Egyptian bloggers and activists have called for a fresh million man march on Friday, 1 April.
The new protest will take place in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the 25 January Revolution that lasted 18 days and resulted in the overthrow of ex-president Hosni Mubarak on 11 February.
Through Facebook and Twitter the organisers of the new rallies cited ‘unfulfilled demands’ as the reason for the need for a massive demonstration.
Bringing to justice Mubarak and his family members, who were allegedly involved in major embezzlement and many other infringements, is on top of the ‘neglected’ demands.
The protesters also stressed the importance of prosecuting Zakaria Azmi, Safwat Al-Sherif and Fathi Sorour. The trio are widely branded as ‘corrupt’ figures of the previous regime and ‘disciples’ of Mubarak, as well as being held responsible for the counter-revolution, which resulted in over 600 dead and several thousand injured.
Furthermore, they are demanding that all media figures associated with the old regime be removed from their positions effective immediately.
Around 500 journalists protested on Sunday in front of the national radio and TV headquarters known as the Maspero building before supporters of the 25 January Revolution joined them.
Dismantling the National Democratic Party, formerly headed by Mubarak, is also among the demands.
The latest million man march has been called by many names, including the “new Friday of rage” and “Friday of cleansing.”
March 28, 2011
Posted by aletho |
Corruption, Solidarity and Activism |
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Iranian Journalist Kourosh Ziabari speaks with journalist and activist Stuart Littlewood about the enormous influence of Israeli lobby in the West.
Kourosh Ziabari: Zionists have always claimed that the Land of Israel historically belongs to them and this verdict is clearly emphasized in the Hebrew Bible. They say that according to the Book of Genesis, the land was promised by God to the descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac and to the Israelites, descendants of Jacob, Abraham’s grandson. So, what’s your response to them? Do they have the right to cite claims over what is called the Land of Israel? Is there any historical evidence to demonstrate that Palestinians are the true possessors of this land?
Stuart Littlewood: Using mythical scripture to make out that God is a racist who favors one tribe above all others, is bizarre to say the least. Some Zionists don’t believe it, so why should anyone else? In a booklet called “Zionism: A Jewish Communal Response” recently launched by The Board of Deputies of British Jews, Rabbi Tony Bayfield writes: “I am horrified by some strands of Zionism which treat the Bible as an exclusive title deed written by God. I do not regard the Torah as an extra-historical document written by the Divine hand… It is not Judaism’s title deed to the land.”
But it provides cover for the Zionists’ criminal scheme to dispossess the Palestinians-Arabs and Christians – so its importance is pumped up to bursting point. But why any non-Jews should take it seriously is beyond me.
The Jews were expelled by the Roman occupation. These days the right of return must be exercised as soon as the reason for expulsion, for example, foreign occupation, ceases. The Jews had their chance when the Roman Empire collapsed. They didn’t take it. It’s ridiculous to lay claim 16 centuries later at gun-point and eject the people whose homeland it now is. Most of today’s Jews, I’m told, have no ancestral links to the Holy Land anyway.
The Jerusalem Declaration of 2006 by the Latin Patriarch and Local Heads of Churches sums it up for me: “We categorically reject Christian Zionist doctrines as a false teaching that corrupts the biblical message of love, justice and reconciliation… We reject the teachings of Christian Zionism that facilitate and support these policies as they advance racial exclusivity and perpetual war…”
As for Jerusalem itself, it was already 2000 years old and belonged to the Canaanites when King David captured it. Historians say that before the present-day conflict the Jews controlled Jerusalem for some 500 years, whereas it was subsequently ruled by Muslims for more than twice that long. And for nearly 90 years it was a Christian kingdom. Lots of people, besides the Jews, conquered Jerusalem, so there are many competing claims, which is probably why the UN declared it should be independently administered as an international city.
Matters weren’t helped when Obama opened his big mouth and declared to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that Jerusalem “will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided”. Realizing it was a stupid thing to say, he added: “Well, obviously, it’s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations… And I think that it is smart for us to work through a system in which everybody has access to the extraordinary religious sites in Old Jerusalem, but that Israel has a legitimate claim on that city.” A legitimate claim? As everyone knows, the Old City officially belongs to Palestinian East Jerusalem.
I don’t think it’s a question of the Palestinians proving ownership, though I imagine most families can produce Ottoman-era land deeds – if the Israelis haven’t confiscated and forged them.
Hamas chief Khalid Misha’al has said: “We shall never recognize the right of any power to rob us of our land and deny us our national rights. We shall never recognize the legitimacy of a Zionist state created on our soil in order to atone for somebody else’s sins or solve somebody else’s problem.” That doesn’t sound unreasonable.
KZ: As you mentioned in one of your recent articles, the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has categorically condemned the atrocities committed by the regime of Moammar Gaddafi and the mass killing of Libyan citizens by his mercenaries. The UK government revoked Gaddafi’s and his family members’ political immunity in an action aimed at threatening the interests of the Libyan dictator worldwide; however, we haven’t seen any action against or condemnation of the brutal massacre of the defenseless Palestinians by the Israeli regime in the December 2008 and January 2009. What does this exercise of double standards imply? Is it possible to justify it?
SL: It’s no use looking to the British government for fair play. The political scene here is heavily infiltrated by the pro-Israel lobby, and money talks. The Friends of Israel movement claims 80 per cent of Conservative Party MPs including of course its leader, David Cameron. Membership, I hear, is a necessary stepping stone to high office. Cameron calls himself a Zionist and our foreign secretary, William Hague, has been a Friend of Israel since his schooldays. His side-kick, Liam Fox, the defense secretary, thinks that “we must remember that in the battle for the values that we stand for, for democracy against theocracy, for democratic liberal values against repression – Israel’s enemies are our enemies and this is a battle in which we all stand together or we will all fall divided”. The minister for Middle East affairs was an officer of Conservative Friends of Israel. It’s all sewn up.
David Cameron recently told Jewish dinner guests: “With me you have a prime minister whose belief in Israel is indestructible… I will always be a strong defender of the Jewish people. I will always be an advocate for the State of Israel.” Cameron, and Brown and Blair before him, are patrons of the Jewish National Fund. Quite simply, Israel is never punished. It is allowed to get away scot-free.
A body called the Committee on Standards in Public Life is supposed to call to account MPs who place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organizations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties, but it too has been infiltrated.
It’s interesting to see how the British Government rushed to press for a UN mandate to take whatever steps might be necessary to protect Libyan civilians from their bully-boy dictator and wasted no time establishing a no-fly zone and annihilating Qaddafi’s air defenses. But it stood idly by and watched the Israeli slaughter of Gazan civilians and showed no sign of wanting it stopped.
Headlines this week quoted Hague saying, “There can be no hiding place for tyrants”, referring to Qaddafi, but he’s leading the rush to change our Universal Jurisdiction laws to protect Israel’s war crimes suspects from arrest. These double standards are the hallmark of a corrupted political class. It can never be justified, but for the moment we’re stuck with these people.
Hague condemned the recent Jerusalem bomb blast as “a callous and disgusting act of terrorism” but he’s careful not to condemn the almost daily air-strikes by Israel on Gaza’s civilians. I’m reading a report now on just one day’s horror inflicted by the Zionist military on the Occupied Territories that says:
24 hours to 8 am, 23 March 2011
3 air strikes – 7 attacks – 28 raids including home invasions – 8 dead – 15 injured – 1 curfew – 15 taken prisoner – 14 detained – 79 restrictions of movement
Child, teenager and 3 adults killed in Israeli shelling – homes damaged
Injury and 4 deaths in Israeli air strikes
Agricultural sabotage: farms and homes under Israeli fire in 3 Gaza areas – crops bulldozed
Israeli Navy opens fire on Palestinian fishing boats
Zionist mob smashes on-duty ambulance windscreen
Zionist militants cut down Palestinian olive trees
Night peace disruption and/or home invasions in 8 towns and villages
Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group
The Fourth Geneva Convention puts Contracting Parties under a solemn obligation to act. They don’t seem to have grasped that.
KZ: It’s widely believed that the Zionist lobby has an enormous influence over the mass media in the U.S. and European countries. AIPAC and other influential Zionist circles usually block the publication of materials critical of Israel and its policies, and vilify as anti-Semitist whoever dares question the barbaric conducts of this illegitimate regime. What’s your idea about the dominance of Zionist lobby over the mainstream media in the West?
SL: You are right to focus on this question. The Zionists wield their influence by winning the ongoing propaganda war. The Arabs, after being on the losing end for decades, still haven’t learned how to fight it and don’t show any sign of wishing to. I have put forward proposals for media skills training but it’s hopeless. Even allowing for the PA being dominated by Israel’s stooges their failure to address this is not only ignorant but a major strategic blunder.
Last year The Israel Project, a US media advocacy group, produced a revised training manual to help the worldwide Zionist movement maintain its control over the propaganda war, keep their ill-gotten territorial gains and persuade international audiences to accept that their crimes are not only necessary but conform to “shared values” between Israel and the civilized West.
It’s a clever document. It teaches how to ‘justify’ the slaughter, the ethnic cleansing, the land-grabbing, the cruelty and the blatant disregard for international law and UN resolutions, and give it a sweeter smell. It is designed to have us gullible Americans and Europeans believing that we actually share values with the psychopaths of Israel’s racist regime and that their abominable behavior deserves our support.
The strategy from the start is to isolate Hamas and rob the resistance movement and the Palestinian population of their human rights…. It drums into them nonsense like, “The language of Israel is the language of America: ‘democracy,’ ‘freedom,’ ‘security,’ and ‘peace.’ These four words are at the core of the American political, economic, social, and cultural systems, and they should be repeated as often as possible because they resonate with virtually every American.”
Most mainstream media in the UK are under pro-Israel influence, if not Zionist ownership. The BBC also is heavily biased and too often broadcasts Israel’s definition of the situation. However, a small number of outlets, such as Channel 4 News, take an independent line.
Then there’s the over-representation of Jews in Parliament. If Muslims were over-represented to the same extent they’d have 200 MPs. And there’d be a big fuss.
These are not the only issues. It has to be admitted that Israel’s propaganda people do a good job of cultivating the news media, providing timely briefings and making sure spokesmen with good English are available whenever needed. The Palestinians on the other hand are lazy, disorganised and their embassy here in London is worse than useless. They fail to take media relations seriously so they and their countrymen pay a heavy price.
Nor is it enough to be the crushed victim. Having labels like “extremist”, “militant” and “terrorist” pinned on them, no matter how unjustly, is deeply damaging. The Palestinians must shake off these slurs, but before they can do so Hamas must re-write its objectionable charter and ‘re-brand’ itself.
Hamas and Hezbollah are only regarded as terrorists by the White House and Tel Aviv and by US-Israeli stooges and flag-wavers at Westminster and elsewhere. The definition they use describes the antics of the US and Israel perfectly, and the whole situation needs reframing to reflect this.
The resistance movements have work to do on this. The propaganda battle can’t be won without a properly planned communications strategy skillfully executed.
KZ: The 13 May 2010 incursion of IDF commandos into the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was followed by the astounding silence of the international community, United Nations and the United States. No credible investigation was carried out to shed light on the atrocious attack of Israel on the international peace activists and Tel Aviv never heeded the call of Turkey to officially apologize for its criminal action against the peace activist. Let’s imagine that a third country, for example Iran, had attacked the flotilla of Israeli activists in international waters, killing 9 and injuring tens of others. What would the reaction of international community, UN and the U.S. have been? Would they assume the same passive stance and remain silent deafeningly?
SL: Former British MP George Galloway, a mainspring behind the Free Gaza movement, called the assault “a murderous act of piracy” on innocent humanitarian aid workers and demanded a wholesale review of the international community’s relationship with “the criminal pirate state of Israel”.
But Israel’s Mark Regev told BBC TV. “We did everything we could to avoid violence. They [the aid workers] chose the path of confrontation… This is elementary, we have to defend ourselves.” He claimed the Israeli boarding party was attacked! The BBC failed to question Israel’s act of piracy in international waters and its blatant violation of maritime law.
As it turns out, the Israelis did themselves immense damage by attacking the Mavi. They were too stupid to understand how it would be seen as an ‘own goal’.
It’s funny how HMS Cumberland and York magically appeared in the Mediterranean when Hague or prime minister David Cameron snapped their fingers during the Libyan crisis. Where were these ships when British nationals on the Mavi Marmara and the Dignity and other vessels were being assaulted in international waters and terrorized by Israeli pirates, abducted and thrown in their stinking jails? Why weren’t they bringing life-saving aid to innocent Palestinians after Israel’s indiscriminate ‘Cast Lead’ blitzkrieg?
Our ships have been protecting victims of Qaddafi, and HMS York unloaded tons of medical supplies and other humanitarian aid for the Benghazi Medical Centre. Israel is still bombing and strafing Palestinian civilians in Gaza with impunity on a daily basis, so when the Libyan crisis dies down I see no reason why York shouldn’t be loaded up with more supplies and sail for Gaza, along with the rest of the NATO fleet, where the humanitarian crisis continues unabated.
On the Libya situation Hague has been sounding off with loud threats of retribution. “Crimes will not go unpunished and will not be forgotten; there will be a day of reckoning and the reach of international justice is long,” he says.
Let’s not imagine Iran attacking the humanitarian flotilla. If Britain and the so-called civilized countries of the West won’t call Israel’s bluff and break the blockade let’s imagine Iran doing so.
KZ: In its resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has always called Israel the occupying power, implicitly attesting to the occupation of Palestinian territories by the Israeli regime; however, no practical steps were ever taken to end the occupation of Palestinian lands by Tel Aviv. Do you know of any effective solution to bring an end to this occupation and hold Israel accountable for the crimes it has committed against the Palestinian nation?
SL: Israel is violating over 30 Security Council resolutions that require action by it and it alone. If any other state in the world were to defy the will of the international community so persistently, it would be subjected to economic and/or military sanctions.
UN resolutions must be implemented and international law enforced. If the international community won’t act to rein in the delinquent, all hopes of global peace will remain in shreds. UN Security Council Resolution 242 (fully binding) affirms among other things the necessity for guaranteeing freedom of navigation through international waterways in the area. The blockade must be broken, if necessary by vessels with an armed escort.
The Israeli regime relies heavily on the EU for its exports and enjoys preferential treatment under the EU-Israel Association Agreement of 1995. An obvious part of the solution would be the suspension of this agreement. Its terms require compliance with the principles of the United Nations Charter placing emphasis on peace, security and regional co-operation, and on the need to contribute to the stability and prosperity of the Mediterranean region and promote understanding and tolerance.
Article 2 says that “respect for human rights and democratic principle constitute an essential element of this agreement”. Israel has never complied but continues to reap the benefits. In April 2002 the European parliament, with a large majority, requested the European Commission and the Council of Europe to suspend the agreement, without success. The EU has all the leverage needed but is afraid to use it.
We are maybe halfway through the process of educating and informing Western citizens. There will come a point, I feel sure, when civil societies will be savvy enough to clean up their Zionist-infested politics and force the necessary action. In the meantime the Palestinians need to be heard in Western Europe and the United States. A proper on-the-ball communications and media centre and a radio station should have been established years ago. Iran too needs to improve its image to counter the barrage of smears.
Israel is always trying to upgrade its image, but no amount of marketing gloss can hide the evil beneath.
KZ: What in your view, is the reason behind the unconditional support of Israel by the United States? Why does the White House endanger its interests to pay for the atrocities and brutalities of Tel Aviv? Why does it distort its global image in compensation for the suicidal mistakes of Israel?
SL: The ignorance of your average American citizen plus Jewish domination of major business, media and financial institutions and the whole political fabric. Another reason why Americans are soft in the head about Israel is the Scofield Bible, which became the standard fodder of fervent Christians. Cyrus Scofield, a sleazy character and convicted criminal, was commissioned to re-write the King James Version of the Bible by inserting Zionist-friendly notes. The aim was to change the Christian view of Zionism by creating and promoting a pro-Zionist subculture within Christianity. The Oxford University Press used Scofield as the editor, and the Scofield Reference Bible, as it was called, has been a best-seller in America for over 90 years.
It introduced a new worship icon, the modern State of Israel, which did not exist at the time but was already on the drawing board of the World Zionist movement.
KZ: A report which is attributed to the CIA indicates that the political entity of Israel will decline within 20 years. Do you agree with this prediction? Will Israel survive, should the United States lift its support and backing for it? Is Israel capable of standing on its own feet without the assistance and endorsement of the United States?
SL: Israel has an attitude problem. I suppose it might survive without US support if it mended its manners drastically. But I doubt if it will ever be able to throw off its pariah status or stop shooting itself in the foot. It will become isolated and slowly crumble. Thanks to its selfish fanaticism and unhinged leadership it will do a great deal of damage in the process.
Fortunately, a good many Jews across the world are not Zionists and are disgusted by Israel’s conduct, and their number seems to be growing. And the worldwide boycott and disinvestment movement is making good progress and the effect is hurting Tel Aviv. So the tide is turning.
US government aid to Israel runs at around $3 billion annually and Israel is not required to account for how it is spent. The money helps pay for Israel’s costly occupation and the high-tech paraphernalia of military oppression. Most of it violates the US’s own laws, but that doesn’t seem to matter to the brainwashed Washington administration. Israel usually gets another $2 to 3 billion in indirect aid – military support, loan write-offs and special grants. The US has also been paying Egypt and Jordan to buy their co-operation with Israel.
If Americans wake up to what’s going on and aid is withheld until Israel complied with UN resolutions and international law there would probably be peace. But hostilities would soon flare up again if aid resumed. The tap has to be turned off permanently.
KZ: Israel’s illegal nuclear activities are known to almost everyone. Under the pretext of not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel has deposited more than 200 atomic warheads in its arsenal and the Federation of American Scientists has admitted that Israel is the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. However, in violation of the UNSC resolutions that demand that Israel bring its nuclear program under the safeguards of IAEA, Tel Aviv is secretly continuing to develop atomic bombs. How should this concern be tackled? Who is responsible for disarming Israel?
SL: The responsibility is America’s, because it has encouraged Israel to duck its international obligations. In October 2009 the Washington Times ran a report, by Eli Lake, that Obama had agreed to keep Israel’s nukes secret by reaffirming a decades-old understanding that allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections. Under this understanding the US has not pressured Israel to disclose its nuclear weapons or sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which could require Israel to give up its estimated several hundred nuclear bombs.
Israel is never required to honor what it signs up to. Back in 1995 it agreed, with the other parties to the Barcelona Declaration, to “pursue a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical and biological, and their delivery systems” and “consider practical steps to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as well as excessive accumulation of conventional arms.”
There has been no progress, either, on the Security Council’s demand in resolution 487, passed in 1981, that “Israel urgently … place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards”.
KZ: Considering the Zionist regime’s notorious lack of restraint, it is obvious that Israel’s 200 (or is it 400?) nuclear warheads pose a massive threat not only to the Middle East but the rest of the world.
As you say, it is the only state in the region that possesses nuclear weapons (and probably the only one that possesses chemical and biological weapons) while not being a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has signed but not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. Israel has not signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. It has signed but not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. Why not? Because being a menace is necessary to its ambitions.
Israel is capable of wiping Iran, and every Arab state, off the map at the touch of a button. Its warheads can also be targeted on European cities and, some say, already are.
SL: Despite all this, in the words of Israel’s chief spin-doctor Mark Regev, “Israel is very concerned about the Iranian nuclear program. And for good reason. Iran’s President openly talks about wiping Israel off the map. We see them racing ahead on nuclear enrichment so they can have enough fissile material to build a bomb. We see them working on their ballistic missiles… The Iranian nuclear program is a threat, not just to my country, but to the entire region. And it’s incumbent upon us all to do what needs to be done to keep from proliferating.”
Iran’s nuclear facilities, including its uranium enrichment facilities, are under IAEA supervision. Strange, isn’t it, that the West is putting such immense pressure on Iran about its nuclear activities, but not Israel.
~
Kourosh Ziabari can be reached at kziabari@gmail.com
March 28, 2011
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Solidarity and Activism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes |
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GENEVA — More than 20 human rights groups in Switzerland will gather in Geneva on Monday to protest a visit by Israeli President Shimon Peres to the country.
They have been working to prosecute Peres over war crimes he committed in the 2008-2009 war on Gaza.
”More than twenty pro-Palestinian rights organizations and popular organizations have called for demonstrations and a sit-in Monday in front of the Swiss government building in Geneva to protest Peres’s visit,” said Anwar al-Gharbi, who heads the Swiss-based Rights for All organization.
Switzerland must refrain from receiving Peres, as the UN Goldstone report regarding the war on the Gaza Strip has accused Israeli leaders of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the wake of the killing of more than a 1,450 Palestinians, most of them children and women, within 22 days, Gharbi said.
The announcement of Peres’s planned visit came on Saturday when courts and government departments were closed for the weekend, so legal measures against Peres had not been taken, Gharbi explained, adding that the rights groups will put forth ”every effort” to prosecute Peres as a war criminal.
March 28, 2011
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Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes |
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A number of prominent Egyptian civil activists have pledged to deliver ten tons of cement to the besieged Gaza strip through the Rafah border crossing.
A group called ‘Egyptian-International Coalition for lifting the siege and rebuilding Gaza’ says trucks carrying cement from Egypt are parked close to the border, a Press TV correspondent reported on Sunday.
A 15-member delegation is expected to accompany the shipment. The delegation consists of prominent lawyers, engineers, politicians and several civil activists.
The development comes weeks after a historic revolution ousted President Hosni Mubarak from power
Egypt has imposed a blockade on Gaza since the democratically elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007. Since then Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the territory triggering what a humanitarian crisis.
A major Egyptian political party, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), has recently demanded that the country’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces takes action in breaking the siege of Gaza.
In a separate development, an Israeli airstrike has killed at least two Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip. Three other Palestinians were injured in the attack which took place east of Jabaliya.
Reports say the Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile into the region.
Israeli warplanes have repeatedly targeted the coastal strip during the past week. At least 10 Palestinians including a number of children were killed in the air raids.
March 27, 2011
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Solidarity and Activism |
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Hundreds of thousands of British opposed to the coalition government’s budget cuts are marching in London streets, chanting for an alternative to the government’s austerity cuts.
Tens of thousands of teachers, council staff, nurses, students, National Health Service (NHS) officials and many others who are angry at the public cut plans, mounting rates of unemployment, tax rises, pay cuts and pension reforms are partaking in the demonstration.
About 800 coaches were planned to get people from across the country to London to participate in the rally, which is considered the biggest public reaction against the government’s spending cuts since it took office in May 2010 following the general elections. The protesters began marching from Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park.
Hundreds of people from North East traveled to London on Saturday morning to join the London protest. Demonstrators from Aberystwyth to Aberdeen and from Penzance to Perth also arrived in London to denounce the spending cuts along with the Londoners.
British Education Secretary Michael Gove claimed that he could understand people’s anger, but “the difficulty that we have as the government inheriting a terrible economic mess is that we have to take steps to bring the public finances back into balance.”
Unite union’s General Secretary Len McCluskey said the coalition government has exaggerated about the level of the deficit.
Describing his economic plan, McCluskey said, “Our alternative is to concentrate on economic growth through tax fairness so, for example, if the government was brave enough, it would tackle the tax avoidance that robs the British taxpayer of a minimum of £25bn a year.”
Around 100 legal observers are monitoring the policing of the protest, and there are more representatives from other human rights groups on hand to offer advice to demonstrators.
March 26, 2011
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Economics, Solidarity and Activism |
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The Saudi-based Human Rights First Society has called for the release of 100 protesters amid reports that some of those arrested have been tortured.
The rights group has called for a full investigation into the allegations of physical and psychological torture of the detainees, AFP reported.
It says the protesters were mainly arrested in the cities of Safwa, Qatif, and Hassa in the east of the country during peaceful rallies last week.
Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry has declined to comment on the report. Riyadh has recently stepped up its clampdown on anti-government protesters in response to protests in the kingdom.
The anti-government demonstrators are demanding political reforms and the immediate release of political prisoners, whom protesters say are being held unjustly and without trial, some for as long as 16 years.
The protesters also condemned Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Bahrain and called for the withdrawal of Saudi forces from the country.
Shias, a minority in Saudi Arabia, say that they face discrimination in getting government jobs and benefits. The Saudi monarchy denies the allegations.
King Abdullah announced last week that the country would hold the second municipal elections next month, already delayed for two years. He also allotted $136 billion to tackle unemployment and housing problems and ordered the establishment of an anti-corruption body.
Activists say the state should take up real political reforms including an elected parliament with legislative powers, public freedoms and true independence for the judiciary.
They say that instead of carrying out the reforms, the government has stepped up security to suppress demonstrations.
March 24, 2011
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Civil Liberties, Solidarity and Activism |
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The Egyptian Cabinet on Wednesday ordered a law criminalizing protests and strikes. Under the new law, anyone organizing or calling for a protest will be sentenced to jail and/or a fine of LE500,000.
The new law will be enforced as long as the current Emergency Law is in place, said the cabinet in a statement on Wednesday. The Emergency Law has been in force since 1981 following the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat.
The new law will apply to anyone inciting, urging, promoting or participating in a protest or strike that hampers or delays work at any private or public establishments.
Since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak on 11 February, Egypt has witnessed nationwide labor strikes and political protests. Among those protesting have been university students, political activists, railway workers, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, journalists, pensioners, and the police force.
March 24, 2011
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Civil Liberties, Solidarity and Activism |
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Interview with Zayd al-Isa, a Middle East expert in London
Democratic protesters in Yemen now seem to be gaining the advantage against a dictator that is losing political and military support. Press TV talks with Zayd al-Isa, a Middle East expert in London on the latest developments in Yemen and about where President Saleh can turn for additional support.
Press TV: How do you see the situation in Yemen? We have Yemeni ambassadors in Europe, the Arab League, the UN and in China all stepping down and calling for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. This presumably would leave him more isolated. How much do you think this would pressure Saleh to step down?
Zayd al-Isa: Saleh is becoming increasingly isolated, beleaguered and embattled. Support is waning away from him and he is under unprecedented pressure. The massacre that his forces have perpetrated has piled on the pressure for him to resign and step down. People have hardened their rhetoric ad toughened their language against him. They want him to be ousted and not only that, but to stand trial for crimes committed against unarmed peaceful civilians.
This has followed the massacre by Saudi forces on the people of Bahrain and we can say that Saleh too is following the green light given by the US. Saudi Arabia considers Yemen to be its backyard garden – both Yemen and Bahrain. Americans have given them a license to kill in those two countries.
Saleh’s policy of shooting to kill the protesters has backfired and we are witnessing the backlash from the tribe’s people, which is highly significant because Yemen is a tribal nation. These tribes are now standing against him and most importantly we now see the army, high ranking Generals, pull the rug from under his feet turning against him.
Without warning some of the army’s troops have been ordered on the ground, tanks included, to come to the defense of the innocent people of Yemen.
We have seen support come from the defense minister who has pledged his loyalty and called Saleh a constitutional president. This is all a critical and highly dangerous development that may show divisions within the high ranks of the military, which is something different to what occurred in Egypt, which was stable and united. We also saw a different situation in Tunisia where the army stood firmly against Ben Ali and remained as a stable unit.
The situation in Yemen has deteriorated further with Saleh becoming isolated amid an unprecedented number of diplomats defecting. This highlights the beginning of a new phase where the protesters are gaining the upper hand and the movement is gathering momentum.
This is to the contrary of what Saleh had expected. Protesters have flouted the imposed curfew and numbers have substantially escalated, spreading to all parts of Yemen. Saleh is now in a terrible position and I believe he now has to step down. France has said that the fall of Saleh has become unavoidable. We haven’t heard such noises coming from the US as Saleh is again considered one of the key allies of the US.
I think Saleh depends on three important pillars: the support of the tribes, the support of the US and aid that is allocated to military; and finally the backing and support of the Saudi regime. Saleh has been a loyal and obedient defender of the Saudi Monarchy.
Press TV: Regarding the three pillars of Saleh’s ability to stay in power that you mentioned, President Saleh’s own tribe has called upon him to step down.
Zayd al-Isa: That’s right and support of that tribe is absolutely crucial. Using a policy of divide and conquer he heavily relied on this tribe in the earlier war against the Houthis, which was backed by Saudi Arabia. That tribal support now is waning.
The aid from the US goes to Saleh’s military in order to fight al-Qaeda, which we know the Saudi regime has been a major factor in the supporting and the flourishing of al-Qaeda. Al Qaeda has flourished during those dictatorships and the oppression forced on the people of those countries, in Yemen, and of course in Saudi Arabia, which is the mother of all dictatorships.
Press TV: Let’s talk about the support of Saudi Arabia for Saleh – Do you think there will be Saudi troops deployed to Yemen as they were deployed to Bahrain?
Zayd al-Isa: I wouldn’t call it a deployment of forces. What you have in Bahrain is a clear cut occupation; an outright invasion of a sovereign country.
Yemen though is a huge massive country with a very difficult terrain. And we’ve seen Saudi Arabia actually try to invade Yemen before to impose its own will on the Houthis and to actually commit genocide against them; committing crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing against them. They used their superior military ground forces and supremacy in the air – advanced equipment supplied to them by the US.
They picked on the Houthis, a simple militia and now we see them once again taking on a tiny country (Bahrain) which is ruled by a ruthless dictator the so-called king of Bahrain who is no king (by definition). He was never elected and has subjected his people to intolerable discrimination. He has tried to change the makeup of the country by luring thousands of mercenaries giving them citizenship if they commit crimes against his own people.
Saudi now has its trigger happy forces inside Bahrain to quash the revolutionary forces of democracy also and with utter silence from the US. The US has condemned the situation in Bahrain, but has not lifted a finger to help prevent the occupation of Bahrain. We can see through this discussion that what they have done in Bahrain they cannot duplicate in Yemen.
Press TV: We have reports that Houthi fighters are now in control of Yemen’s Northern provinces. This raises a question of – What are the chances of Yemen falling into a civil war?
Zayd al-Isa: The situation is incredibly volatile and there are so many tribes. And what makes it even more dangerous is the division (potential) between the army generals and this could lead to civil war unless the army sits down and unites, that is, a united front against Saleh. He has the loyalty of the Defense Minister, but I do believe that Saleh is running out of allies and supporters; he is relying now on the backing and support of Saudi Arabia. That’s why he has sent his foreign minister to Saudi Arabia to get whole hearted support and the king of Saudi Arabia has emphatically supported the dictators in the region. He gave shelter to Ben Ali to live in his country and he tried to influence Egypt into allowing Mubarak to remain in power and oversee a transition. They have been the bastion of dictatorship.
March 22, 2011
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Civil Liberties, Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism |
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Israel recently launched an international campaign to increase its number of tourists. While 2010 was a record year for visitors, Israeli ministries promote “public relations” campaigns to disguise the country’s policies of oppression and occupation.
Israel’s Ministry of Tourism launched a NIS 45 million tourism campaign last week, aiming to bring tourists from North America and Europe to Israel.
The ministry’s biggest campaigns are underway in the US, Germany and Russia, reported the Jerusalem Post, where Israel tourism television commercials are airing, and smaller campaigns have also begun in Spain, France, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who visited Jerusalem last week, told Israeli President Shimon Peres that since Israel and Ukraine signed a bilateral agreement last year for the cancellation of entry visas, there has been a 20- per cent rise in tourism between the two countries.
Israel received 3.45 million tourists in 2010, a record number and 14 percent higher than the previous record of about 3 million tourists in 2008. Most tourists visit from the United States, Russia, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. According to Pini Shani, the Tourism Ministry’s deputy director of marketing administration, the Ministry’s goal is 5 million tourists annually by 2015.
“The biggest concern is the lack of understanding of the Middle East. Many people in Germany and other places don’t know the difference in terms of size and distance between Israel and other countries, and when they hear ‘Middle East’ they think of everything under one umbrella,” Shani said.
However, based on new campaigns being launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel’s tourism concerns aren’t only geographic.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has doubled the embassies’ 2011 budget for public relations. Additionally, embassies were ordered to prepare a list of “one thousand allies who will be regularly briefed by the embassies. These allies should initiate assemblies and demonstrations, and publish articles in newspapers,” Barak Ravid of the Israeli news daily Haaretz reported in December 2010.
As Israel continues to withdraw from peace negotiations and increases settlement construction, Europeans have become increasing wary and critical.
“Israel is losing the battle for European public opinion,” notes Pascal Boniface, Director of the French Institute de Relations Internationales et Strategiques (IRIS), “and the planned public relations attack by the Foreign Ministry demonstrates that the Israeli government knows its message is not as convincing as in the past.”
Pascal Boniface ends by saying “the fact is that the state of Israel is losing the battle for European public opinion. In order to rehabilitate its image, a change in policy is necessary, not a change in public relations.”
However, policies inside Israel aren’t changing. In October 2010, a bill to ban Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem from serving as tour guides in the city was proposed by seven Israeli Knesset members.
“These residents often present anti-Israeli positions to groups of tourists that they guide,” the bill states. “To ensure foreign tourists are exposed to the national Israeli viewpoint, we suggest ruling that travel agencies, and any organization providing tours for foreign tourists, ensure that the groups are accompanied by a tour guide who is an Israeli citizen and has institutional loyalty to the State of Israel.”
Since the establishment of the state of Israel, tourism has been directed to a one sided ideological tourism to secure and serve the Israeli propaganda and the Israeli claim on Palestine.
The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee is calling for a tourism boycott: “Supporting Israeli tourism comes at the cost of further destruction to Palestinian communities, heritage and culture. Tourism is used by the occupation to promote a ‘progressive’, ‘peaceful’ and ‘multicultural’ face to the world despite the daily crimes committed against the Palestinian people. In the campaign against tourism to Apartheid South Africa, activists sought out tourist exhibitions or agents promoting travel to the regime under the slogan ‘Apartheid is NO Holiday’.”
The AIC spoke with Rami Kassis, the Executive Director of the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG), a Palestinian NGO specializing in tours that critically examine the history, culture and politics of the Holy Land.
“Tourism in Palestine is supposed to be one of the main pillars of our economy…Before the Oslo agreement and the PA there was more restriction in tourism. Israel is controlling tourism until now. They want to guarantee that there is no direct interaction between the local community and the Palestinians and the tourist. They want to guarantee that Israelis are benefitting from the tourism.”
According to Kassis, Palestinian cities have never been mentioned on Israeli tour maps. Tourists in Israel are always discouraged from visiting Palestinian cities and meeting Palestinian people.
“In Palestine, as in many other places world wide, tours are designed to mainly isolate the tourist from the current political, social, historical and economic context. However, many people have started asking for an alternative,” Kassis told the AIC.
March 21, 2011
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Deception, Solidarity and Activism, Timeless or most popular |
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Chileans have held demonstrations to protest the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama to the country following a recent nuclear deal between the two nations.
“This demonstration is to reject Barack Obama’s militaristic policies,” said a protest organizer.
The angry protesters organized two peaceful rallies on Sunday, complaining that the nuclear agreement was signed despite major nuclear crisis that developed in Japan following the huge earthquake and tsunami that struck the country on March 11, AFP reported Monday.
Chilean opposition lawmakers and environmentalists argue that the Friday agreement is too risky for their country, which lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and like Japan, is quite prone to devastating earthquakes.
The devastating 9-magnitude earthquake, followed by a monstrous tsunami that hit Japan earlier in March, caused radioactive leakage due to explosions in the nuclear power plants that resulted from malfunctioning cooling systems.
Chile experienced its own 8.8-magnitude earthquake just last year, which was also followed by a tsunami that claimed the lives of more than 500 people.
The Chilean demonstrators, numbering close to 2,000, held signs that read, “Nuclear energy is energy of death.”
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and President Obama are set to meet Monday in the capital Santiago, where Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech on the Latin America.
March 21, 2011
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Militarism, Nuclear Power, Solidarity and Activism |
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Amid escalating unrest in Middle East and North of Africa, Moroccans have also taken to the streets to protest corruption in Morocco and demand better civil rights.
Thousands of pro-democracy protesters gathered in Rabat and Casablanca on Sunday shouting “the Moroccan people demand change!” and holding up placards reading “For the freedom and dignity of the Moroccan people.”
Protests in Morocco began earlier this year following revolutions in Egypt and Tunis which led to the overthrow of the governments in both countries.
In February thousands of Moroccans staged peaceful demonstrations across the country, prompting Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to emphasize his commitment to “pursuing the realization of structural reforms.”
The king announced on March 9 that he had appointed a committee to draft a reform of the constitution widening the prerogatives of elected officials and ensuring officials are accountable and the judiciary independent.
Mohammed VI added that the new proposals would be announced in June and the draft constitution will be put to a referendum.
On March 14, however, Morocco’s riot police armed with truncheons broke up peaceful protest in Casablanca in an unusual show of violence, injuring 13 people and arresting 54 others.
March 20, 2011
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Civil Liberties, Solidarity and Activism |
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Tens of thousands of people gathered in the Yemeni capital Sunday for the funerals of some of the 52 people martyred in a massacre against protesters committed by loyalists of President Ali Abdullah Saleh last Friday, as more officials close to Saleh offered their resignations from their posts in protest of the massacre.
Around 30 bodies were laid out in neat rows and the square near Sanaa University overflowed with mourners, who massed under tight security and despite a two-day-old state of emergency.
Waving Yemeni flags and shouting slogans denouncing the regime, the mourners formed a massive procession as they carried the bodies in coffins on their shoulders to the cemetery.
“Ali, the blood of the martyrs will not be in vain!” they chanted, referring to the president. “We sacrifice blood and soul for you, oh martyr,” they roared in tribute to the martyrs.
Politicians and civil society representatives joined the throng.
Ali Abed Rabbo al-Qadi, the head of the independent parliamentary bloc who was in the crowd, said those responsible for the killings must be “held responsible for every drop of blood that has been shed.”
Muslim clerics called on Yemeni soldiers to disobey orders to shoot demonstrators, and blamed Saleh – in power since 1978 – for the slaughter on Friday. “We call on the army and security forces to not carry out any order from anyone to kill and repress” demonstrators, a group of influential clerics in the deeply religious country said in a joint statement. They also called for Saleh’s elite Republican Guard troops to be withdrawn from the capital, where protesters have defied the state of emergency called after Friday’s violence and continued a sit-in.
Saleh had declared Sunday a national day of mourning for the “martyrs for democracy,” while blaming the opposition for “incitement and chaos” that had led to the killings.
Youth activists organizing the sit-in panned Saleh’s declaration as insincere. “After getting blood on his hands… he cried crocodile tears for the martyrs,” they said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Human rights minister Huda al-Baan announced late on Saturday that she was resigning in protest at Friday’s bloodbath, where the undersecretary at her ministry, Ali Taysir, has also stepped down.
Baan became the third Yemeni minister to quit in as many days, along with a host of senior officials and at least two ambassadors.
A report said that Yemen’s Ambassador to the UN Abdullah Alsaidi has also resigned following the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters in Sana’a.
On Saturday, Yemeni Ambassador to Lebanon Faisal Amin Abu al-Ras also quit his post to protest Saleh’s crackdown on anti-government protesters. The move by Abu al-Ras marked the first by a Yemeni envoy to protest Friday’s violence brought by government forces against protesters in the capital.
March 20, 2011
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Civil Liberties, Solidarity and Activism, Subjugation - Torture |
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