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SIRATYST (Stuff I Read and Thought You Should Too) -- “To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.” (Calgacus, as quoted by Tacitus, Agricola 30-31)"
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
"Palestinian Civil Society Stands in Solidarity with Norway"
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The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) released the following statement today in the wake of last week’s horrific attacks in Norway:
Palestinian civil society, as broadly represented within the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), wishes to express its sincere condolences to and deep solidarity with the people of Norway and to Arbeidernes Ungdomsfylking (AUF), the Norwegian labour youth party, in particular after the massacre of last Friday committed by a far right fanatic.
Palestinians stand with the people of Norway as they mourn the victims, and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who have died.
This horrendous massacre serves as a grave reminder of the dangers posed by racism, hatred and intolerance. We are confident that Norway’s long tradition of peace loving, respecting diversity and upholding human rights anywhere in the world will stand up to this ugly test of fundamentalism and hate; we trust that the Norwegian people’s determination to fight xenophobia and its resultant disregard for equal human rights will be further strengthened.
These violent and horrific attacks cannot be viewed in isolation. There is a growing wave of officially sanctioned Islamophobia in several western countries, driven by misinformation, intolerance and right-wing Zionism, with strong links to Israel. Tragically, this racist and extreme rhetoric has been put into action with many Norwegians paying the price with their lives. The murderer, by his own admission, drew his motivation for this heinous crime from the by now widespread anti-Arab/Muslim discourse that dwells on a perceived “clash of civilizations” and a blind support for Israel and its crimes against the Palestinian people.
Palestinians deeply empathize and stand with Norwegians as fellow humans and as a people that has its own long experience of pain and grief. In Israel’s Gaza massacre alone, more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, lost their lives. Homes, schools, UN shelters, university buildings, civilian infrastructure, hospitals, ambulances, sewage systems, power stations and more were ruthlessly decimated by Israel’s state terrorism in its assault on Gaza 2008-09. The noble humanitarian work and moving testimonies of the prominent Norwegian physician, Dr. Mads Gilbert, attest to the scale of the crime Israel has committed in Gaza and continues to commit on a daily basis with its illegal and immoral siege of 1.5 million Palestinians. It is often in times of great suffering, however, that human compassion and solidarity shine brightest.
We believe that these despicable crimes in Norway will only strengthen the resolve of all people of conscience around the world to pursue freedom, justice and equality and to join hands in combating racism in all forms.
We appreciate greatly the support for Palestinian rights and, specifically, for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, as shown by members of the AUF summer camp. We deeply appreciate the support for a boycott of Israel from LO, the Norwegian labor federation, and from close to half the people of Norway, as shown in polls following Israel’s bloody flotilla attack last summer. We salute the Norwegian pension fund for divesting from three Israeli companies implicated in Israel’s occupation and colonization. We are proud of the brave decision taken by Norway to ban testing submarines destined to Israel and to support a military embargo on Israel. We stand by the friends and families of all victims at this difficult time.
We hope to honour their memory by working more closely together with the AUF and other partners in Norwegian civil society towards a more just world where there is no place for racism and hatred.
Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
Monday, July 25, 2011
"An Act By Any Other Name" -- The Cynical Arab
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http://cynicalarab.org/2011/07/25/an-act-by-any-other-name/
I sat in class this morning tapping my pen against a school desk, waiting impatiently for the morning fog to clear my head. The incessant tip-tapping continued all while students filed in sluggishly, sharing the same Monday blues – a plethora still attempting to rub the sleep out of their eyes.
Our professor made her way to the front of the class – fumbling through a stack of papers between her hands while I tapped.
Today we will discuss assumptions and conjecture as per Chapter 6 in our book. An example of an assumption is that, in light of recent events, the Norwegian mad-man was actually a terrorist. Many journalists, news-broadcasters and the like assumed the man was a terrorist when reality proved him to be a psychotic killer. A hypothesis was made based on shoddy information which lead to many assuming Anders Behring Beivik was a terrorist [...]
My pen had stopped tapping as I tried to hide my aversion. I turned around and noticed a few classmates were nodding in agreement while the rest were either still battling their drowsiness or looking on in shy bewilderment, attempting to shield their ignorance of current events.
What is a terrorist?, I charged. Are we basing a definition of the word on mainstream criteria which chooses to identify a “terrorist” as one belonging to a certain race or religion? I went on: The definition of terrorism is simply an act/set of actions meant to intimidate via the use of violence in order to accomplish a goal. How then can we hypothesize that Beivik was not a terrorist? His whiteness and his Christianity do not wipe away the fundamentalist history nor his perverse anti-multicultural militancy.
Only days after this tragic massacre of civilians in Norway we find the mainstream body of pseudo-experts and intellectuals questioning not Beivik’s actions or his villainous xenophobia but Islam and the role its vast body of followers play in today’s society. There has been a line drawn in the sand; Muslims on one side and the West on another. The term “terrorists” is attributed to the more brown and “Islamic” whilst accusations of mental instability are reserved for the lighter and much more Christian etc. The mainstream media has shamelessly designated the role of terrorists to Muslims, Arabs and the like.
Years ago I found myself falling prey to this boorish disposition, as I noticeably cringed one evening while reading the news – seeing the word “terrorist” make its usual debut, dreading the name I would find and the mention of his or her faith soon after. This lethal expectation implanted in day-to-day news became my own, all while not even noticing it. The question I pose now is: how many Muslims assumed the criminal behind the Labor Party Youth Camp shooting was a Muslim? I have read for pages and pages how many non-Muslims made this swift presumption but I must concede that due to the years of heightened Islamophobia Muslims are finding themselves isolated and continue to find it necessary to defend their faith and each other.
Terrorism, in accordance to US-based foreign policy, has a face and a religion and for many years Muslims have been forced into becoming the defense attorney’s of their faith and their religious community. Accusations of not being “American” enough in a post-9/11 world have sent many into a nationalistic tail-spin. They must hang an American flag on their door-step, sing-along to the national anthem, slap a patriotic sticker on their vehicle. They have to prove themselves worthy, to prove they are not “one of them”.
When Mosque’s are vandalized and burned the blame, some-how, is directed back at the Muslim community. Well why did they build a Mosque here? Why can’t they just pray at home? Do they have to have a Mosque here anyways?
The terms “terrorism” and “fundamentalism” are being used to scare entire communities into a corner all the while there are many profiting from this fear-mongering. From Pamela Geller to Robert Spencer. The “creeping Shari’a” crowd has been getting louder and ever more erratic. Even after the devastation in Norway Muslims are being dragged into the conversation, many having the audacity to accuse Muslims of being the reason behind his “madness” as Breivik was specifically hostile towards Islam.
Breivik’s recent statements to police and the court paint the picture of a man hostile toward multicultural societies and harboring strong xenophobic opinions, especially toward Norway’s more recent immigrants from Muslim countries.
It is important and arguably necessary to mark Breivik’s destruction and blatant disregard of innocent life as an act of terrorism. In the face of growing xenophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry this is a reminder that terrorism has no face, no color, and no religion by which one can simply apply a set of definite measurements. Breivik was a blonde, European Christian fundamentalist who did not commit an act of simple madness, no – it was a blatant act of terrorism.
Despite what many may pleasurably argue, terrorism is not one-size fits all.
Families Cry Out for Palestinian Prisoners -- Eva Bartlett
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EXCERPT:
EXCERPT:
GAZA CITY, Jul 25, 2011 (IPS) - "We could enter the Guinness book of records for the longest running weekly sit- ins in the world," Nasser Farrah, from the Palestinian Prisoners' Association, jokes dryly. Since 1995, Palestinian women from Beit Hanoun to Rafah have met every Monday outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Gaza City, holding photos and posters of their imprisoned loved ones, calling on the ICRC to ensure the human rights of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel's 24 prisons and detention centres.
Since 2007, the sit-ins have taken on greater significance: Gaza families want Israel to re-grant them the right – under international humanitarian law – to visit their imprisoned family members. This right was taken from Gaza's families in 2007, after the Israeli tank gunner Gilad Shalit was taken by Palestinian resistance from alongside the Gaza border where he was on active duty.
The sit-ins have grown, with over 200 women and men showing up weekly. On Jul. 11, ICRC and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) helped facilitate a demonstration from the ICRC office to the unknown soldier park, Jundi, to protest the ban on Palestinians from Gaza visiting their imprisoned loved ones.
"We can't send letters, we can't see him, we can't talk to him," says Umm Ahmed of her 32-year-old son. Ahmed Abu Ghazi was imprisoned four years ago and sentenced to 16 years in Israeli prison.
"Because we have no connection with him, every Monday we go to the Red Cross. But nothing changes. Last week we slept outside the Red Cross, waiting for them to help us talk to our sons and daughters," Umm Ahmed says.
"While our sons are in prison, their parents might die without seeing them again."
For Palestinian prisoner Bilal Adyani, from Deir al-Balah, such was the case. On Jul. 11, Adayni's father died, after waiting for years to see his son again. The ICRC reports that over 30 relatives of Palestinian prisoners have died since the prison visits were cut.
Umm Bilal, an elderly woman in a simple white headscarf, walks among the demonstrators, holding a plastic-framed photo of her son when he was 16. The teen wears a black dress shirt, has combed and gelled hair, and smiles easily to the camera.
"Twenty years, ten months, he's been in prison. I haven't been allowed to visit him in eight years," says Umm Bilal.
"The prison canteen should sell phone cards, clothes, or food, but Israel is making it difficult now. He wanted to study but in prison but he hasn't been allowed."
In December 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled with the Israeli government to deny families from Gaza visitation rights to prisoners in Israeli prisons. Among the stated reasons for the Court's decision were that "family visits are not a basic humanitarian need for Gaza residents" and that there was no need for family visits since prisoners could obtain basic supplies through the prison canteen.
In June, 2011, Israeli Prison Service is reported to have taken away various rights of prisoners, including that allowing prisoners to enroll in universities, and blocked cell phone use.
"The world is calling for Shalit to be released. But he is just one man, a soldier," says Umm Bilal. "Many Palestinian prisoners were taken from their homes. Shalit was in his tank when he was taken. Those tanks shoot on Gaza, kill our people, destroy our land. Take Shalit, but release our prisoners."
According to Nasser Farrah, "there are over 7,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including nearly 40 women and over 300 children. Seven hundred prisoners are from the Gaza Strip."
Other estimates range from 7,500 to 11,000 Palestinian prisoners. "The ‘over 7000’ does not include the thousands of Palestinians who are regularly taken by the Israelis in the occupied West Bank, and even from Gaza, as well as those held in administrative detention for varying periods," Farrah notes.
Under administrative detention, Palestinians, including minors, are denied trial and imprisoned for renewable periods, with many imprisoned between six months to six years.
According to B'Tselem, as of February 2011, Israel is holding 214 Palestinians under administrative detention.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prevents forcible transfers of people from occupied territory. But Israel has been doing just that since 1967, and has imprisoned over 700,000 Palestinian men, women and children according to the UN.
Aside from denial of family visits, higher education, and canteen supplies, roughly 1,500 Palestinian prisoners are believed to be seriously ill, and are denied adequate healthcare.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
"Norway's Attacks Reveal World of Hatred" -- Ahmed Moor
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Initial reactions to the attacks in Norway showed a "clash of civilisations" exists, but not in the way many understood.The Norwegian terrorist who murdered more than ninety innocent civilians - many of whom were teenagers - did not act alone. Or rather, he acted within a cultural and political context that legitimises his fearful and hate-infested worldview. It is now clear that Anders Behring Breivik was exposed to large amounts of right-wing propaganda. This tragedy underlines the urgency with which normal people around the world must combat fundamentalist nationalists and chauvinists wherever they may be. But it also demonstrates the extent to which reactionary bigotry has infected mainstream thought.
Many reacted to the news from Oslo with wide eyes and a pointed finger. The most animated reactionaries took to the pages of the New York Times comment section to issue sweeping proclamations about the Clash of Civilisations and something called "the cult of death". In many ways, readers were merely reinforcing the paper's woefully editorialised reportage. As Glenn Greenwald helpfully pointed out, the editors of the NYT - America's allegedly liberal newspaper - reserve the word "terrorist" solely for use in conjunction with the word "Muslim".
When news emerged that the perpetrator of the murders - the terrorist - was a man whose religion and skin pigmentation closely resembled those of the editors of the NYT, the story changed. The terrorist became a deranged "Christian extremist" whose tactics clearly mirrored "Al Qaeda's brutality and multiple attacks". In that way, the paper linked the terrorist with Muslims, despite his strong antipathy for them.
Blame for the Western media's panting pursuit of a non-existent Muslim triggerman quickly focused on the feckless, credulous, overeager and inept source of the NYT's journalistic failure. Will McCants - proclaimed by one of his acolytes to be at the top of a "list of five terrorism experts you can trust" - was quickly discredited. In his defence, he only sought to affirm the confirmation bias that he and the editors of the NYT suffer from. The meme that underpins their worldview goes something like this: "Muslims are bad. When bad things happen, Muslims are responsible." This is a mainstream view in the US today; it cuts across party lines.Shaping both sides of the narrative
That the purported American left maintains this bigoted outlook is an indication of how successful the right has been at constructing the stage upon which public debate is conducted. Two main anti-Muslim talking points are now taken for granted in this country: First, all terrorists in the West are Muslims; second, we are in the midst of a global civilisational war. These are the dual planks upon which Uncle Sam squats in his Afghani outhouse.
Objective sources have done an excellent job of discrediting the first of the two claims that inform the 21st century American experience. The second point however - that we are engaged in a war of civilisations - is one that I agree with. But the combatants are not Islam and the West. Instead, the war is between the normal, sane people of the world and the right-wing zealots who see doom, destruction, hellfire and God's Will at every turn.
Anders Behring Breivik, Mohammed Atta and Baruch Goldstein are all cut from the same rotten cloth. Anwar Al-Awlaki and Glenn Beck - the peddlers of the faith - all share the same core afflictions.
These men are insecure, violently inclined, and illiberal. The outside world scares them. They hate homosexuals and strong women. For them, difference is a source of insecurity. Their values are militarism, conformism, chauvinism and jingoism. Worst of all they seek to pressure us into compliance while they work frantically to destroy themselves - and the rest of us with them.The war continues
All indications are that the hate-mongers - who are on the same side of this war, irrespective of religion - are winning in America. The unreflective, superficial, wan editors of the NYT are an indication of just how successful the right wing has been at eviscerating the left.
But not all liberals are created equal.
It is a credit to the Norwegian people that their prime minister did not respond to the terror attack with scorched-earth rhetoric or a carpet-bombing campaign. A real liberal with strong principles, he did not succumb to fear or vicious speculation.
Instead, he pledged to strengthen Norwegian democracy. This is what he said shortly after the terrorist attacks: "Our answer is more democracy, more openness to show that we will not be stopped by this kind of violence." His words illustrate the difference between a society that takes liberal principles as a foundation and one that treats them as an inconvenient luxury.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's words make it clear where Norway stands on the global war on right-wing extremism. Where does the US stand?
Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American freelance journalist based in Cairo. He was born in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Norway, Islam and the threat of the West -- Ibrahim Hewitt, Al Jazeera
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Dismissing this murderous act as the work of "a lone madman" ignores a more detailed study of the killer's motivation.
A few years ago, the respected Cambridge scholar T J Winter, also known by his Muslim name of Abdal Hakim Murad, gave a fascinating lecture to Humanities staff and students at the University of Leicester. The title was "Islam and the threat of the West", turning on its head the more usual - then and now - "Islam and the threat to the West".
It was a novel approach which, in a nutshell, illustrated that, historically, aggression has been directed more from Europe to the Muslim world than the other way round. His evidence for such a view was impeccably sourced.
I thought about Abdal Hakim's talk this morning as I read the reports coming in of the dreadful bombing and shooting in Norway wherein, of course, there was speculation that these two events were "Islamic-terror related". No doubt we will learn more over the coming days, but the early signs are, in fact, that the perpetrator was a "blond, blue-eyed Norwegian" with "political traits towards the right, and anti-Muslim views". Not surprisingly, the man's intentions were neither linked to these "traits", nor to his postings on "websites with Christian fundamentalist tendencies". Any influence "remains to be seen"; echoes of Oklahoma 1995.
Interestingly, this criminal is described by one unnamed Norwegian official as a "madman". He may well be, but this is one way that the motivations for heinous crimes can be airbrushed out of the story before they have the chance to take hold in the popular imagination.
Closing the book
In 1969, for example, an Australian Jew who set fire to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem was dismissed as a "madman" and sent for psychiatric treatment; end of story. The right-wing Jewish fundamentalists plotting to destroy the mosque, and the nearby Dome of the Rock, lived to fight another day. I suspect that that is what will happen with the Norwegian bomber/shooter; his right-wing links and Christian fundamentalist contacts will be dismissed as irrelevant. This, we will be told, was the work of a "deranged" person "acting independently". Ergo, the only organised "terror threats" to civilisation are still "Islamic-related" and the focus of anti-terror legislation and efforts must remain in the Muslim world and on Muslim communities in Europe and the USA.
If we allow this to happen, we will be doing the world a great disservice, not least because the new right is on the rise across the West - and Oklahoma was proof that its followers are capable of immense destruction.
Neo-Nazi immigrants from Eastern Europe have even been active in Israel where the government, while deploring such far-right activity in its midst is actually edging ever more to the far-right on a daily basis. Ministers advocate the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in order to purify Israel as a "Jewish state"; precious human rights for which the world has struggled are overridden in the name of "state security"; criminals in uniform are allowed to get away, quite literally, with murder.
All of this takes place with the collusion of Western governments which are themselves showing right-wing tendencies towards double-speak on matters of respect and tolerance for minorities. If you are even remotely "different" in Europe today, especially if you are a Muslim, you are eyed with suspicion and must go out of your way to "prove" your loyalty to a state which, if the truth was made known, would get rid of you if only it had the guts to pass the necessary legislation to do so. In some cases, such legislation is virtually in place in the guise of "anti-terror" measures.
All of this is backed by a vociferous and influential right-wing media which supports Israel right or wrong - and a pro-Israel lobby which acts as if it is untouchable. Given the political context across the West, it probably is.
Attacks against the left
It is significant that the target of the Norwegian "madman" appears to have been the left-leaning Labour Party, both in Oslo and on the island where the shootings took place. Across Europe, the left has been forming alliances with Muslim groups to fight fascism and racism of all kinds, and it cannot be a coincidence that a collection of essays from across the continent, published in 1997, concluded almost without exception that "the challenge" facing Europe was the presence of large Muslim communities in "our" midst. Anyone who claims therefore, that the perpetrator's "right-wing traits" and "anti-Muslim views", or even links with "Christian fundamentalist" websites are irrelevant is trying to draw a veil over the unacceptable truths of such "traits" and expecting us to believe that right-wing ideology is incapable of prompting someone towards such criminality.
Of course, that idea is nonsensical. Right-wing ideology was behind the Holocaust; it has been behind most anti-Semitism and other racism around the world; the notion of Europe's and Europeans' racial superiority - giving cultural credibility to the far-right - gave rise to the slave trade and the scramble for Africa leading to untold atrocities against "the Other"; ditto in the Middle and Far East. Ironically, it is also far-right Zionism - far from the socialist myths of Zionist pioneers in the 1930s and before - which has been behind the ethnic cleansing of Palestine throughout the 20th century, right up to today, as a specific policy to be pursued - by military means if necessary.
This is well-documented and yet ignored by our political masters. In the context of the latest apparently far-right atrocities in Norway, it is equally ironic that the word in English for a traitor who collaborates with an enemy power stems from Major Vidkun Quisling who ruled Norway on behalf of Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
We dismiss this "madman" as a one-off "not linked to any international terrorist organisations" at our peril. If nothing else, history has shown us that such ideologies are trans-national across and beyond the West, with catastrophic effects on the rest of the world. We have been warned.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Native American Activist Leonard Peltier “in the Hellhole” of Solitary Confinement
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Native American Activist Leonard Peltier “in the Hellhole” of Solitary Confinement
July 19, 2011
Sal Rodriguez
solitarywatch.com
Native American Activist Leonard Peltier “in the Hellhole” of Solitary Confinement
July 19, 2011
Sal Rodriguez
solitarywatch.com
American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier has been removed from general population and placed into solitary confinement at USP Lewisburg since June 27th. The 66-year old inmate has been ordered to spend 6 months in solitary stemming from various petty infractions, according to his attorney, Robert R. Bryan.[More information on Leonard Peltier can be found at http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/.]
Peltier, in a letter to his attorney, described the cell as a “cement steel hotbox” with little ventilation (a 1.5 inch slot under the door is the primary source of cool air). Due to the lack of suitable ventilation coupled with the heat of the summer, he has been “drenched in hot sweat” and indicated he had to stop many times while writing the letter due to difficulty concentrating in the cell. “My client has been put in the hellhole,” said Bryan.
Allotted five one-hour periods of exercise, Peltier spends 23 hours in a cell five days a week. The exercise is “in a cage” where water isn’t allowed. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he is allowed to shower. For the other two days, he is in his cell 24 hours. He is not allowed any personal visits.
According to a note that Peltier had written at the time, he had been preparing to eat breakfast the morning of June 27th when guards entered his cell and began “disrespecting my religious items” and “threatened to lock me into solitary.”
According to the prison’s first incident report, dated 06/27/2011:
[T]his officer reviewed a letter being sent by inmate Peltier…In this letter, inmate Peltier has enclosed a bank note of 20 pounds, in Scottish currency. In the enclosed letter, inmate admits to receiving the bank note in the mail. It is obvious that inmate Peltier was in possession of money that was not authorized.
Peltier received a letter the previous day from a supporter in Scotland that contained a 20-pound note and had been inspected by the mailroom. Peltier had asked the mailroom to send back the enclosed money, but this request wasn’t followed up. He then addressed a letter to a friend and enclosed the note so as to send the money out of his cell and out of the prison, knowing that possession of unauthorized money was a violation of prison rules. This letter was intercepted at 8:00 a.m., prompting guards to search his cell at 9:45 a.m.
According to a second prison incident report, written the same day by a guard who searched Peltier’s cell:
[W]hile performing a search…I observed two wires protruding approximately 2 inches from the wall of the cell….The wires were located on the wall above the corner post of the upper bunk.. I attempted to pull the wires out of the wall. …As I attempted to pull the wire out of the wall my grip failed, my fingers slipped on the wire and contacted the bare ends of the wire. At that time I received an electrical shock through my right hand and forearm.
Peltier was deemed guilty of “destroying, altering or damaging government property having a value in excess of $100.” Peltier, however, did not sleep on the top bunk and the wiring was manipulated by a former cellmate. In addition, because of the guard’s decision to attempt to pull the wires out of the wall, Peltier was found to have engaged in “conduct which disrupts or interferes with security or
orderly running of the institution (Most Like) assaulting any person.” “Most Like” is a provision in the Federal Bureau of Prisons Program Statement that reads: “This charge is to be used only when another charge of greatest severity is not accurate. The offending conduct must be charged as ‘most like’ one of the listed greatest severity prohibited acts.”
Prison officials deemed Peltier responsible for the shock the guard received while pulling out the exposed wires, and deemed it an act “most like” an act of assault committed by Peltier. This is a “greatest severity level” violation, meaning an inmate can be placed into segregation for up to a year. The charge of destruction of property is a “high severity level” act which can result in up to six months in segregation, and the possession of unauthorized money is a “moderate severity level” violation and could result in up to three months in segregation.
Peltier’s punishment for possessing money he had refused and attempted to send away, for being deemed guilty for the actions of a prior cellmate, and for “assaulting” a guard who chose to touch live wires is only the latest of the injustices that Peltier has faced.
Peltier was convicted of the 1975 killing of two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, which took place at the height of the American Indian Movement’s efforts to gain public attention regarding the plight of Native American tribes, the abuses of the United States government against Native Americans, and a wave of unsolved murders in tribal territories. The subject of a 1992 documentary and a European Parliament resolution of support, Peltier has always maintained his innocence. Critics have raised serious questions about the fairness of his trial, and he is considered by many to be a political prisoner.
The United States Penitentiary at Lewisburg is the oldest prison in the federal system, and one of the most notorious. Since 2009, it has also been one of the most heavily locked-down. In the words of the Bureau of Prisons, Lewisburg is now being “run entirely as a Special Management Unit (SMU) institution to operate as a more controlled and restrictive environment for managing the most
aggressive and disruptive inmates from USP general population.” Peltier was sent there in 2008 not for any disciplinary infractions, but
because he was the victim of a beating by younger prisoners at another federal facility. “They’re hoping he’ll die there, that he’ll be forgotten there,” maintains his attorney.”
Peltier has been in poor health in recent years, suffering from hypertension, diabetes, and exhibiting symptoms of cancer. This is of particular concern given the vast literature pointing to significant detrimental effects of solitary confinement on both psychological and physical health, particularly when there are pre-existing conditions.
Peltier’s attorney has indicated that the placement into solitary confinement has slowed correspondence. A legal call has been delayed for several days and the prison has been slow to providing Peltier with the instruments necessary to write and send letters necessary for his legal proceedings.
Says attorney Bryan: “Prison officials are using this as an excuse to punish and torture my 66-year-old client. His health is poor because of decades of imprisonment. He needs to be placed back into the general population.”
Monday, July 18, 2011
Dignité on the last leg of voyage to Gaza
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For Immediate Release
Dignité on the last leg of voyage to Gaza: Small French ship carrying message that cannot be silenced
[ ATHENS] The Steering Committee of Freedom Flotilla II: Stay Human can confirm, that after anchoring in international waters overnight, the French-flagged ship Dignité / Karama has commenced the last leg of its voyage to Gaza. We wish all on board well and remind Israel to refrain from interfering with our vessel as it makes its way through the illegal and immoral sea blockade it has imposed on the Gaza Strip.
It is in large part because the Dignité commenced its voyage from a French port and the French government refused to interfere with this civilian human rights initiative that the ship continues its mission. The Dignité and its passengers – from France, Canada, Greece, Sweden, and Tunisa – represent a flotilla that was delayed by acts of sabotage and by an egregious act of complicity by the Greek government with Israel’s human rights violations and policy towards Gaza that the International Committee of the Red Cross determined to be “collective punishment.” But they also represent the steadfastness and determination of the flotilla movement to sail until the blockade is broken. The idea that Freedom Flotilla II could be stopped misunderstands the nature of this non-violent movement and its strength of purpose.
Despite most of the ships being unable to leave Greek ports, the flotilla nonetheless managed to highlight the vicious nature of Israel’s policy towards Gaza. Israeli leaders showed their willingness to use intimidation, lies, economic blackmail, threats of violence, and sabotage to stop boats that Israeli military officials admitted would not be carrying weapons. This clearly demonstrates that Israel’s blockade of Gaza is not based on “security”, but is meant to punish the Palestinian people, denying their freedom and keeping them cut off from the rest of the world.
Israel believes itself untouchable and continues its affront to humanity as a result of the international community’s failure to take tangible measures to defend Palestinian human rights. Indeed, as we have seen recently in Greece, some significant players – including the EU and the US – are even directly complicit in Israel’s crimes. This is why international civil society has mobilized to take direct action.
We cannot predict how Israel will behave as the Dignité approaches Gaza but we can say that – just as Israeli threats and violence have failed in the past to deter non-violent global solidarity with the people of Palestine – those on board this small French ship intend to reach their destination. The Dignité carries a message of solidarity and human empathy from the people of the world to the people of Gaza, and all of Palestine, that Israel’s violence can never silence.
While the Dignité continues to sail to Gaza, proving that the will of global civil society cannot be intimidated, the remaining ships in Freedom Flotilla II: Stay Human are regrouping to fulfill our obligations to the besieged people of Gaza and to the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people around the world who funded and organized this act of solidarity.
As long as the illegal blockade of Gaza remains in place, ships will sail to confront it; as long as Israel continues its occupation, colonization, and violent repression of Palestinians and our governments are silent about it, the global solidarity movement will mobilize to challenge it directly.
History shows that Israel is running out of options; we are only getting stronger.
For more information:
Huwaida Arraf (US): +1-202-294-8813
Alex Harrison (London): +44-759-485-7448
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein (Jerusalem): +972-547-366-393
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
"The Erasure of History (Israel Gives Go-ahead to Desecration of Mamilla Cemetery)"
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EXCERPT:
It's official: on Tuesday, the Israeli government gave the Simon Wiesenthal Center the go-ahead to begin digging the foundation of its so-called Museum of Tolerance, a name that would be ironic if Israel's political discourse hadn't become so mutilated that words like"tolerance" had simply stopped meaning anything. The museum is set to be built on the site of Jerusalem's Mamilla cemetery, a storied Muslim burial ground that dates to the 7th Century. Already hundreds of graves have been dug up and desecrated to make room for the angled planes of the Tolerance center, and the museum's construction crews are now free to build on thousands more.
The news that Israel's Interior Ministry has approved the museum's building plans was not unexpected but it is still devastating. It is the final defeat in nearly a decade's worth of efforts by Palestinians, Israelis, academics, and human rights groups to stop the desecration. Or rather, it is the final nail in the coffin of a desperate bid to save a sacred piece of Palestinian history -- before that coffin gets dug up and re-buried, that is.
The historical and religious importance of Mamilla cemetery (originally the Ma’man Allah cemetery) is well documented. Situated half a kilometer west of the Old City's walls, the cemetery is reputed to contain the remains of some of Jerusalem's oldest, most celebrated families as well as those of religious leaders, pilgrims, officers and soldiers of Saladin's army, every-day Jerusalemites, and even companions of the Prophet Muhammad. In its graves lie the secrets and stories of centuries of Palestinian history, most if not all of which managed to survived Persian siege, Christian crusades, Ottoman conquest, and British rule. Indeed, it was only after west Jerusalem was absorbed into Israel in 1948 that the "indignities" began, as Rashid Khalidi explains in an elegant essay recently published in Jadaliyya. (Khalidi's ancestors are, or at least were, among those buried in the Mamilla Cemetery, and he has been a leader of the Campaign to Preserve Mamilla Jerusalem Cemetery.)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
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