison,

New York, 1971.

This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992.

This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground in ashes

This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told

The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks

The 110 stories that CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored.

This is a poem for

interrupting this program.

And still you want a moment of silence for your dead?

We could give you lifetimes of empty:

The unmarked graves

The lost languages

The uprooted trees and histories

The dead stares on the faces of nameless children

Before I start this poem we could be silent forever

Or just long enough to hunger,

For the dust to bury us

And you would still ask us

For more of our silence.

If you want a moment of silence

Then stop the oil pumps

Turn off the engines and the televisions

Sink the cruise ships

Crash the stock markets [!]

Unplug the marquee lights,

Delete the instant messages,

Derail the trains, the light rail transit.

If you want a moment of silence,

put a brick through the window of Taco Bell, [Starbucks, Rakon],

And pay the workers for wages lost.

Tear down the liquor stores,

The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses, the Penthouses and the

Playboys.

If you want a moment of silence,

Then take it

On Super Bowl Sunday,

The Fourth of July

During Dayton's 13 hour sale

Or the next time your white guilt fills the room where my beautiful

people have gathered.

You want a moment of silence

Then take it NOW,

Before this poem begins.

Here, in the echo of my voice,

In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand,

In the space between bodies in embrace,

Here is your silence.

Take it.

But take it all... Don't [jump the queue].

Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime.

But we,

Tonight we will keep right on singing...

For our dead.

EMMANUEL ORTIZ, 11 Sep 2002

- works with the Minnesota Alliance for the Indigenous Zapatistas (MAIZ) and Estación Libre ... a staff member of the Resource Centre of the Americas, the non-profit publisher of americas.org

Marx, Merrydyth and Jim rocked the gaff with songs of struggle and celebration

American socialist Robin spoke of the deep hatred for Bush and his policies from ordinary working class Americans, and pledged the fight would continue against war and imperialism in the Obama era.
Liz Williams from Justice for Palestine read a heartbreaking poem written by a young boy in Gaza.

Look into my eyes and tell me what you see?

You're blinded by our differences.My life makes no sense to you.

I'm the persecuted Palestinian.I'm the son of Palestine.

Each day you wake in tranquillity,No fears to cross your eyes.

Each day I wake in gratitude,Thanking God He let me rise.

You worry about your education

And the bills you have to pay.

I worry about my vulnerable life

And if I'll survive another day.

You blame me for defending myself

Against the ways of Zionists.

I'm terrorized in my own land

And I'm the terrorist?

You think you know all about terrorism

But you don't know it the way I do,

So let me define the term for you,

And teach you what you thought you knew.

I've known terrorism for quite some time,

Fifty-five years and more.

It's the fruitless garden uprooted in my yard.

It's the bulldozer in front of my door.

Terrorism breathes the air I breathe.

It's the checkpoint on my way to school.

It's the curfew that jails me in my own home,

And the penalties of breaking that curfew rule.

Terrorism is the robbery of my land,

And the torture of my mother,

The imprisonment of my innocent father,

The bullet in my baby brother.

But I will not rest, I shall never settle

For the injustice my people endure.

Palestine is our land and there we'll remain

Until the day our homeland is secure.

And if that time shall never come,

Then we will never see a day of peace.

I will not be thrown from my own home,

Nor will my fight for justice cease.

And if I am killed, it will be in Filasteen in Palestine

It's written on my every breath.

So in your own patriotic words,

Give me liberty or give me death

THE END OF BUSH

Socialists in Auckland are organising a candlelit vigil to remember the dead of the wars in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq, in the final hours of the Presidency of George W. Bush. Organiser and Socialist Aotearoa blog editor, Joe Carolan, said-

"People will be gathering outside the US Consulate this Tuesday night at 8pm to mark the end of George Bush's Reign of Terror, a Presidency that leaves America nearly bankrupt, hated for its wars across the world, with the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Afghans and Palestinians on its hands."

"His neoliberal economic policies leave capitalism on the edge of collapse, as the worst economic crisis to face the globe since the Great Depression sees millions of people lose their jobs. His foreign policies and wars leave America regarded as an Evil Empire, an imperialist bully that rules through military might"

"We have little faith in Obama- he has pledged to stand by a blood soaked Israel and his war will be Afghanistan. He will continue to throw good money after bad at a financial crisis that cannot be solved unless the economic system is transformed fundamentally. That is why may people are going further tot he Left and socialist ideas are on the rise again."

"But his election does show there is a huge mood for change in America- against the racism, war and greed that typified the Bush era"

"So we will be joined by ordinary Americans, who will stand in solidarity with speakers from Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, in celebrating the end of this Presidency, surely the worst in American history so far."

The candlelit vigil will also have poems,songs and music to remember the dead of the wars Bush launched.

J20- Candlelight Vigil Outside US Consulate, Auckland
to remember the victims of the Bush Regime and its wars

8pm till 10pm- Tuesday 20 January 2009
US Consulate, Customs Street, Downtown Auckland

Contact InfoPhone: 0211861450
Email: solidarityjoe@yahoo.com
Description
On the last day of Bush's reign of Terror, we gather outside the US Consulate in Auckland to remember the victims of his wars and occupations, and stand in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.

Poetry, song and art of resistance.
Bring candles, shoes, flags and friends. Please invite all your friends and spread the word.

Rakon bombed

Pictures- thanks to Aisha and John Darroch, Aotearoa Indymedia.org.nz Collective













One hundred and fifty people marched into the industrial estates of South Auckland today to confront Rakon, a New Zealand company that manufactures the crystal oscillators used in Israeli bombs. A highly charged and passionate mobilisation faced down private security guards and a police force that acted like an army, succeeding in launching paint bombs that splattered in blood red explosions on Rakon's corporate cream front.

The warning to Rakon is clear. Divest from your military contracts, or you will face repeated actions until you stop. The example of the Raytheon direct actions in the Irish city of Derry point the way to militant, direct action resistance of the war machine that hides in our industrial estates.

And for our comrade Tyler, a Catholic Worker activist who was arrested for painting KILLS after RAKON's corporate Logo, we dedicate this quote to you-

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."-
Mario Savio, 1962

Good Riddance Bush- J20- Candlelight Vigil Outside US Consulate, Auckland

to remember the victims of the Bush Regime and its wars

8pm Tuesday Jan 20th

US Consulate, Customs Street, Auckland

Host:	Socialist Aotearoa
Type:	Causes - Protest

Time and Place

Date:	20 January 2009
Time:	20:00 - 22:00
Location:	US Consulate, Customs Steet, Downtown Auckland
Street:	Customs Street
Town/City:	Auckland, New Zealand
	View Map Google MapQuest Microsoft Yahoo

Contact Info

Phone:	0211861450
Email:	solidarityjoe@yahoo.com

On the last day of Bush's reign of Terror, we gather outside the US Consulate in Auckland to remember the victims of his wars and occupations, and stand in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.

Bring candles, shoes, flags and friends. Please invite all your facebook friends and spread the word.

Shut Down Rakon: Merchants of Murder

Bombs destroying Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan Made from NZ Components

THIS SATURDAY 3pm

Date:	17 January 2009
Time:	15:00 - 16:30
Location:	Assemble Outside Sylvia Park Shopping Centre
Street:	Mt Wellington Highway

Contact Info

Phone:	098463173
Email:	jbminto@xtra.co.nz

Description

Rakon Industries in Mt Wellington will be targeted in a protest this Saturday against the massacre of Palestinian civilians.

Rakon provides crystal oscillators for targeted bombs used by the Israeli air force in their attacks on Gaza. The Rakon parts are supplied to the US which provides the bombs directly to the Israeli military.

The protest will meet at 3pm on Mt Wellington Highway outside the Sylvia Park carpark for a march to the company.

In 2006 Rakon proudly asserted its intention to dominate the “lucrative and expanded guided munitions and military positioning market” within the next 5 years. They listed their military products as including “Mainstream TXCO’s (crystal oscillators) for inclusion in smart bombs…G-hardened crystals for use in smart shells…”

When Rakon’s role was exposed two years ago the company fudged saying it has not designed products specifically for military applications and doesn’t necessarily know how they are used. Given what the company has already acknowledged this is not credible. The company has previously hosted the US Ambassador and high ranking officials of the US Air Force with 2006 media reports showing 21% of their sales were to the military and aerospace customers.

GPJA protested against Rakon in 2006 when guided bombs were used to destroy the Lebanese village of Qana, killing 60 civilians, and a United Nations outpost, killing 4 UN Peacekeepers.

Rakon have been supplying these sophisticated crystal oscillators for these weapons of mass murder for 12 years and are now contributing directly to the carnage being inflicted against Palestinians trapped in Gaza.

It is unconscionable that a New Zealand company would collude in the production of weapons being used to heap devastation and suffering on the people of the Middle East.

The Gazan War comes to Invercargill

Two women were kicked out of an Invercargill cafe yesterday because they come from Israel. Sisters Natalie Bennie and Tamara Shefa were upset after being booted out of the Mevlana Cafe in Esk St by owner Mustafa Tekinkaya.

They chose to eat at Mevlana Cafe because it had a play area for Mrs Bennie's two children, but they were told to leave before they had ordered any food, Mrs Bennie said. "He heard us speaking Hebrew and he asked us where we were from. I said Israel and he said `get out, I am not serving you."

Mr Tekinkaya, who is Muslim and from Turkey, said he was making his own protest against Israel because it was killing innocent babies and women in the Gaza Strip."I have decided as a protest not to serve Israelis until the war stops."

hat tip: Tumeke.blogspot.com

Fighting the 90 Day Fire at Will Law

The next planning meeting for the 90 Day Fire at Will law action is:

6pm, Thursday 15 January

Unite Union

6A Western Springs Road, Morningside

Come along, bring your friends, and your ideas. At the last meeting, we agreed to call a huge demo for Sat 28 Feb, just before the law is due to come into force, and to leaflet all of the markets around Auckland, with the giant inflatable rat to help to publicise the action and to let workers know that we'll stand with them against any rat bosses who try to implement the law.

As people begin to return to work, and the economic crisis begins to bite, it's really important that we don't let the government off the hook on this fundamental attack on workers' rights.

Hope to see you on Thursday.

Thai Socialist faces prison for standing up against the Coups of the Rich

Associate Professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn will fight charges of les majesty over his academic book "A Coup for the Rich"

I have been summonsed to Pathumwan police station for questioning and the new date and time is at 10.00 am on Tuesday 20th January 2009. The summons was issued as a result of a charge filed by Special Branch Police Lt Col. Pansak Sasana-anund. I have been accused of les majesty. The charge arises from my book "A Coup for the Rich", published in 2007, just after the 19^th September 2006 military coup.

I have now sold all 1000 copies of "A Coup for the Rich", but it is available to download from my blog http://wdpress.blog.co.uk/ and from the International Socialist Tendency website in the U.K. Just after publication, the book was withdrawn from sale by Chulalongkorn University bookshop and later by Thammasart University bookshop. This is a gross attack on academic freedom. I encourage people to read my book and judge for themselves whether I should face criminal charges over this book. Relevant passages can be found in Chapter 1, pages 15, 23-27 and Chapter 2. (files attached)

My most recent academic paper on the Monarchy appears on my blog. It argues that the Monarchy is not all powerful and that political and military factions claim Royal legitimacy in order to boost their own power and interests. Their recent actions may be bringing the institution of the Monarchy into crisis because they created an image of the Monarchy being directly involved in politics. I presented a Thai version of this paper at the National Thai Political Science Conference at Chulalongkorn University in December 2008.

The Monarchy has been quoted and used by various political factions in Thailand to legitimise their actions. The most notable cases are the 19^th September 2006 military coup and the illegal protests by the yellow-shirted P.A.D., which included violent protests and the shutting down the international airports. Les Majesty charges in Thailand are notorious for being used by different political factions to attack their opponents. Many believe that this law is actually counter-productive to defending the Monarchy. This is why it is very important that political scientists attempt to analyse the real role and nature of the Thai Monarchy in an atmosphere of freedom and democracy.

I am prepared to fight any les majesty charges in order to defend academic freedom, the freedom of expression and democracy in Thailand.

Since this accusation was filed by a Special Branch officer, the present Democrat Party Government should be questioned about its role in this and many other cases. The new Prime Minister has stated that he wants to see a firm crackdown on les majesty and many recent cases have been filed by the police.

What you can do

1. Write a letter of protest/concern to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Government House, Bangkok, Thailand. Fax number +66(0)29727751

2. Write a letter of protest/concern to the Ambassador, The Royal Thai Embassy, in your country.

3. Demand that Amnesty International take up all Les Majesty cases in Thailand.

4. Demand the abolition of the les majesty law.

--
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
Faculty of Political Science
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok 10330, Thailand
+66-(0)813469481
UK mobile:+44-(0)7817034432
http://www.pcpthai.org/
http://wdpress.blog.co.uk/
see YOUTUBE videos by Giles53

WHY RAKON MUST BE BLOCKADED

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."

Since 2005 Rakon has been the subject a number of allegations relating to the use of their products in military applications. Rakon has never denied that they supply products into military applications and have at various times stated this accounts for 1% of their output, or 10% of their revenue.

In August 2005 the New Zealand Herald quoted Rakon Marketing Director, Darren Robinson, as saying that the company's technology went into "smart bombs and missiles" used by the US military. Rakon denied the claims, stating the company was not privy to the "end-use systems, equipment or applications used by its customers.

In May 2006 the New Zealand Herald ran a large expose around Rakon products being supplied to Rockwell for incorporation in United States Military 'smart bombs'. The claims were based around the facts that Rakon had known of the end use of their products since 1994 and may in fact be in breach of New Zealand export restrictions.

In July 2006 Rakon was the target of protests by Global Peace and Justice Auckland(GPJA). During the Israeli attacks on Lebanon in July 2006, GPJA issued a media release appealing"to the Prime Minister to close the loophole which allows New Zealand's Rakon Industries to export parts for Israeli bombs being dropped on Lebanon and Palestine.".

RAKON HAS THE BLOOD OF THE PEOPLE OF GAZA ON IT'S HANDS

Auckland company Rakon is the sole supplier of an important component in smart bombs made for the United States military. Thousands of these bombs have been dropped on civilian populations in Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2002-), Iraq (2003-) by the US Air Force, and by the Israeli Air Force in Lebanon and Gaza in August 2006. They are now being dropped again on the people of Gaza.

Many of these weapons are used on densely populated built up areas where each bomb has the potential to kill dozens of people. While Rakon continues to supply compo­nents for these bombs, they play a small but vital role in the deaths of men women and children every single day.

Omar Hamed, Students for Justice in Palestine-

"The world has watched over and over again as Joint Defence Attack Munitions (JDAM) for which Rakon makes components are used to kill civilians in recipient nations of the Bush administration war of terror.

Rakon's director Brent Robinson has himself said "Rakon's vision is to dominate the lucrative and expanding guided munitions and military positioning market.""

"This is a totally abhorrent goal. Furthermore the fact that the New Zealand superannuation fund owns 3.4 million shares in Rakon and that Rakon has received hundred of thousands of dollars worth of government grants means that the New Zealand taxpayer is now directly complicit in the murder of thousands of innocent people across the world."

What exactly does Rakon do for the bomb making industry?

The JDAM (Joint Defence Attack Munition) is a guided weapon kit that is used to turn unguided bombs into 'smart" GPS guided bombs. Tens of thousands of JDAM bombs have been used against civilian populations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Lebanon and Palestine by the US and Israeli air forces. The GPS guidance system in every single JDAM bomb con­tains vital electronic components made in Auckland by Rakon Ltd.

video of Auckland GAZA protest

in our thousands and our millions- WE ARE ALL PALESTINIANS!

TV3 news video of Auckland protest HERE
TVNZ article and Video coverage HERE
Fighting outside Israeli Embassy in London HERE
5000 march through Belfast City, Ireland HERE
Direct action- Raytheon missile factory blockaded in DERRY
NEW! Independent Video of the Demo from MEDIA REVOLUTION NEWS

pictures- thanks to Jen, Saurav and Rana G, powerful images!

Over one thousand people took over the city centre of Auckland in a mass die in on Queen Street, furious at the Israeli Massacre of the people of Gaza. The biggest march for justice in Palestine in the history of New Zealand, it also saw a powerful unity between Aotearoa's Muslim and Arab community and the radical Left. A barrage of hundreds of shoes rained unto a bannerless American Consulate to the chant of "Hey, Hey, USA- where's your bloody flag today?"

Over 100,000 people marched in London, surrounding the Israeli embassy where riot cops batoned and cavalry charged the crowd. In Ireland, thousands took to the streets of Belfast and Dublin, whilst in Derry the missile factory Raytheon was blockaded. Tens of thousands also marched in Paris, on the streets of Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, Italy, the USA and Egypt. The deeply unpopular Egyptian government hovers on the edge of a mass uprising, its brutality to its own striking workers and poor now compounded by its complicity in the Israeli assault in Gaza.

Socialist Aotearoa hopes there is a revolution in Egypt, which unlocks the power of the working class in the that country that numbers in the tens of millions. A revolution in Egypt will see direct material assistance to the Gazan ghetto, and open the Southern front with the racist Israeli state. We wish our comrades in the Revolutionary Socialists of Egypt and Kafiya strength and solidarity in the present time.

Socialist Aotearoa also resolves to take direct action against the Rakon plant in Auckland, inspired by the blockade of the Raytheon plant in Derry. It is time that we put our bodies on the gears of the war machine- the crystal oscillators for guided weapons used in Gaza were manufactured here, in Mount Wellington. We invite other groups in the movement to help organise the blockade of Rakon with us to send a clear message that NZ complicity in Israeli war crimes will not be tolerated.

In our thousands and our millions
We are all Palestinians

Chanters Man of the match

Mass die in on Queen Street completly shuts down Auckland's CBD

Ready, Aim....

Victory to the Intifada! Solidarity with Palestine

A) Auckland Emergency Protest: Stop the Massacres in Gaza

(B) 5 things you can do to help save Gaza

(A) Auckland Emergency Protest: Stop the Massacres in Gaza

Auckland, Saturday, 10 January: mobilisation to protest the latest Israeli outrages against Palestinians living in the Gaza strip, gather at 12 noon, Aotea Square. Organised by the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, contact email, and Global Peace and Justice Auckland, contact email or email.

1. End the Israeli Military Attacks on the Gaza Strip
2. End Inhuman Collective Punishments, End the Siege
3. End Human Rights Violations

As the casualties pile up, the world must act in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza who face massacres every day.

UN says 13,000 have been displaced since these attacks, that 20% of the dead are women and children, 70 % are without drinking water.

United Nations representatives in Gaza say the horror unleashed by Israel is "inhuman" and the people are "trapped, traumatised and terrorised". This is what happens when the world's fourth most powerful military unleashes its arsenal of terror on a defenceless people trapped in the most densely populated territory in the world.

This Saturday return to the streets in solidarity with Palestinians and to call on our Government to condemn the continuing Israeli massacres of Palestinians.

Our Government continues to refuse to denounce the Israeli barbartity, and the rot cause of the present violence the coninued occupation of the West Bank and the continued seige of the Gaza Strip.

March on Saturday for New Zealand to condemn Israeli genocide of Palestinians and in solidarity with those under attack in Gaza.

Your either with us or with the state terrorists.

>>>>>(B) 5 things you can do to help save Gaza>>>>>

1. Attend the protest on Saturday and let your friends and family know about it.

2. Make a donation to support the Free Gaza movement

The Free Gaza movement have sailed twice to Gaza from Cyprus in large boats delivered medical supplies. Under constant Israeli naval harrasment they are attempting again and again to break the illegal Israeli seige of Gaza and take direct action to make the siege of Gaza impossible to continue.

They need our financial support to continue their efforts in delivering much needed supplies to the Palestinians of Gaza.

"We want to break the siege of Gaza. We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation. We want to uphold Palestine's right to welcome internationals as visitors, human rights observers, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, or otherwise."

"We will not be deterred by the violence of the Israeli military. We will set out again for Gaza. We are doctors, journalists, members of parliament, and human rights observers trying to reach the people of Gaza to deliver much needed aid and witness the atrocities being committed again the Palestinians there."

3. Sign the Avazz.org petition - GAZA: STOP THE BLOODSHED

With over 400 Palestinians and 4 Israelis killed and the death toll mounting daily, we urgently need to demand that world leaders take strong diplomatic action to end the violence. An Israeli ground invasion is believed to be imminent and would claim many more lives -- we must act fast to demand that our leaders act now.

4. Boycott Israeli goods the BIG campaign

The Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign of New Zealand derives it's mandate from a legal judgment passed by the highest judicial body in the world, the International Court of Justice.

The Court advised that members of the International community have an obligation:

• Not to render aid or assistance to maintaining the situation created by the Wall Israel has built on Occupied Palestinian Land.
• To ensure the Wall's removal.
• Ensure Israel's compliance with International Law.

That was more than four years ago. Today, the Wall has almost been completed, resulting in the confinement of Palestinians in the West Bank into segregated Bantustans, isolating 78 villages.

At the same time, in flagrant violation of International Law, Israel continues to transfer part of its civilian population into the illegally Occupied West Bank.

John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories stated :

"Israel's defiance of international law poses a threat not only to the international legal order but to the international order itself. This is no time for appeasement on the part of the international community".

In 2005, inspired by the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, Palestinian civil society called for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it fully complies with International Law and recognises the fundamental human rights of the people of Palestine.

A specific call for cultural boycott of Israel was issued a year later, garnering wide support.

Among the many groups and institutions that have heeded the Palestinian boycott calls and started to consider or apply diverse forms of effective pressure on Israel are :

• the British University and College Union (UCU);
• the two largest trade unions in the UK; the Church of England;
• the Presbyterian Church (USA); prominent British architects;
• the British National Union of Journalists (NUJ);
• the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU);
• the South African Council of Churches;
• the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in Ontario;
• Aosdana, the Irish state-sponsored academy of artists;
• celebrated authors, artists and intellectuals led by John Berger;
• and Palme d'Or winner director Ken Loach.

We strongly urge you to uphold the values of freedom, equality and just peace for all by joining this growing boycott against Israeli apartheid

A personal boycott of Israeli products helps remove consumers from complicity with Israeli apartheid. As ethical consumers we can conduct our boycott 'where we are at', in whatever town or country.

The BIG campaign aims to promote a consumer boycott and to actively campaign against corporations selling Israeli goods.

5. Send a message to our Prime Minister - Condemn the Israeli bombardment of Gaza

Send the following email to Prime Minister John Key j.key@ministers.govt.nz

Dear Prime Minister,

I wish to relay to you the words of the UN General Assembly President and to urge your Government to take a stand and condemn the continuing Israeli assault on the people of Gaza. The position of your Government to not condemn Israel's genocidal and apartheid policies bring shame not only to you but to the whole of New Zealand.

"The behavior by Israel in bombarding Gaza is simply the commission of wanton aggression by a very powerful state against a territory that it illegally occupies.

Time has come to take firm action if the United Nations does not want to be rightly accused of complicity by omission.

The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war.

Those violations include:

Collective punishment – the entire 1.5 million people who live in the crowded Gaza Strip are being punished for the actions of a few militants.

Targeting civilians – the airstrikes were aimed at civilian areas in one of the most crowded stretches of land in the world, certainly the most densely populated area of the Middle East.

Disproportionate military response – the airstrikes have not only destroyed every police and security office of Gaza's elected government, but have killed and injured hundreds of civilians; at least one strike reportedly hit groups of students attempting to find transportation home from the university.

I remind all member states of the United Nations that the UN continues to be bound to an independent obligation to protect any civilian population facing massive violations of international humanitarian law – regardless of what country may be responsible for those violations. I call on all Member States, as well as officials and every relevant organ of the United Nations system, to move expeditiously not only to condemn Israel's serious violations, but to develop new approaches to providing real protection for the Palestinian people."
- Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, UN Headquarters, New York, 27 December 2008

Yours Sincerely,

"Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere... and remember also that there is a cause to which many people have committed themselves, difficulties and terrible obstacles notwithstanding. Why? Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest for equality and human rights." - Edward Said, Palestinian/American historian/political commentator
SJP on the internet: www.ausjp.wordpress.com

Major Mobilisation for Justice in Palestine- Auckland Sat Jan 10th

Global Peace and Justice Auckland and the Palestine Human Rights Campaign are planning a major mobilisation to protest the latest Israeli outrages against Palestinians living in the Gaza strip.

The protest will gather at 12 noon, Aotea Square, Auckland on Saturday 10th January.

We have received numerous calls asking what actions are planned for Aucklanders to register their outrage at Israel's actions. Saturday's mobilisation gives that opportunity.

(An organising meeting for the mobilisation and to plan immediate steps in the campaign to boycott Israel will be held at 6pm on Tuesday 6th January at the Unite Union Office at 6A Western Springs Road, Auckland)

Meanwhile like most New Zealanders we find the government's failure to condemn the Israeli massacre an outrage. The utterances of Foreign Minister Murray McCully are obsequious and embarrassing. His fawning to the US position will be welcomed in Israel but will be condemned around the rest of the world. He is putting New Zealand well out of step with the United Nations.

United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto called the launching of the ground offensive in Gaza "a monstrosity" in an accurate reflection of international opinion. McCully on the other hand has yet to issue a single word of criticism.


Mike Treen – (09) 8452132 or 0295254744
John Minto – (09) 8463173(H) or (09) 8469496(W)
For the GPJA Committee

Janfrie Wakim – 09 5200201 or 027 629 1004
For the Palestine Human Rights Campaign

Palestine’s long torment

by Anindya Bhattacharyya

The Gaza Strip is effectively the world’s largest prison camp.

Zionist terror gangs drove its population from their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948.

That event – known in Arabic as the Nakba (catastrophe) – saw 750,000 Palestinians ethnically cleansed. They fled to the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and to other countries.

Prior to this Britain controlled Palestine. The British imperialists had promised the land to both the native Palestinian population and to the Zionists, who had settled there over the previous 50 years.

Zionism was a Jewish nationalist movement that arose in Europe in the late 19th century as a response to the growth of anti-Semitism.

Zionism’s founder Theodor Herzl argued that anti-Semitism could never be defeated and that Jews should found a new “homeland”. Only a small minority of Jews backed this. Herzl and his supporters looked to the major powers for support.

In 1917 the British foreign secretary Lord Balfour gave official backing to their colonial ambitions. He hoped that a Zionist state in Palestine would serve the interests of British imperialism.

After the horror of the Holocaust, when Nazi Germany exterminated six million Jews, Zionism became a majority trend amongst Jews.Tragically, some Jews went from being the oppressed in Europe to becoming the oppressor in the Middle East.

In 1947 the UN proposed to partition Palestine and give the Zionists 55 percent of Palestinian land, even though they comprised just a third of the population.

This was not enough for the Zionists who began to ethnically cleanse Palestine in March 1948. By the end of the year they controlled 80 percent of the territory and had driven the refugees into two enclaves that made up the remaining 20 percent – the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Occupied territories

Israel annexed and occupied these in its 1967 Six Day War with Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Israel has controlled these Occupied Territories ever since.

From Israel’s inception, imperialist forces courted the Zionist state as an ally in the oil-rich Middle East. As the US emerged as the world’s superpower after the Second World War it began to arm and fund Israel to act as its “watchdog” in the region. Israel’s attacks on its neighbours almost always take place with US consent.

With US support Israel has ignored hundreds of UN resolutions that have criticised it.

The Palestinians have resisted Israel throughout the past six decades. In 1987 the Intifada uprising broke out in the Occupied Territories.

This was one factor forcing Israel to open up negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) – the so-called “peace process”. In 1993 this led to the Oslo Accords, signed by Israel and the PLO. A “two state solution” was promised in which Israel would remain intact but the Palestinians would be allowed their own state.

Many people still argue for a two state solution, but the experience of the “peace process” shows that it cannot work.

Apartheid

It was designed to retain Israeli dominance, with the PLO forced to police its own people. The Palestinians were to be given “Bantustans” – the name given to the supposedly independent states in apartheid South Africa that were, in reality, dominated by the racist state.

There is a massive imbalance of power between the two sides – a highly militarised state funded by the West on one side and an oppressed and isolated people on the other.

Zionists have continued to build settlements in the Occupied Territories. There are now 270,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem. The ongoing construction of an “apartheid wall” isolating the West Bank highlights the cynicism behind the talk of a “peace process”.

The notion of a two state solution also involves giving up a fundamental principle of the Palestinian struggle – the right of refugees to return to their land. This would effectively legitimise the ethnic cleansing of 1948.

And it means accepting the idea that Jews and Arabs cannot live together – despite their long history of peaceful coexistence before the birth of Israel.

In the long run a solution can only take place in the context of a wider political upheaval across the Middle East. The corrupt, pro-Western Arab regimes have done nothing to support the Palestinians. The Arab masses are angry at the treatment of their Palestinian brothers and sisters, and at the repression and poverty they face at home.

The Arab working class has the power to challenge their own rulers and win fundamental change in the region. That would open the possibility of a single, democratic and multi-ethnic state encompassing all of historic Palestine – the only chance of a lasting and just settlement in the Middle East.

The following should be read alongside this article:

» Eyewitness in Gaza: ‘Can you hear the noise? The Israelis are bombing again’
» Opposition to war remains a powerful force in the world
» Gaza: a new flashpoint in the ‘war on terror’
» Hamas: the changing face of the Palestinian resistance
» Egyptians rage at hated regime
» Israel’s bloody assault on Gaza fuels protests across the world