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Israel’s student debate champions are “hasbara” agents for the state, says their coach

By Ali Abunimah – The Electronic Intifada – 01/10/2012
Hasbarists considered it a victory that students from Ireland “a particularly hostile country” affixed a Star of David to the Irish flag. Hebrew caption says “Winning at hasbara.” (Ynet)

Last week, Israeli media were filled with pride and praise for Omer and Sela Nevo, two brothers and students from Tel Aviv University who won the World Universities Debating Championships in the English as Second Language category, held in Manila.

The English edition of Israel’s Ynet reported on it briefly, noting:

Six months ago, the two won first place at the European championship held in Ireland. Also, this is the second time in the past three years that an Israeli team has won the world championship.

Student debaters as undeclared agents of the state

“So what” you might ask? Isn’t this just Israeli youth being like youth from all over the world and excelling in an international contest? Not according to the debate team’s coach, Yoni Cohen-Idov, himself a former debate champion, who explained that one of the main purposes of Israeli debate is hasbara – propaganda – for the state. Indeed, Cohen-Idov stresses that the effectiveness of student hasbara agents stems from the very fact that “they are not understood to be ‘agents’ of the state.”

Writing in the Hebrew edition of Ynet on 5 January, translated for The Electronic Intifada by Dena Shunra, Cohen-Idov explained (emphasis added):

Israeli debate has an important goal: hasbara. There is one place in this world where students from the National Muslim University in Malaysia embrace Israelis after they clobber them, where Catholic students from Ireland (a particularly hostile country) stick a blue Star of David on their national flag, and Turks wave blue and white banners – and that is the debating stage.

Israel’s debaters are the best ambassadors that the state can offer: they can convey a message, be persuasive, talk to an audience, function under pressure – and they are not understood to be “agents” of the state. You should have seen the compassion shown by Iraqi students to explanations by the Israeli delegation during the world competition, during Cast Lead, in order to understand what I’m talking about.

Despite this, most Israelis – including government offices and authorities – have not yet understood the meaning of that foreign word, and they are somewhat amused at the fact that we’re learning and teaching how to argue. Initiatives of many debaters to help with Israeli hasbara, even on a volunteer basis, met with no response; even in educational institutions, the penny hasn’t entirely dropped. The whole world is already in on the secret of debating, and sees Israel as an empire. It’s time for us to wise up, too, and start using our excellent debaters for goals that are even more important than bringing in wholesale quantities of trophies.

While debate ought to be about quick and critical thinking, the Cohen-Idov is eager for his charges to become – voluntarily – mouthpieces of state propaganda, even explaining away Israel’s Gaza massacre (“Operation Cast Lead”) to Iraqis.

This eagerness to recruit students into state propaganda efforts fits into a broader context where the National Union of Israeli Students is involved in several state propaganda efforts including paying students for spreading Israel’s message online, and subjecting students to compulsory Ministry of Hasbara training before sending them on foreign delegations.

Apparently, conquering the flag of “hostile” Ireland is the next great victory.

January 10, 2012 Posted by | Deception, Timeless or most popular | Leave a comment

Military court approves illegal interrogation of a minor

10 January 2012 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Major Sharon Rivlin, a judge at the Ofer Military Court, accepted as admissible the testimony of a 14 year-old Palestinian boy who was unlawfully arrested in the dead of night, questioned without being allowed sleep, denied his right to legal counsel and not told of his right to remain silent.

A motion to rule inadmissible the confession of 14 year-old Islam Dar Ayyoub from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh was denied by a military judge yesterday. The motion was part of a trial-within-a-trial procedure at the Ofer Military Court, where the boy is being charged with throwing stones. During the trial, it was proven that the boy’s interrogation was fundamentally flawed and violated the rights set forth in the Israeli Youth Law in the following ways:

The boy was arrested at gunpoint in the dead of night, during a violent military raid on his house.

  1. Despite being a minor, he was denied sleep in the period between his arrest and questioning, which began the following morning and lasted over 5 hours.
  2. Despite being told he would be allowed to see a lawyer, he was denied legal counsel, although his lawyer appeared at the police station requesting to see him.
  3. He was denied his right to have a parent present during his questioning. The testimony of one of his interrogators before the court suggests that he believes Palestinian minors do not enjoy this right.
  4. He was not informed of his right to remain silent, and was even told by his interrogators that he “must tell of everything that happened.”
  5. Only one of four interrogators who participated in the questioning was a qualified youth interrogator.

The above mentioned Israeli Youth Law and the protection it is meant to ensure for minors during their interrogations is not officially part of the Israeli military code for trying Palestinians in Israeli military courts. However, the Military Court of Appeals repeatedly ruled that it should be applied when interrogating Palestinian minors in the Occupied Territories nonetheless.

Nevertheless, the military judge determined that the boy’s confession should not be ruled inadmissible, saying that “In my opinion, the infringement on the defendant’s rights in this concrete case, did not amount to a violation of his right in a way that will sufficiently endanger his right to a fair trial […].” The decision was made despite a psychiatric expert opinion handed to the court which determined that a boy of 14 undergoing such an interrogation could not be considered to have given a statement of his own free will.

Adv Gaby Lasky, the boy’s lawyer, said, “A reality in which the military court decides to accept the confession of a 14 year-old as admissible evidence despite severe and undisputed violation of his rights during both his arrest and interrogation, is unacceptable. It is an incomprehensible decision, unveiling the fact that legislation allegedly intended to protect minors’ rights is no more than lip service when Palestinians are concerned. This ruling sends a clear message that illegal arrest and interrogation of Palestinian minors can continue unhindered.”

See here for the defense’s closing arguments (in Hebrew).

See here for the judge’s decision (in Hebrew).

January 10, 2012 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Timeless or most popular | Leave a comment

My children keep asking me ‘will there be another war’

10 January 2012 | Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

On 10 January 2009, at around 16:30, Wafa al-Radea (39) and her sister Ghada (32) were targeted by two Israeli drone missiles while walking on Haboub street, one of the main roads in Beit Lahiya. The sisters were walking during the Israeli announced hour long ceasefire, and were on their way to a clinic nearby because Wafa felt that she was close to delivering a baby. Both women were severely injured in the attack.

“When people came to help I could hear them speak but was unable to respond. They were saying that I was dead,” remembers Wafa. While Ghada was taken to hospital with severe injuries to her legs, people had covered Wafa as they thought she was dead. Eventually an ambulance brought her to a hospital where doctors carried out a caesarean section surgery in an attempt to save her baby. It was only during the surgery the doctors realized Wafa was still alive. While her son, Iyad, was born, doctors amputated Wafa’s right leg and attempted to treat her other injuries. On 12 January both sisters were transferred to a hospital in Egypt for additional medical treatment. Wafa underwent a series of operations until the end of April and then had 3 months of rehabilitation. Wafa and Ghada returned to Gaza on 29 and 27 June 2009.

Wafa vividly remembers the months she spent in Egypt. “My clearest memory of that time is the unbearable pain caused by the changing of the bandages. It took nurses 5 to 6 hours each time. I underwent many surgeries. After an operation to transplant skin from my left thigh to a lower part of my leg, nurses removed the transplanted cells by mistake when cleaning the wound. I had to undergo the same surgery again, this time taking skin from my arms. I was screaming because of the pain. My brother Walid (25) lost consciousness and was bleeding from his nose. He couldn’t bear what was happening to me. I was very angry at everyone after the operation.” Wafa’s brother Walid was with her throughout the whole period in Egypt. She didn’t see any other relatives from Gaza. “It was very difficult for them to visit me because travelling to Egypt is costly and they had to look after the children,” she says.

Wafa is the mother of 8 children: Ehab (20), Lina (19), Hani (17), Shourouq (15), Mo’taz (13), Saher (12), Jehad (9), and Iyad (3). During her time in Egypt Wafa had limited contact with her children. She says: “in the first 3 months I couldn’t speak to my children over the phone. I refused. I was unable to talk. They were waiting for me for 6 months. The children were curious to know what happened to me.”

“When I left my children I was walking and my children had not seen my wounds. The most difficult moment was when I came back with only 1 leg and many injuries. I was a different Wafa. When I came back I was supposed to be happy and the people were supposed to be happy for seeing me but everyone was crying,” Wafa recalls. “I noticed that my children watched my every move. Jehad kept following me with his eyes, watching how I went to the living room, how I sat down. He refused to go out and play with other children. He just wanted to stay with me in the home. I was very affected by the situation of my children. They are always ready to help me whenever I try to move or do anything.”

Wafa’s eldest daughters, Lina (19) and Shourouq (16) had taken care of Iyad while their mother was in hospital in Egypt. “One of them would go to school in the morning and leave Iyad with her sister. In the afternoon it was the other way around.” She continues: “when I came home they brought Iyad and put him on my lap. He was blond and beautiful and I thought he was a nephew. I couldn’t imagine that he was my son. I asked them about Iyad and they told me that he was on my lap.” Wafa takes a lot of strength from having her children around her. She says “I am very grateful and happy for having my children. They help me with everything and keep my morale high. Even when I am sad, I would smile if my children came to me. I want them to feel that I am happy because I am with them.”

Wafa finds it difficult to accept help from her children: “I always used to be the one who would help them. Before, I used to go to the school to check on the children and walk to the market to do the shopping. Now if want to go out I must use a car. And if I want to move in the house I must use a wheelchair. I also use the walkers and if Iyad wants to take my hand I cannot give him my hand because I am afraid that I will fall. I need my hands to hold the walkers.”

Wafa received one year of physiotherapy in Gaza for her back, pelvis and her left leg. Despite several attempts, so far she has no prosthetic leg. She also still undergoes treatment for her left leg. “My leg is getting better but I am still in hospital from time to time, for example when I have inflammations. One month ago I was in hospital for 6 days. In winter my wounds hurt more and I feel pain in my pelvis, back, abdomen and legs.”

Despite constantly being confronted with the past Wafa tries to focus on the future. “I hope that our children will not have to pass through similar experiences when they are older. I wish that their lives will be better. But my children keep asking me ‘will there be another war, come again and kill us all?’ They are afraid and I see how the war negatively impacted on them,” she says.

Wafa feels great frustration over how the crime against her and her sister caused so much suffering and yet goes unpunished. “It has been 3 years since they [Israel] attacked us and there is still no response. I spoke to many people from human rights organizations about my story and what is the result of it? There is no result or action whatsoever.”

PCHR submitted a criminal complaint to the Israeli authorities on behalf of Wafa al-Radea on 07 October 2009. To-date, no response has been received.

January 10, 2012 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | Leave a comment

Third Parties Are Not Spoilers

Open Letter to the Wall Street Journal

By Ralph Nader | January 10, 2012

How unbecoming it is for the self-styled freedom-loving Wall Street Journal (“Ron Paul Nader?” Dec. 21) to use the politically bigoted word “spoiler” to describe a hypothetical Ron Paul-Libertarian party presidential run.

Why is a third-party candidate called a “spoiler” when the nominees of the Republican and Democratic parties, that have given us a spoiled political system (corrupted by the highest bidder) are never referred to in such a pejorative way? These two decaying parties do not own the voters in this country, though they act that way through their many state laws obstructing outside competition.

Since all candidates are supposed to have the equal right to run for election, then they are either all spoilers of one another in seeking votes or none of them deserve to be called “spoilers.” Candidates from smaller parties are not second-class citizens. After all, either of the major party candidates “takes away” far more votes from the other than any third party candidate does.

January 10, 2012 Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering | Leave a comment

Ballot Access Concerns

Open Letter to the New York Times

By Ralph Nader | January 10, 2012

Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. followed his declaration in the New York Times in late December that ballot access for voters “must be viewed not only as a legal issue but as a moral imperative” with a lawsuit to block an allegedly discriminatory South Carolina law. Too bad he does not feel the same way about state ballot laws that obstruct access for candidates who are not members of the Republican-Democratic Party duopoly.

Decade after decade, state laws have erected many barriers against the rights of Third Party and Independent candidates to achieve ballot status, challenge this duopoly and give voters more choices.

Neither a smug Congress nor the federal executive and judicial branches have advanced any comparable rights for candidates as they belatedly have with voter rights. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress have repulsed efforts to seek federal relief from draconian state ballot hurdles.

At the least, Congress should replace the 50 different state requirements for candidates seeking federal office with one uniform federal ballot access law closer to the far more accessible standards for candidates in all other western nations. The value of candidate rights and voter rights are mutually reinforcing.

January 10, 2012 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

Waging War against Iran is a Criminal Act, in Violation of International Law

By Prof. Francis A. Boyle | Global Research | January 7, 2012

Article 2 (3) of the United Nations Charter requires the pacific settlement of the international dispute between the United States and Iran. To the same effect is article 33 and the entirety of Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter that mandate and set up numerous procedures for the pacific settlement of the international dispute between the United States and Iran. And of course Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter prohibits both the threat and use of force by the United States against Iran.

Furthermore, both Iran and the United States are parties to the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact of 1928, upon which legal basis the Nazi Leaders were prosecuted by the United States, inter alia, at Nuremberg for Crimes against Peace, sentenced to death, and executed. In Article I thereof the States Parties “condemn recourse to war for the solution of international controversies, and renounce it, as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another.” The United States has been illegally threatening war against Iran going back to the Bush Jr. Administration. Article II requires the United States only to pursue a pacific settlement of its international dispute with Iran: “The High Contracting Parties agree that the settlement or solution of all disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them, shall never be sought except by pacific means.”

Finally, both the United States and Iran are parties to the 1899 Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. This seminal Hague Peace Convention establishes numerous mechanisms for the pacific settlement of international disputes between contracting parties that are too numerous to analyze here. But they are discussed in detail in my book Foundations of World Order (Duke University Press: 1999). According to article 27 thereof, if a serious dispute threatens to break out between contracting powers, it was the DUTY of the other contracting powers to remind them that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is open to them, and such reminder could not be treated as an unfriendly act of intervention by the disputants. Today the world needs one State party to either the 1899 Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes or the 1907 Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes to publicly remind both the United States and Iran that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, together with its International Bureau and the entirety of the 1899 Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes , are available to the two States in order to resolve their dispute in a peaceful manner.

After the terrorist assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo in June of 1914, Serbia made an offer to Austria to submit the entire dispute to “the International Tribunal of The Hague”—i.e.,to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Austria did not accept the offer, the First World War broke out, and about 10 Million Human Beings were needlessly slaughtered.

The death toll from World War III will be incalculable. Humanity must not allow our history to repeat itself! Otherwise, that could be the end of our Humanity.

Francis A. Boyle is Professor of International Law

January 10, 2012 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | Leave a comment

Two Arab League observers wounded in protestor attack in Syria

KUNA – 1/10/2012

KUWAIT – Two Kuwaiti military officers have been lightly wounded in an attack by protestors on a team of the Arab League observers in Syria, the Kuwaiti Army announced on Tuesday.

– The team of the Arab League mission in Syria was attacked by unknown protestors, said a statement released by the directorate of morale guidance and public relations of the general staff of the Kuwaiti Army.

The attack resulted in injuring, lightly, two Kuwaiti officers of the mission, the official statement said. The two Kuwaiti officers were transported to hospital where they were given the necessary treatment, it said.

Now, the officers are in good health condition and have resumed their duties at headquarters of the Arab mission. A team of the Arab mission, including officers from Kuwait, the UAE, Iraq, Morocco and Algeria was attacked during a mission in the northern city of Lakatia, on Monday.

On Jan 8, the Kuwaiti Army announced sending a number of officers to join the Arab League observers’ mission currently monitoring the situation in Syria as part of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s team within the delegation.

A statement by the army said this comes virtue of the decisions of the ministerial council of the Arab League regarding the Arab Initiative and the protocol concerning League observers in Syria.

The GCC had decided to send a team of officials representing all member countries to serve within the Arab League monitoring mission and within the restraints and guidelines of International Law and agreements.

January 10, 2012 Posted by | False Flag Terrorism | Leave a comment

China rejects US limits on Iran trade

Press TV – January 10, 2012

China has rejected the US trade restrictions on Iran’s oil industry, saying it has nothing to do with Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

A Chinese deputy foreign minister, Cui Tiankai, said on Monday that Beijing is against mixing the issues with different natures, rejecting linking Iran’s nuclear program to trade.

Tiankai made the remarks on the eve of a visit by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to seek Beijing’s support for anti-Iran sanctions.

“The normal trade relations and energy cooperation between China and Iran have nothing to do with the nuclear issue… We should not mix issues with different natures, and China’s legitimate concerns and demands should be respected,” he said.

Tiankai went on to say that Beijing supports nuclear nonproliferation efforts but believes Iran is entitled to develop peaceful nuclear energy, and called for talks between Iran and the West in order to build mutual trust.

“We believe… the normal economic ties between countries in the world and Iran should not be affected,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, said China is against unilateral sanctions against Iran, noting that dialog is the only way to resolve the remaining issues over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

“China opposes placing domestic law above international law and does not favor unilateral sanctions against other countries,” he said.

The unilateral sanctions on Iran have led to a clash of interests between Washington and its key commercial partners, including China.

Iran exported about 622,000 barrels of oil per day to China in November, maintaining its place as the third largest crude supplier to the East Asian country.

January 9, 2012 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

Fordo atomic site runs under IAEA watch

Press TV – January 10, 2012

Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says all of the country’s nuclear activities, including those at Fordo enrichment site, are under the supervision of the UN atomic body, Press TV reports.

“This site [Fordo] was declared more than two years ago and since then the agency is continuously monitoring… all the activities,” Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Press TV late on Monday.

Soltanieh made the remarks after some Western sources reported the start of enrichment activities in Fordo, located in Qom province, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of capital Tehran, claiming that the work is being done without informing the IAEA.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that Iran’s enriching uranium to 20 percent at the Fordo site was “a further escalation of their ongoing violations with regard to their nuclear obligations.”

However, IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said that all nuclear material “remains under the Agency’s containment and surveillance” at Fordo.

Soltanieh also rejected France’s claim that the enrichment work at Fordo violates international law, saying that the Islamic Republic needs the 20-percent-enriched uranium for the production of nuclear fuel plates required at the Tehran Research Reactor for producing radioisotopes for cancer treatment.

The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday, saying, “This new provocation… leaves us with no other choice but to reinforce international sanctions and to adopt, with our European partners and all willing countries, measures of an intensity and severity without precedent.”

However, Soltanieh highlighted that “Every step we have taken so far and every step we will take in the future has been and will be under the IAEA containment and surveillance,” adding that “now with the 24-hour [surveillance] cameras and inspections, the enrichment activities in Natanz and Fordo are under the control of the IAEA.”

On Sunday, August 21, 2011, head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Fereydoun Abbasi, announced the Islamic Republic has started transferring the centrifuges of its Natanz nuclear facility to the Fordo atomic site under the supervision of the IAEA.

The US and its allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have pressured the UN Security Council to impose four rounds of sanctions against the country.

As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran insists it is entitled to utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

January 9, 2012 Posted by | Aletho News | 1 Comment

Forced Military Testing in America’s Schools

By Pat Elder | Common Dreams | January 4, 2012

The invasion of student privacy associated with military testing in U.S. high schools has been well documented by mainstream media sources, like USA Today  and NPR Radio. The practice of mandatory testing, however, continues largely unnoticed.

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB is the military’s entrance exam that is given to fresh recruits to determine their aptitude for various military occupations. The test is also used as a recruiting tool in 12,000 high schools across the country. The 3 hour test is used by military recruiting services to gain sensitive, personal information on more than 660,000 high school students across the country every year, the vast majority of whom are under the age of 18. Students typically are given the test at school without parental knowledge or consent. The school-based ASVAB Career Exploration Program is among the military’s most effective recruiting tools.

In roughly 11,000 high schools where the ASVAB is administered, students are strongly encouraged to take the test for its alleged value as a career exploration tool, but in more than 1,000 schools, according to information received from the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command through a Freedom of Information Act request, tens of thousands of students are required to take it.  It is a particularly egregious violation of civil liberties that has been going on almost entirely unnoticed since the late 1960’s.

Federal laws strictly monitor the release of student information, but the military manages to circumvent these laws with the administration of the ASVAB.  In fact, ASVAB test results are the only student information that leaves U.S. schools without the opportunity provided for  parental consent.

Aside from managing to evade the constraints of federal law, the military may also be violating many state laws on student privacy when it administers the ASVAB in public high schools. Students taking the ASVAB are required to furnish their social security numbers for the tests to be processed, even though many state laws specifically forbid such information being released without parental consent. In addition, the ASVAB requires under-aged students to sign a privacy release statement, a practice that may also be prohibited by many state laws.

A typical school announcement reads, “All Juniors will report to the cafeteria on Monday at 8:10 a.m. to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Whether you’re planning on college, a technical school, or you’re just not sure yet, the ASVAB Career Exploration Program can provide you with important information about your skills, abilities and interests – and help put you on the right course for a satisfying career!”  This announcement or one very similar to it greets students in more than a thousand high schools across the country.  There’s no mention of the military or the primary purpose of the test, which is to find leads for recruiters.

Imagine you’re Captain Eric W. Johnson, United States Navy, Commander, United States Military Entrance Processing Command and you had the complete cooperation of the Arkansas Department of Education to recruit high school students into the U.S. military. The first step you might take is to require juniors in public high schools to take the ASVAB. ASVAB results are good for enlistment purposes for up to two years. The ASVAB offers a treasure trove of information on students and allows the state’s top recruiter to pre-screen the entire crop of incoming potential recruits. “Sit down, shut up, and take this test. That’s an order!”

142 Arkansas high schools forced 10,000 children to take this military test without parental consent in Arkansas alone last year. “We’ve always done it that way and no one has ever complained,” explained one school counselor.

The Army recruiter’s handbook calls for military recruiters to take ownership of schools and this is one way they’re doing it. The U.S. Army Recruiting Command ranks each high school based on how receptive it is to military recruiters. Schools are awarded extra points when they make the ASVAB mandatory. (See page 25 of: USAREC pub. 601-107)

Meanwhile, military recruiting regulations specifically prohibit that the test from being made mandatory.

 “Voluntary aspect of the student ASVAB: School and student participation in the Student Testing Program is voluntary. DOD personnel are prohibited from suggesting to school officials or any other influential individual or group that the test be made mandatory. Schools will be encouraged to recommend most students participate in the ASVAB Career Exploration Program. If the school requires all students of a particular group or grade to test, the MEPS will support it.” (See Page 3-1 of USMEPCOM Reg. 601-4)

Is it entirely coincidental that a thousand schools require students to take the test or does the Department of Defense have regulations in place solely for public consumption that it has no intention of following?

In addition, the Pentagon is grossly under reporting the number of schools with mandatory testing.  There are hundreds of schools with required testing that are not reported by the DoD. For instance, the information released by the DoD for the ’09-’10 school year shows there is no mandatory testing in Ohio.   However, it is possible, using a simple Google search tool, in this case (“k12.oh.us” asvab “all juniors”) to uncover several dozen schools that require students to take the ASVAB that are not reported by the Pentagon.

Why can’t we get traction on this issue? 

There is great reluctance in American society to stand up to the U.S. military, particularly concerning the way it runs a dozen programs in the nation’s schools. Calls for transparency are met with silence and indignation, a terrible lesson for American high school students.

~

Pat Elder is the Director of the National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy, www.studentprivacy.org and also serves on the Steering Committee of the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth, NNOMY,www.nnomy.org He can be reached at pelder@studentprivacy.org

January 9, 2012 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Militarism, Timeless or most popular | Leave a comment

A look ahead to 2012 BDS campaigns

By Nora Barrows-Friedman | The Electronic Intifada | January 9, 2012

Though 2011 was a success, BDS activists are gearing up for a full year of cultural boycott campaigns on the agenda. Australians for Palestine has put up this comprehensive list of all the upcoming international performers scheduled to play in Israel through August, with contact email addresses and Facebook groups.

This month, Kenny Baron, Janis Ian, the Uri Caine Ensemble, the Karl Seglem Quintet, Bad Plus, Anonymous 4, the Kora Jazz Band, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Ana Moura, James Blake, K’s Choice and Arch Enemy are all scheduled to perform. Campaigns are already under way to encourage the artists to respect the BDS call and cancel their performances. A facebook group has been set up to address eclectic pop artist James Blake, for example, urging him to “Love music, hate apartheid.”

And for the metal band Arch Enemy, a facebook page has been set up in an effort to encourage the band to cancel their performance later this month. The Arch Enemy: Resist Playing Apartheid Israel boycott group has been at the forefront of the campaign, and say that the band’s current tour as part of Amnesty Internatonal’s “Freedom of Expression” campaign is clearly hypocritical if they agree to perform in Israel. There have also been a deluge of  threats directed against the boycott campaigners — even from a member of the band itself, who stated on the band’s facebook page that:

“i am making amnesty international aware of your criminal methods and your breach of freedom of choice, freedom of expression and freedom of art. it is up to us (and only us!) to chose in which countries we perform and bring our message to. it is NOT yours to tell us what to do and  to force your will upon us. you are hurting our rights of freedom and you make us fear for our safety. SHAME ON YOU! Music should transcend all races, political issues and borders – we will not be instrumentalised, neither by you or any other organization or government. who are you to tell us what to do?!”

PACBI has made a statement to Arch Enemy, expressing their disappointment in their refusal to heed the BDS call.

More BDS news

January 9, 2012 Posted by | Solidarity and Activism | Leave a comment

SOPA-Supporting News Outlets Aren’t Covering SOPA

By Dave Copeland | Read Write Web | January 6, 2012

MSNBC, Fox News, ABC, CBS and NBC have dedicated no time to covering the Stop Online Piracy Act in their evening newscasts since Oct. 1, according to a report by Ben Dimiero of Media Matters For America.

CNN, meanwhile, has dedicated a single evening news segment to the issue. All of the companies covered in the report have either publicly supported SOPA or have parent companies that have done so.

Dimiero based his report on Lexis-Nexis searches which includes transcripts of nighttime newscasts.

Comcast/NBCUniversal (which owns MSNBC and NBC News), Viacom (CBS), News Corporation (Fox News), Time Warner (CNN) and Disney (ABC) are all listed as supporters of the bill. ABC and CBS are also listed as separate supporters of the bill.

SOPA would block access to sites accused of violating U.S. copyright laws. The measure has been called Draconian by opponents who say it would fundamentally change the free-flow of information across the Internet. Proponents, ranging from the NBA to Universal, say the measure is needed to block sites which flagrantly flaunt copyright laws and make content available for free without paying copyright owners.

Traditional media companies have been key players in lobbying for SOPA’s passage, with more than half of that funding coming from cable television providers, commercial TV and radio stations, and the entertainment industry. Opponents of the legislation have been developing apps to help voters track how their legislators stand on SOPA and how much they have received in campaign donations from SOPA-supporting entities.

January 9, 2012 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | Leave a comment

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