Albert Woodbox Fighting for his Freedom in Two Courts -- Free #AlbertWoodfox

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http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=ee75806c-d885-4b22-99fe-d78625174a5b&c=e6804ed0-356e-11e3-9fd4-d4ae52754dbc&ch=e7cb1e50-356e-11e3-a062-d4ae52754dbc

Though it is an incredibly unusual, and often confusing situation, the legal reality is that Albert is fighting for permanent, unconditional release concurrently on two separate legal tracks - one in federal and the other in state court.  As we all wait to hear whether the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will uphold federal Judge Brady's June 8th "unconditional Writ," a third attempt to prosecute Albert in state court for the crime he continues to maintain he's innocent of is already, simultaneously, underway. Next Monday, September 21st at 9:30am at the Courthouse in St. Francisville, the state court track will take a huge leap forward as Judge Carmichael of West Feliciana Parish's 20th Judicial District Court decides what a new playing field will look like after each side presents what they believe to be the key ingredients needed to ensure a just potential third trial. Over the summer, Albert's state court legal team (Rob McDuff and Billy Sothern) filed a slate of 16 motions that began this process of defining the evidentiary and procedural ground rules for a potential retrial.  In addition to a comprehensive and convincingly argued request for change of venue, the bulk of the filings seek to construct a legal landscape where Albert has at least a chance of being fairly retried--where all of the now impeached, debunked, and discredited testimony, statements, and evidence presented at previous trials is excluded. Albert's team also asks the court compel the State to allow modern DNA testing of all remaining physical evidence and to compare the potentially exculpatory fingerprints from the crime scene, already proven not to be Albert's, against the prison's own inmate fingerprint archives from the 1970s and the FBI's recently expanded AFIS fingerprint identification system.  Though it seems obvious that these simple tests could have long ago helped to identify the real culprit, the Attorney General told NPR as recently as 2008 he didn't see a need.  "A fingerprint can come from anywhere," Caldwell explains. "We're not going to be fooled by that." Most fundamentally though, Albert's legal team argues that the 2015 indictment should itself be quashed and the case dismissed because all the key prosecution witnesses have passed away, as have all the key witnesses for the defense and the leaders of the initial investigation, making it impossible for Albert to exercise his constitutional right to confront and cross-examine them about the many inconsistencies, obfuscations, and procedural missteps later uncovered.  His attorneys conclude: "Albert Woodfox is 68 years old, less than two years away from turning 70. He has been severely punished for the last 43 years for a crime in which none of the physical evidence implicates him and the State's proof is highly questionable. The circumstances of this case are such that he cannot receive a fair trial 43 years after the fact. The motion to quash should be granted and this case should be dismissed." We will keep you updated as to how these issues play out if you are unable to attend on the 21st and won't stop fighting until justice for our friend is finally realized.

Write Albert:   Albert Woodfox #72148              West Feliciana Parish Detention Center PO Box 2727 St. Francisville, LA 70775

With Regard to Alison Weir: Letter from Ann Arbor Friends Meeting Palestine Israel Action Group to U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation & Jewish Voice for Peace

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Link to letter on website:  http://www.quakerpi.org/Perspectives/Letter%20to%20USC%20JVP%20IAK.htm

Palestine Israel Action Group    

A Subcommittee of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee of Ann Arbor Friends Meeting 

1420 Hill Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104-3106

                                                                                                            August 4, 2015

To:       Yousef Munayyer, Director, US Campaign 

Anna Baltzer, National Organizer, US Campaign  

Josh Ruebner, Policy Director, US Campaign

            Felicia Eaves, US Campaign Steering Committee Co-Chair

            Andrew Kadi, US Campaign Steering Committee Co-Chair

            Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace

            Alison Weir, If Americans Knew

Dear Friends,

We Ann Arbor Quakers in the Palestine-Israel Action Group (PIAG) support the pro-Palestinian work of the US Campaign, Jewish Voice for Peace, and If Americans Knew. Their quest for Palestinian human rights and freedom is our quest, as well. We hope to remain working within all three organizations for that good cause – in solidarity, rather than in perfect agreement.  

We fully agree with USC’s Common Principles, standing “opposed to Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, all forms of racism, and any other expressions of bigotry directed at any person or group."  We are troubled, however, when pro-Palestinian organizations spend time and energy investigating their coalition members for possible instances of deviation from these principles. This effort can be divisive and diversionary, undermining our movement's ability to achieve the goal of Palestinian human rights and freedom.

We urge that USC and JVP’s investigations of coalition members will end. Can you give us assurance in this regard?

In peace,

Helen Fox, PIAG Convener

Marilyn Churchill

Karen Deslierres

Ed Morin

Anne Remley

Ruth Zweifler

*NOTE FOR QUAKERPI READERS*:
PIAG is sad to report that US Campaign is unable to give the assurance they requested in the final line above.  Policy Director Josh Ruebner stated in a conference call with PIAG that if any further group were to request the ousting of another member, US Campaign’s standard procedures would mandate that such a request be duly considered.

*************************************************

FROM LINDA at SIRATYST BLOG:

As someone who has signed a defense of Alison Weir 

(SIGN HERE https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1oyHWpfZtMvDez5XThztcbRMbgzQqMnCibkVk4Rjh3Hw/viewform) 

along with many other Palestine solidarity activists, I applaud the efforts of the Ann Arbor Friends Pal/Israel group to bring a halt to this witch hunt.  I echo their concern that this habit the solidarity community has of picking fights with those in the movement who do not share the same tactics will inevitably hobble our work unnecessarily by fear-mongering people interested in supporting Palestine liberation.  I urge the U.S. Campaign and JVP to reconsider their exile of Alison Weir (and If Americans Knew).

Linda Jansen, Seattle, WA

From Cindy Sheehan's Blog, The Soapbox

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"Dozens Of Palestinians, Including Children, Injured In Jerusalem" IMEMC

Tweet http://www.imemc.org/article/72994
via http://angryarab.blogspot.com

Dozens of Palestinians, including children, have been injured on Friday evening and early night hours, in Silwan town, in occupied East Jerusalem, during clashes that took place after Israeli fanatics assaulted an 8-year-old child, while Israeli soldiers invaded homes and fired gas bombs, concussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets.

Image By Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Silwanic

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) said the assailants attacked Zeid Abu Qweider, 8 years of age, in Batn al-Hawa neighborhood, repeatedly beating and kicking him, before a young man noticed the attacked and intervened.

It added that approximately twenty Israeli extremists then assaulted a group of Palestinian children, 5-14 years of age, and sprayed their faces with pepper-spray.

Eyewitnesses told Silwanic that several guards of illegal colonies in Silwan also invaded the neighborhood, and hurled gas bombs and concussion grenades.

Medical sources said resident Abdullah Abu Naab, 60, and Mahdi Rajabi, 14, suffered burns in their faces and were unable to breathe, before medics arrived at the scene, provided first aid and moved them to the al-Makassed Hospital.

The attack also led scores of injuries, especially among the children, while a pregnant woman was also wounded.

Some of the wounded have been identified as Zeid Abu Qweider, 8, Adam Rajabi, 9, Rahaf Abu Qweider, 5, Odai Rajabi, 12, Hamza Rajabi, 12, Yazan Rajabi 12, Walid ash-Sha’er, 16, Asma’ Rajabi (pregnant in her ninth month), 29, and ‘Adel Tawfiq Gheith, 75 years of age.

In addition, five children and their parents suffered severe effects of gas inhalation after the Israeli guards hurled a gas bomb into their homme.

The oldest of the wounded children is 13, and the youngest is only seven months of age.

Another family, including an infant, also suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, medical sources said.

In addition, clashes took place in Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in Silwan, after a number of Israeli fanatics invaded it, while Israeli soldiers later invaded the area, and declared it a closed military zone.

Furthermore, soldiers attacked dozens of Palestinians in the protest tent in the neighborhood, and hurled gas and concussion grenades on them, before attacking the tent and smashing many chairs.

Many teenagers and children were injured after the soldiers attacked them in Batn al-Hawa; the army also fired several gas bombs at a number of homes, while many soldiers started banging on doors causing anxiety attacks among families, especially the children.

A young man, identified as Saleh Kash’am, suffered various cuts and bruises after the soldiers repeatedly kicked him in the neighborhood.

Clashes also took place in the at-Tour town, after dozens of soldiers invaded it; media sources said local youths hurled a Molotov cocktail that struck one of the invading police vehicles, and that one officer was injured.

The police fired gas bombs, concussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets at random, Silwanic said.

"Invisible War Crimes – The Corporate Media On Yemen" -- Media Lens

Tweet http://medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=801:invisible-war-crimes-the-corporate-media-on-yemen&catid=53:alerts-2015&Itemid=247

EXCERPT:

As Daniel Larison, senior editor of The American Conservative, writes:

'After more than five months of depriving the civilian population of basic necessities and preventing their access to humanitarian aid, I don't think this needs to be qualified by saying that this "may" be a war crime. It seems clear at this point that the blockade is a deliberate and sustained effort to inflict punishment on the civilian population in violation of international law. I have said this before, but it bears repeating that U.S. participation in this cruel and unnecessary campaign is indefensible and disgraceful.'

Tom Engelhardt, founder and editor of TomDispatch.com, notes that 'though no viewer would know it from' television coverage, 'all across the region -- from Yemen to Syria to Iraq -- U.S. arms are fueling conflicts and turning the living into the dead.'

In an article titled 'Total War in Yemen Totally Ignored by Western Media', Tony Cartalucci observes:

'After NATO's attempt to invoke the "responsibility to protect" (R2P) as justification for the destruction of Libya, it became clear that NATO was merely hiding behind the principles of humanitarian concern, not upholding them.'

He continues:

'However, R2P is conveniently absent amid what little talk of Yemen that does take place in the Western media. US-backed blockades and months of aerial bombardments have tipped Yemen toward a humanitarian catastrophe.'

Iona Craig explains why the US is especially keen to keep Saudi Arabia amenable at this particular moment:

'America's continued support of Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen comes as Saudi-U.S. relations have been strained by President Obama's pursuit of a nuclear deal with the Kingdom's regional nemesis, Iran.'

Craig quotes Adam Baron, a visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, who suggests that the US has been more eager than usual to appease Saudi Arabia, 'because they want them and the other Gulf States to at least not actively oppose the Iran deal.'

Despite the nuclear deal, the West still regards a stable and strong Iran as a threat to its hegemony in the region. Why? Noam Chomsky says:

'The answer is plain: the rogue states that rampage in the region and do not want to tolerate any impediment to their reliance on aggression and violence. In the lead in this regard are the U.S. and Israel, with Saudi Arabia trying its best to join the club with its invasion of Bahrain (to support the crushing of a reform movement there) and now its murderous assault on Yemen, accelerating a growing humanitarian catastrophe in that country.'

The overarching framework, Chomsky points out, is the so-called Clinton Doctrine, named after former US president Bill Clinton. The doctrine asserts that United States is entitled to the 'unilateral use of military power' to ensure 'uninhibited access to key markets, energy supplies, and strategic resources'. This entitlement is dressed up as alleged 'security' or 'humanitarian' concerns.

"Regime Change Refugees: On the Shores of Europe" -- Vijay Prashad

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Original is at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/04/regime-change-refugees-on-the-shores-of-europe/

"Terrible pictures arrive onto social media of refugees from Syria and elsewhere, washed up on the shores of Europe. One in particular is particularly ghastly – the body of young Aylan Kurdi. He was only three. He was from the Syrian town of Kobane, now made famous as the frontline of the battle between ISIS and the Kurdish militias (largely the YPG and PKK). Aylan Kurdi’s body lay in a fetal position. Few dry eyes could turn away from that photograph.

The Jordanian cartoonist Rafat Alkhateeb drew an image of Aylan Kurdi. The infant’s body lies on the other side of a barbed wire fence that separates him from the continents of the world.

Cartoon by Rafat Alkhateeb.

Children like Aylan Kurdi are disposable in the world’s imagination. Untold thousands of Syrian children have died in this conflict. Tens of thousands of children die in conflicts around the world. The United Nations estimates that half of all deaths in conflict zones are of children. In 1995, UNICEF reported that two million children had died in conflicts over the previous decade. The rate has not decreased. The statistic harms the consciousness. But it is the picture of Aylan Kurdi that has unsettled our ethics – does the world really care about the damage done to children as a result of war and diabolical trade policies? The evidence suggests that the world does not care at all. What care there is comes in the brief instance when we glance at a photograph such as that of the dead body of Aylan Kurdi. He breaks our heart. But he will do little to change our politics.

The West believes that it is acceptable for it to intervene to influence the political economy of the Third World – to force IMF-driven “reforms” on these states. Capital is allowed be borderless. That freedom does not apply to labour – to people. Migration is forbidden. It is hateful. Racist ideas allow fortresses to be built against the natural movement of people. Barbed wire fences and concentration camp towers outline the US-Mexico border, just as such fences and the Mediterranean Moat block the passage into Europe. If Capital destroys the society here, its people cannot be allowed to migrate there.

The West believes that it is acceptable for it to overthrow governments and bomb its enemies in the lands of the Third World. It sees this as the limit of its humanitarianism. It calls this humanitarian interventionism or, in the language of the UN, “responsibility to protect” (R2P). When it breaks states, as it did in Libya, the West takes no responsibility for the broken lives of the people in those zones. Bombs are borderless. But war refugees must stand in queues and be held in concentration camps. They are not allowed freedom of movement.

Hypocrisy is central to elite Western ethics. It uses words like “freedom” and “equality” but mostly means its opposite. The freedom of human beings and equality between human beings is not relevant. More important is the freedom of Money. It is Money that cannot have its liberty impinged.

Both Europe and the United States want to build walls to prevent the free movement of people. The Statue of Liberty in New York harbor bears the words, “Give me your tired, your poor; your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” This is Emma Lazarus’ poem from 1883. No longer do these words make sense. There is no exhortation to send the tired, the poor, the huddled masses to safety. There is mostly the State-led jingoism that sets up barriers and threatens deportations. The more appropriate song is by Woody Guthrie, Deportee, from 1961: “They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves. We died in your hills, we died in your deserts, we died in your valleys and died on your plains.” He would have added, we died on your shores.

Such toxic lineages are not alone. There is also the people’s ethics – banners in Germany unfurled at football games to welcome refugees, convoys of ordinary British nations to Calais (France) to help feed and clothe the refugees, demonstrations of radical internationalists in Eastern Europe against the neo-fascists and the racists. There are also, in the United States, the Dream Defenders and United We Dream who fight for undocumented residents, who formed part of the massive pro-immigrant rallies that have now adopted May Day as their day. These indications of the good side of history are often ignored by the press, which has a tendency to hype up the bad side to boost ratings. Such gestures of solidarity tell us what is possible in the West. [Emphasis added]

Aylan Kurdi is dead. Many other Aylan Kurdis remain. Our outrage at this callous death should drive us deeper into a politics that calls for a drawdown of the violence in Syria and for a serious peace process in Libya, that forces us to be resolute in our fight against IMF and NATO destruction of societies and states. In essence, this is a call for a resolute anti-imperialism. Imperialism, after all, is extra-economic force such as war or the unequal drafting of trade rules to allow a small capitalist minority to sequester the largest share of globally produced social wealth. Refugees such as Aylan Kurdis are “climate change refugees,” “regime change refugees” and “IMF refugees.”

The West’s managers will only talk about tragedies and security. For them people are migrants and deportees, those whose mobility must be constrained. This is a limited imagination. They will not want to talk about the causes of the problem – the wars and economic policies that throw millions of people into the status of refugee. That is our job. In the name of Aylan Kurdi."

"Give All Refugees A Free Ticket To Brussels" -- Automatic Earth

Tweet http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2015/09/give-all-refugees-a-free-ticket-to-brussels/

from Automatic Earth

A few days ago, I joked to Nicole that Paddypower should by now have a bet open on how much longer the Schengen open border treaty will be valid in Europe. Didn’t check if they actually had one, mind you. 

But it can’t be long anymore, so it wouldn’t be a big money maker even if it existed. I give it a few days at most. Italy just announced it wants guards at Brennero, one of its main border posts with Austria. One down, a few hundred to go, and they may go at a rapid clip. 

Europe’s countries are not each other’s enemies yet, but they will shut borders. Germany pulled a fast one yesterday by telling Hungary to stop the trains from rolling west, but now Budapest has a big problem. They should have just allowed the refugees to board the trains and leave. Put them on a train, give them food and drink and make them first Austria’s and then Germany’s problem. 

And Germany’s a fine place for the refugees to go, since Berlin is sort of the de facto capital of the EU, at least when that seems a profitable position to be in, but it’s not the perfect place to go, because Merkel and her ilk will denounce their leadership claims whenever that looks more beneficial in the polls.

Merkel and Schäuble can screw over Greece three ways to Sunday, but they’re like this Bill Pesek headline on Bloomberg two weeks ago about the Chinese leadership that said something to the effect that they like the power but not the responsibility. That’s at least as true for Europe as it is for Beijing. 

And that makes it hard to call any supposed leaders on any of their responsibilities. It’s also why thousands of refugees have drowned and not one of the ‘leaders’ have lifted a finger. They’re there for the power, not the other stuff. 

And that, as I’ve said a hundred times before, is embedded in the EU model, in its design, its regulations, its laws, the whole shebang. When I read that Yanis Varoufakis wants a pan-European anti-austerity movement, I’m thinking he doesn’t understand how it’s set up. The whole bureaucracy was made to resist change, democracy, and any challenges to its ‘belief’ system.

It’s no use saying the EU should do something or another in the refugee crisis, because it won’t. And what it may do will always be way too late and way too little. It’s how it was structured. The EU is geared towards accumulating more power, not solving its own problems. 

But at the same time, Brussels is still the only capital the EU has. And that’s why all refugees, wherever they are at the moment, Hungary, Greece, Italy, Serbia, Macedonia, should be allowed to board trains, with enough humane facilities and provisions, bound for Brussels. 

They should all be directed towards the European Parliament and/or other posh buildings – they recently opened a €1.2 billion one, that should facilitate a few refugees -, and stay there until the EU is forced to solve the issue. 

And every single cameraman on the planet should be there to register what happens. How long they will be allowed to go without food, water and shelter. How long they will go without proper medical treatment. 

Let’s see how Brussels deals with 50,000 -100,000 people in its streets and parks, with more coming every day, while the whole world is watching live on a hundred news channels.

And I know Strasbourg will want to dispute the claim that Brussels is the capital, and you know what?, I’m willing to send half of the refugees there too. Just so the French don’t feel left out or insultée or have their pride hurt. 

And something tells me that the citizens of Belgium and France, like their Greek peers, will have the decency to feed and shelter the Syrian and Libyan mothers and children on their doorsteps while the ivory towers diddle. 

It looks to me to be the only way to expose the EU for what it is, and then put an end to the macabre monstrosity it has become. 

We would need to convince the refugees that by doing things this way, they would open the way for those who come after them, of which there will undoubtedly be many. 

The Italian, Hungarian, Greek etc. governments should issue rail tickets from their countries to Brussels and tell the refugees that that’s where the European capital is, and to apply there for visas, asylum, and everything else.

Brussels lives by the adage of divide and rule. And that serves only the bureaucrats that inhabit the institution. Not the refugees, and not the people of Europe.

Mediterranean Refugee Crisis Escalating -- Vijay Prashad & Sharmini Pieres @therealnews

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https://youtu.be/XM6TwWlzXKI

Brave Palestinian Women Take on Gun-Toting Israeli Soldier Who Is Assaulting Child

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https://youtu.be/Bw0vi44_BQE

FOR MORE DETAIL, go to Mondoweiss link below:
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/08/israeli-soldier-assaulting

Watching Rising Seas From Space

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An Open Letter to the U.S. Campaign & Other Activists for Justice in Palestine [Petition in Support of Alison Weir]

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http://tinyurl.com/StopDivisiveAttacksPDF
As active participants in the struggle for justice for Palestinians, coming from a variety of ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds, we call for an end to internal attacks on fellow activists and organizations. These only impede the work for justice.
We appreciate the important contributions to that cause made over many years by If Americans Knew, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
In that light, we are dismayed by the recent unfounded attacks on one of the top organizations working on this issue, If Americans Knew, and its dedicated leader, Alison Weir, by the leadership of Jewish Voice for Peace and the U.S. Campaign. Many of us are members of these groups and are unhappy at these significant actions made in our name but without consulting us.
We recognize that important differences among these organizations exist – each has its own constituencies, approach, and style, as is the case with the scores of other organizations that together make up the solidarity movement. Some may disapprove of taking the Palestinian case to people who don't define themselves as "liberals" or "progressives." Others may disapprove of working with Zionist groups and failure to state that Zionism is racism, etc. We have no problem with any group articulating such differences and even making principled criticisms of another's work – that is part of the life of any healthy democratic movement.
But we believe strongly that secret dossiers, ideological inquisitions, double standards, misrepresentations, spreading innuendo, and attempting to excommunicate groups or individuals one disagrees with from the ranks of the movement sow unnecessary divisions and distract from what must remain our primary focus: building the broad united front that's necessary to change United States policy in the Middle East and to help Palestinians obtain justice in their homeland.
We also believe that the vitriolic, ADL-like accusations that Alison Weir is "anti-Semitic" and/or racist are scurrilous and without foundation. They are based on guilt-by-association arguments through which numerous committed activists – including the leadership of the US Campaign and JVP – could equally, and also incorrectly, be called "anti-Semitic" and/or racist.
We are painfully aware that there are well funded opponents who spare no effort to undermine and divide this movement for justice and human rights in Palestine. We therefore expect those who sincerely share our goals to be mindful of the potential to fracture the movement and be judicious and principled in their critique of groups and individuals who make significant contributions to the movement.
We call for these attacks to cease and for those initiating them to return to their main task, working for justice in Palestine.
Sincerely,
[The Undersigned]
TO SIGN scroll down below the signatures to add your name. Full list of signatories to be added here periodically, and at http://tinyurl.com/StopDivisiveAttacksPDF

More Information:
Accusations against If Americans Knew: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/about_us/accusations.html
Messages of support for If Americans Knew:
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/about_us/accusations.html#five
http://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/accusations.html#seven
Analysis of Attacks on If Americans Knew:
http://louisproyect.org/2015/06/25/the-jewish-voice-for-peace-attack-on-alison-weir-jvp-loses-its-balance-2/
SIGNATORIES (last updated 2.30 pm Wednesday August 19. 2015. Total number of signatories: over 1,935) identification purposes.
* = US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation Member Organization
** = Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace

Richard Falk, Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University, and former Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine, UN Human Rights Council.
Samia Khoury, founding member of the board of Trustees of Birzeit University and Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Centre, author, "Reflections from Palestine: A Journey of Hope" (descendant of Birzeit University founders).
Ann Wright, retired US Army Colonel and former US diplomat turned peace activist; passenger on 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla; co-organizer and passenger on Gaza Freedom Flotillas 2011 & 2015; co-organizer of 2009 Gaza Freedom March.
Bassem Tamimi, Palestinian Popular Resistance Movement, Nabi Saleh
Iyad Burnat, Palestinian grassroots activist, Bil'in Popular Committee
Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, Professor, Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities, Co-Founder Al-Awda-Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
Hedy Epstein, Holocaust survivor; St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee*; Jewish Voice for Peace - St. Louis** , Free Gaza Movement
Paul Findley, former US Congressman, Illinois, author of "They Dare to Speak Out," the first book on the Israel lobby
James Abourezk, former Senator, South Dakota, founder of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
Pete McCloskey, former Member of Congress (R..Calif. 1967-83) and Co-Founder, with Paul Findley, of the Council for the National Interest; and Helen McCloskey
Arun Gandhi, Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute
Dr. Khalil Nakhleh, author of "Globalized Palestine: The National Sell-Out of a Homeland"
George N. Rishmawi, Director, The Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People, Beit Sahour, Palestine
Ray McGovern, Retired CIA officer turned peace activist. Co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Rita Giacaman, Professor, Research & Program Coordinator and founder, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University; active in 1980s Palestinian social action movement.
John Whitbeck, Director, Council for the National Interest
Edward Peck, Americans for Middle East Understanding, Former US Ambassador to Iraq & Mauritania, Participant in the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla
Abbas Hamideh, National Board Vice Chair, Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition, son of one of the few survivors of the massacre at Deir Yassin Palestine on April 9th 1948
Philip Giraldi, Former CIA Officer turned anti-war activist & journalist; Executive Director, Council for the National Interest*, member, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Cindy Sheehan, anti-war activist and former presidential candidate, Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox
Joe Meadors, USS Liberty Survivor, Past President, USS Liberty Veterans Association, Participant in three Gaza Freedom Flotillas, Free Palestine Movement*.
The Rev. David W. Good, Minister Emeritus for The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, President: Tree of Life Educational Fund
John Erickson, NorCal Friends of Sabeel* -- Co-Chair
Sunaina Maira, Professor of Asian American Studies at UC Davis, USACBI
The Reverend Canon Richard K. Toll, former Director, Friends of Sabeel* , Retired Episcopal Priest
Dr. Samir Abed-Rabbo, Professor Emeritus of International Law, Director of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies
Donald A. Kruse, Retired Foreign Services Officer, Consul, Consulate General, Jerusalem 1976-1980
Lawrence Davidson, Professor Emeritus, West Chester University
Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy Intellignece Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council
James Petras, Professor Emeritus, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY
Joel Kovel, author of "Overcoming Zionism," "White Racism," "Red Hunting inn the Promised Land," and other books; editor; former psychiatrist; Bard College professor emeritus
Ernest Gallo, President, USS Liberty Veterans Association
Ronald Kukal, USS Liberty Survivor: Petty Officer in Charge of the Body Recovery and Identification after June 8, 1967 attack
David Rovics, Folk Musician, American Federation of Musicians Local 1000
Mary Ratcliff, San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper - Editor
Abdallah Omeish, award-winning documentary filmmaker of "Occupation 101" and "The War Around Us"
Andrew Killgore, former Ambassador, publisher, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, providing facts on Palestine for over 30 years.
Janet McMahon, Managing Editor, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, author, "Seeing the Light: Personal Encounters With the Middle East and Islam"
Kathleen Christison, Author, "Perceptions of Palestine" and "The Wound of Dispossession"; Co-author "Palestine in Pieces"
Jerry Levin, former CNN network journalist. Christian Peacemaker Teams. Writes on nonviolence. Recognized by the Dalai Lama as one of 2009's "Unsung Heroes of Compassion."  
TO SEE ALL SIGNATURES, PLEASE GO TO LINK AT TOP OF PAGE.

No Foreign Entanglements #OccupyPeace -- Gerald Celente

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https://youtu.be/H2duXD0XlLA

I don't agree with every statement in this video, but 95% is RIGHT ON!

Israelis Celebrate Child Slaughter Outside Hunger Striker’s Hospital (& Brave Palestinians Support Their Comrades)

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https://youtu.be/zob3BzaUi8A

Paraphrase of Palestinian member of Knesset Haneen Zoabi:  the conquerer will conquerer; the oppressed must act like the oppressed; they must struggle!

Native American Council Offers Amnesty to 240 Million Undocumented Whites

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At a meeting on Friday in Taos, New Mexico, Native American leaders weighed a handful of proposals about the future of the United State’s large, illegal European population. After a long debate, NANC decided to extend a road to citizenship for those without criminal records or contagious diseases.

“We will give Europeans the option to apply for Native Citizenship,” explained Chief Sauti of the Nez Perce tribe. “To obtain legal status, each applicant must write a heartfelt apology for their ancestors’ crimes, pay an application fee of $5,000, and, if currently on any ancestral Native land, they must relinquish that land to NANC or pay the market price, which we decide.

“Any illegal European who has a criminal record of any sort, minus traffic and parking tickets, will be deported back to their native land. Anybody with contagious diseases like HIV, smallpox, herpes, etc, will not qualify and will also be deported.”

European colonization of North America began in the 16th and 17th centuries, when arrivals from France, Spain and England first established settlements on land that had been occupied by native peoples. Explorers Lewis & Clark further opened up western lands to settlement, which ultimately led to the creation of the Indian reservation system.

Despite the large number of Europeans residing in the United States, historical scholars mostly agree that indigenous lands were taken illegally through war, genocide and forced displacement.

Despite the council’s decision, a native group called True Americans lambasted the move, claiming amnesty will only serve to reward lawbreakers.

“They all need to be deported back to Europe,” John Dakota from True Americans said. “They came here illegally and took a giant crap on our land. They brought disease and alcoholism, stole everything we have because they were too lazy to improve and develop their own countries.”

Where Is Morality in the ‘Migrant Crisis’? -- Myriam Francois-Cerrah

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EXCERPT:

"In a damning report published last year, Oxfam warned that THE WORLD'S RICHEST 85 PEOPLE SHARE A COMBINED WEALTH EQUIVALENT TO THAT OF THE POOREST 3.5 BILLION, a fact it cautioned threatens political stability and drives up social tensions. What’s more, the charity emphasised that this inequality is driven by a "power grab" by wealthy elites, who have co-opted the political process to rig the rules of the economic system in their favour. - 

There are those worthy of clean water, security, health and education and those who can be sent back to death camps and war zones by virtue of their global postcode

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/where-morality-migrant-crisis-520227141#sthash.8cEU89Un.dpuf

@SENJOHNMCCAIN CHASED OFF THE NAVAJO NATION -- Good riddance!

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https://youtu.be/xlkEraYbUko

I started to add the label "crooked" to the title but U.S. Senators ARE ALL CROOKED, so it wasn't needed. 

Thanks to the Navajo for showing the way forward -- stand up to the crooks wherever you find them!

The Silent War On Trees (Redux) -- Melancholy & Depressing But Beautiful

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https://youtu.be/sn1Xy_j48k0

JOWAN SAFADI – TO BE AN ARAB - להיות ערבי [BRILLIANT!]

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https://youtu.be/6v0IWkYMX3s

via http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2015/08/20/israeli-palestinian-musicians-subversive-critique-of-mizrahi-politics-culture/

and

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/08/radical-talent-safadis

Black Lives Matter as Much as Syrian Lives Do: The Geopolitical Dimension of White Supremacy and the State -- Danny Haiphong

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EXCERPTS:

"The reality is that world capitalism's ruling class must propagate a racist, colonialist narrative of the oppressed in order to exploit them for profits. Profit always comes at the expense of labor, whether through the process of exploitation or the plunder necessary to establish it. Syria and Black America are thus facing down the same enemy. At the subjective level, the politicians, police, military forces, and corporate operatives forward a dehumanized narrative of both peoples to desensitize and legitimize the wanton destruction of Syria and the daily police murder of Black Americans. And at the objective level, the same trillion dollar military apparatus that Washington utilizes against Syria also militarizes the police to occupy the streets of Ferguson, Baltimore, and Black cities all over the US."

*******

When Michael Brown was murdered by the state in 2014, militarized policed rolled through the streets of Ferguson and St. Louis to contain Black resistance. On the anniversary of Mike Brown's death, the same militarized police returned and arrested 150, shot and critically injured a protester, and declared martial law. Some have said the Washington-funded militarization of the police in Ferguson and cities across the US is comparable to the military forces deployed to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq. While this comparison does make a critical observation, it ultimately reinforces the idea that military occupation is not possible within the colonial borders of the US. The comparison is only relevant when it drops the narrative of American exceptionalism and analyzes the geopolitical relationship between white supremacy and the state through an internationalist perspective.

The state is the enforcement arm of white supremacy and global capitalism. It is often confused with the government, but it is much more than that. The state comprises of the police, the military, the courts, and the entire apparatus of social control that supports the exploitation of oppressed people. More concretely, the character of the state depends on the political and economic system in question. The US state is a manifestation of centuries of racist, capitalist development that began with the enslavement of Africans and extermination of indigenous peoples. Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz’s new work, The Indigenous Peoples History of the United States, summarizes this development as follows:

“Any true history of the United States must focus on what has happened to (and with) Indigenous peoples – and what still happens. It’s not just past colonialist actions but also ‘the continued colonization of American Indian nations, peoples, and lands’ that allows the United States to ‘cast its imperialist gaze globally.’”

“Washington's rulers are dependent upon a white supremacist framework to legitimize oppression and dehumanize the oppressed, from Damascus to Baltimore.”

Ortiz's conclusion that US capitalism's global expansion couldn't have occurred without the vast riches of stolen land and labor is the material basis for white supremacy. The transformation of Black American cities into war-zones and the repression of resistance through the channels of the Mass Black Incarceration State ultimately share a common cause with the Syrian people. The war on Black America is both a necessary precondition to politically repress potentially revolutionary resistance and an economic move to incarcerate and thus control a Black labor force that can no longer be accounted for in the post-industrial capitalist wasteland of the US. Washington's war with Syria is a geopolitical maneuver to reassert dominance in a region that is increasingly becoming hostile to US interests. Washington's rulers are dependent upon a white supremacist framework to legitimize oppression and dehumanize the oppressed, from Damascus to Baltimore.

From the perspective of the imperialist ruling class, Syrian lives matter as much as Black Lives do. Black Americans and Syrians are expendable from the standpoint of the ruling system's ultimate goal of keeping the rich in power and white people compliant. Syrians will continue to be painted as incapable of managing their own affairs and in need of Western imperial medicine. Black Americans will continue to be dehumanized and criminalized as the assault on their bodies, minds, and labor continues. Black Lives Matter has continuously framed the movement against police terror as an ideological and political intervention. Another addition to the intervention that will be critical in the overall movement's growth is the development of an internationalist consciousness capable of forging relationships of solidarity with the Syrian people and all people staring down the same imperialist enemy. 

Voices for Palestine Educating 12,000 @BernieForUSA Fans at University of Washington, Aug. 8, 2015

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Pictures from Voices for Palestine's action at Bernie Sanders' evet at the UW yesterday, Aug 8.

How To Stop An Oil And Gas Pipeline: The Unist'ot'en Camp Resistance

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Life Above the Rubble -- Gaza

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Brand Israel Pretends the Burning of a Palestinian Baby is the Act of Extremists - @SusanAbulhawa

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http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/brand-israel-pretends-burning-palestinian-baby-act-extremists-2060843845

EXCERPT:

In the words of Khaled Quzmar, Director of Defense of Children International-Palestine (DCI-Pal), “Israel's condemnation of this heinous act rings hollow as the state's policies have led to the climate of impunity that makes such violence possible.”

According DCI-Pal, soldier and settler violence claimed the lives of 1895 Palestinian children since 2000, yet there is not a single instance where an Israeli is currently serving time for the murder of a Palestinian child. In contrast, there are hundreds of Palestinian children who languish in Israeli jails, tortured, denied counsel, denied their parents, and placed in solitary confinement, like 16-year old Diyaa, on mere suspicion of having committed offenses.

Less than 27% of all Palestinian fatalities are investigated. Of those, approximately 90% are closed without indictment. According to DCI-Pal, there's only a 1.4% chance of indictment when Palestinian children are murdered by Israelis. Further, in the rare instances where an Israeli is brought to trial, they are almost always acquitted. In the extremely rare cases where conviction occurs, there is little or no punishment. One such rare example (the only one I'm aware of in the last 20 years) is the case of Nachum Korman, a 36-year old settler who went hunting for Palestinian children in 1996, caught 11-year old Hilmi Shusha, beat him, then pinned the boy under his boot and clubbed him to death with the butt of his rifle. The court first acquitted Korman, but after conviction in a higher court, he was sentenced to community service and ordered to pay a fine of $11,000. It took Israeli courts five years to find him guilty, but even then, he got no prison time for bludgeoning a small child to death in front of other terrified children. By way of comparison, a Palestinian man was sentenced to 18 months in prison in a criminal trial on charges of rape for having consensual sex with an Israeli woman, who felt violated after she later learned the man was Arab.

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/brand-israel-pretends-burning-palestinian-baby-act-extremists-2060843845#sthash.hfIIeq6o.dpuf