.
So, the Rachel Corrie was captured; the Israel government has rejected any plans to hold an independent inquiry into the killing of 9 activists aboard the Mavi Marmara; and, in fact, the soldier who killed 6 of these 9 people is up for a medal of valour. Bloody brilliant. Shameless...
I think one of the most shocking things to come out of the past few days has been the posting of this video. It is footage of members of the Knesset railing on Hanin Zoabi (a Palestinian Israeli member of the Knesset) after she defends the Gaza aid flotilla (which she herself was on). The racism and intolerance emphasised here is truly disgusting. Hats off to Ms. Zoabi for her courage and conviction.
However, a good bit of news on the flotilla front is the development of a Jewish flotilla (started by a German Jewish organisation 'Jewish Voice for Peace in the Middle East') to depart with aid for Gaza. They are intending to pick up passengers at a Mediterranean port (underdetermined at this time), both Jewish and non-Jewish/German and non-German passengers are welcome. We need to publicise this!! Send them money!! Join them if we can!! Jews must show that we are against the hypocrisy and human rights violations that are happening in our name!!
Here is an inspiring article by Alice Walker in the Electronic Intifada. I hope we can all try to follow her example and stand up for what is right...
Monday, 7 June 2010
Friday, 4 June 2010
Iran: Khomeini's death, Khamenei's speech...
.
I know that a comment on the Gaza aid flotilla is warranted; however, today I must discuss Iran, as it is quite an important day in the run up to the 12 June anniversary of the stolen presidential election. Today marks the anniversary of Ruallah Khomeini’s (‘father of the Revolution’) death, and it is definitely an important anniversary. Today, for the first time since 19 June 2009 (a week after the ‘election’ and the day before the now famous Neda was shot down by a sniper in the streets of Tehran) Ayatollah Khamenei is leading Friday Prayers. At the time of writing this, the only information I can garner on his address is from Press TV (I hate to cite them but it’s all I got at the moment), which reports on his bashing of the ‘evil Zionists and their allies’ for the storming of the Gaza aid flotilla. I gotta say that Khamenei and his cohorts owe a huge THANK YOU to the Israeli government; they have provided such a convenient deflection from the actual internal issues in Iran.
For those of us who have been following the election aftermath closely – i.e. the burgeoning of the so-called Green Movement – we will remember that Khamenei’s last speech was far from conciliatory. In fact, it was a carte blanche statement for the government forces to unleash the first wave of their brutal crackdown. Will he even mention the opposition movement? If so, will this be a repeat of the last performance? Will this act as a warning to opposition supporters that they will meet the (heavily armed) hand of the government’s forces should they choose to take to the street on the anniversary of the election (only a week away)? Who knows...
I’m still waiting on the update from Enduring America, my lifeline for information on Iran. I do find it interesting that the majority of the media has chosen not to comment on this event. But, in truth, it’s not so surprising. After the first week or so of demonstrations in June 2009, the mainstream media (not so) slowly lost interest in this movement, and over the past year it has become clear that one needs to follow alternative forms of media if one wants to know about something other than the international nuclear teeter-totter between the idiots who represent this country and the idiots who represent that country. Frankly, I couldn’t give a crap about the nuclear issue as regards Iran. In my opinion, it is all just posturing and deflection from the real issue; deflection that Western governments are all too happy to jump on board with.
So, I will wait. Let’s see what Khamenei has up his sleeve...more to come.
Update:
Khamenei of course did mention the opposition, but really had nothing new to say. Straying from the path of the Revolution...yada yada yada...in cahoots with foreign enemies...blah blah blah...the Iranian people showed their dedication to the system...yada yada yada...Satan is pushing you down the wrong path.
So, in the end, there is nothing newsworthy to report. Maybe he was feeling a bit sleepy last night and just decided to recycle one of his old speeches. I’m sure I could find a report of an identical speech if I cared enough to look, but I really can’t be asked.
Until next time...
I know that a comment on the Gaza aid flotilla is warranted; however, today I must discuss Iran, as it is quite an important day in the run up to the 12 June anniversary of the stolen presidential election. Today marks the anniversary of Ruallah Khomeini’s (‘father of the Revolution’) death, and it is definitely an important anniversary. Today, for the first time since 19 June 2009 (a week after the ‘election’ and the day before the now famous Neda was shot down by a sniper in the streets of Tehran) Ayatollah Khamenei is leading Friday Prayers. At the time of writing this, the only information I can garner on his address is from Press TV (I hate to cite them but it’s all I got at the moment), which reports on his bashing of the ‘evil Zionists and their allies’ for the storming of the Gaza aid flotilla. I gotta say that Khamenei and his cohorts owe a huge THANK YOU to the Israeli government; they have provided such a convenient deflection from the actual internal issues in Iran.
For those of us who have been following the election aftermath closely – i.e. the burgeoning of the so-called Green Movement – we will remember that Khamenei’s last speech was far from conciliatory. In fact, it was a carte blanche statement for the government forces to unleash the first wave of their brutal crackdown. Will he even mention the opposition movement? If so, will this be a repeat of the last performance? Will this act as a warning to opposition supporters that they will meet the (heavily armed) hand of the government’s forces should they choose to take to the street on the anniversary of the election (only a week away)? Who knows...
I’m still waiting on the update from Enduring America, my lifeline for information on Iran. I do find it interesting that the majority of the media has chosen not to comment on this event. But, in truth, it’s not so surprising. After the first week or so of demonstrations in June 2009, the mainstream media (not so) slowly lost interest in this movement, and over the past year it has become clear that one needs to follow alternative forms of media if one wants to know about something other than the international nuclear teeter-totter between the idiots who represent this country and the idiots who represent that country. Frankly, I couldn’t give a crap about the nuclear issue as regards Iran. In my opinion, it is all just posturing and deflection from the real issue; deflection that Western governments are all too happy to jump on board with.
So, I will wait. Let’s see what Khamenei has up his sleeve...more to come.
Update:
Khamenei of course did mention the opposition, but really had nothing new to say. Straying from the path of the Revolution...yada yada yada...in cahoots with foreign enemies...blah blah blah...the Iranian people showed their dedication to the system...yada yada yada...Satan is pushing you down the wrong path.
So, in the end, there is nothing newsworthy to report. Maybe he was feeling a bit sleepy last night and just decided to recycle one of his old speeches. I’m sure I could find a report of an identical speech if I cared enough to look, but I really can’t be asked.
Until next time...
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Salaam To All
.
I have decided to start writing this blog after much deliberation on my behalf and, frankly, a lot of prodding from those around me. There are many blogs out there discussing conflicts in the Middle East from various perspectives, but hopefully this won’t be ‘just another one’. What I will really be discussing here are issues of human rights, plain and simple. My personal involvement steers me towards the issue of Israel/Palestine, but I also recognise that it is not possible to look at one area in the Middle East as if it were in a vacuum. Given that this is a particularly geopolitically sensitive region, it would be doing a great disservice not to look at what is taking place around this conflict as well.
As the title of this blog would suggest, I am a, somewhat, angry Jew. I am angered by the shameless violations of Palestinian rights (essentially, the lackthereof at this point) by the Israeli state; I am angered by the constant conflation of ‘anti-Semitism’ with anti-Zionism and anti-occupationism (that’s not really a word, but you know what I mean); and I am angered by the Israeli (and diasporic) propaganda machine that would seek to brand us all as devotees of their rogue state and its racist policies. I find it thoroughly offensive that the banner of ‘remembering the Holocaust’ is used to perpetrate crimes against other people. I mean, seriously, that’s some messed up shit. Why does it seem like there are so few of ‘us’ who recognise that? Those who do speak out are met with a barrage of verbal abuse from members of their/our so called ‘community’. On a personal level, I (as well as I’m sure many of you out there) am constantly on the ropes with my family, and often the target of slurs of anti-Semite, traitor, and self-hater. For the record, I do not hate myself; I actually quite fancy myself ☺. What I hate is the excusing and legitimising of racist and inhumane policies with arguments of ‘our own’ victimisation. This, to me, makes no sense.
I am hoping that this blog will help me to take things a step further. At some point, protesting, signing petitions, and personal argumentation (including via facebook of course ☺) just isn’t enough. Not saying at all that starting a blog is any kind of earth shattering, or peace precipitating, move; but getting the word out on a grander scale can’t hurt can it?
I will get into detailed discussion in further posts. Until then…
Salaam to all…
I have decided to start writing this blog after much deliberation on my behalf and, frankly, a lot of prodding from those around me. There are many blogs out there discussing conflicts in the Middle East from various perspectives, but hopefully this won’t be ‘just another one’. What I will really be discussing here are issues of human rights, plain and simple. My personal involvement steers me towards the issue of Israel/Palestine, but I also recognise that it is not possible to look at one area in the Middle East as if it were in a vacuum. Given that this is a particularly geopolitically sensitive region, it would be doing a great disservice not to look at what is taking place around this conflict as well.
As the title of this blog would suggest, I am a, somewhat, angry Jew. I am angered by the shameless violations of Palestinian rights (essentially, the lackthereof at this point) by the Israeli state; I am angered by the constant conflation of ‘anti-Semitism’ with anti-Zionism and anti-occupationism (that’s not really a word, but you know what I mean); and I am angered by the Israeli (and diasporic) propaganda machine that would seek to brand us all as devotees of their rogue state and its racist policies. I find it thoroughly offensive that the banner of ‘remembering the Holocaust’ is used to perpetrate crimes against other people. I mean, seriously, that’s some messed up shit. Why does it seem like there are so few of ‘us’ who recognise that? Those who do speak out are met with a barrage of verbal abuse from members of their/our so called ‘community’. On a personal level, I (as well as I’m sure many of you out there) am constantly on the ropes with my family, and often the target of slurs of anti-Semite, traitor, and self-hater. For the record, I do not hate myself; I actually quite fancy myself ☺. What I hate is the excusing and legitimising of racist and inhumane policies with arguments of ‘our own’ victimisation. This, to me, makes no sense.
I am hoping that this blog will help me to take things a step further. At some point, protesting, signing petitions, and personal argumentation (including via facebook of course ☺) just isn’t enough. Not saying at all that starting a blog is any kind of earth shattering, or peace precipitating, move; but getting the word out on a grander scale can’t hurt can it?
I will get into detailed discussion in further posts. Until then…
Salaam to all…
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