Two-Faced.

Image courtesy of Church Times.

           As a rule, I don't like writing about the Sunak and Starmer gangs and their election antics, I usually refer to the elections as the "crooks and liars" competitions, as they each tell whoppers to try and impress and win the gullible. However, having lived almost 90 years and seen the pantomime of our political ballerinas perform their many grand illusions in many guises, I have to admit that these two take the biscuit and live somewhere under the belly of a snail, according to their stand on humanity. The £700+ millionaire Sunak waffles from one thing to another in an attempt to be the superman for all. While at the same time his stance on the genocide taking place in Gaza denies any grasp of humanity. However he is behaving as one would expect the Tories to act. Starmer on the other hand is supposed to be the leader of a party that stands up for the ordinary people, but advices his members not to take part in pickets, and now, not to take part in any Palestinian related protests. a wee bit dictatorial perhaps! As a lawyer on international law he doesn't seem to understand the meaning of genocide nor of collective punishment, both banned in international law.

Image courtesy of Channel 4.

 

           The pubic have lived under dreadful conditions after 13 years of Tory rule, if Starmer wins the next election, then dear citizens, expect more of the same. He and his cronies will play the same game of economics to the rules of the big boys, the financial Mafia. They will call the shots on how our tax money should be spent, they will control the purse strings, as they have done since the birth of cancerous capitalism. State and capital always work hand in hand to the benefit of the wealthy, and to hell with the rest of us.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Protest.

   

 

         While Western states pay homage to the Israeli apartheid regime in its act of genocide on the people of Palestine, the people of those states are on the streets in defiance of, and anger at, their governments' stance. Across the globe massive protests took place on Saturday 14th October demanding justice and peace for the Palestinian people. Here in the UK, London saw tens of thousands march in protest at the pending genocide of the people of Gaza, Bristol 1,500, Manchester 1,500 Liverpool similar numbers. In Scotland, Glasgow saw several thousands march through the city demanding peace and justice for the people of Palestine, similar protests took place in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee. It is obvious that the Western state acceptance of collective punishment on Gaza is out of touch with the people they are supposed to represent. This state stance in favour of collective punishment is contrary to international law. Yet, those states that pretend to be the defenders of democracy, turn a blind eye to the pending genocide facing the people of Gaza, innocent blood is on their hands.

 

Croud Image courtesy of Daily Record.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

History.

        Perhaps if more people knew the true history of Palestine and its people, there would be more anger at the Western states and the Zionist apartheid Israeli regime's genocide and land stealing. However, as long as we hold onto the state system and its capitalist bedfellow, then we will always have the type of brutality that we are witnessing today. Peace will come with a world with no borders no states and the world our village.

Image courtesy of Medium.

 

        The following film may be a bit long for some, I think it is well worth viewing it in full.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Genocide.

     

      I repost the following article in full, simply because I am unable to put into my own words the inhumane horror that is unfolding before our eyes in a world already scarred with blood horror and destruction.The Israeli government has decided that all the people living in Gaza are animals and has decided to indiscriminately butcher them, young and old, healthy and inform, they are all being tarred by the same stick. Even although the UN and the Geneva Convention clearly state that "collective punishment" is a crime and the Israel government is well aware of this, the world's governments turn a blind eye, or worse still, support this genocidal action by apartheid Israel. 

The following article is from JVP

      

     The Israeli government has declared a genocidal war on the people of Gaza. As an organization that works for a future where Palestinians and Israelis and all people live in equality and freedom, we call on all people of conscience to stop imminent genocide of Palestinians. 

          Jewish Voice for Peace mourns deeply for the over 1,200 Israelis killed, the families destroyed, including many of our own, and fears for the lives of Israelis taken hostage. Many are still counting the dead, looking for missing loved ones, devastated by the losses. 

          We wholeheartedly agree with leading Palestinian rights groups: the massacres committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians are horrific war crimes. There is no justification in international law for the indiscriminate killing of civilians or the holding of civilian hostages. 

         And now, horrifyingly, the Israeli and American governments are weaponizing these deaths to fuel a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, pledging to “open the gates of hell.” This war is a continuation of the Nakba, when in 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing violence sought refuge in Gaza. It’s a continuation of 75 years of Israeli occupation and apartheid. 

         Already this week, over 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed.  The Israeli government has wrought complete and total devastation on Palestinians across Gaza, attacking hospitals, schools, mosques, marketplaces, and apartment buildings.  

         As we write, the Israeli government has shut off all electricity to Gaza. Hospitals cannot save lives, the internet will collapse, people will have no phones to communicate with the outside world, and drinking water for two million people will run out. Gaza will be plunged into darkness as Israel turns its neighborhoods to rubble.  Still worse, Israel has openly stated an intention to commit mass atrocities and even genocide, with Prime Minister Netanyahu saying the Israeli response will “reverberate for generations.”  

         And right now, the U.S. government is enabling the Israeli government’s atrocities, sending weapons, moving U.S. warships into proximity and sending U.S.-made munitions, and pledging blanket support and international cover for any actions taken by the Israeli government. Furthermore, the U.S. government officials are spreading racist, hateful, and incendiary rhetoric that will fuel mass atrocities and genocide. 

        The loss of Israeli lives is being used by our government to justify the rush to genocide, to provide moral cover for the immoral push for more weapons and more death. Palestinians are being dehumanized by our own government, by the media, by far too many U.S. Jewish institutions. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel is “fighting human animals” and should “act accordingly,” As Jews, we know what happens when people are called animals.

           We can and we must stop this. Never again means never again — for anyone. 

 We call on all people of conscience to stop the imminent genocide of Palestinians. We demand our government work towards de-escalation, that it immediately stop sending weapons to the Israeli military. A future of peace and safety for all, grounded in justice, freedom and equality for all, is still the only option.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Blind Eye.

 

       Lots of people are aware of the genocide being carried out by the Israeli state on the people of Palestine, obviously not enough people seem to have grasped the magnitude and horror of this 21st century genocide and land grab by a Zionist tribe that control the apartheid state of Israel. I would say that practically every state on the planet is aware, but most turn a blind eye as "business is business" as the say.  It is a ongoing daily slaughter, daily terrorising of a people enclosed in the world's largest open prison. Most of the media don't find it newsworthy, so large swaths of the world's population are unaware of this savagery being administered by what is called a legitimate government of a country. The people of Palestine are long over due the right to justice, the right to exist, on their own lands with their own culture and customs, just like you and I, when will we make that happen?

The Media Yawns at the Israeli Army's Death Squads

By Gideon Levy

         "Haaretz" Israeli terror is at it again. The Israel Defense Forces’ death squads chalked up another successful week: four bodies of innocent Palestinians piled up between the two Fridays. There doesn’t seem to be a connection between the four incidents in which four sons were killed, but the link cannot be broken.
      In all these cases, soldiers chose shooting to kill as the preferred option. In all four cases another way could have been chosen: Arrest them, aim for the legs, don’t do anything or simply don’t be there at all. But the soldiers chose to kill. It’s probably easier for them that way.
      They come from different branches of the army with different backgrounds, but they share the incredible ease with which they kill, whether they have to or not.
       They kill because they can. They kill because they’re convinced that this is how they’re expected to act. They kill because they know that nothing is cheaper than the life of a Palestinian. They kill because they know that the Israeli media will yawn and not report a thing. They kill because they know that no harm will come to them, so why not? Why not kill a Palestinian when possible?
      They killed a 12-year-old boy and a 41-year-old plumber. They killed a 17-year-old youth and a 20-year-old young man attending a funeral, all in one week. An Israeli slogan during the 1948 war went “To arms, every good man,” leading later to the concept of the IDF’s “purity of arms.” Four in one week, for no reason, with no hesitation, with no terrorist facing them. Four executions of young men with dreams, families, plans and loves.
      None of the four endangered the soldiers, certainly not in a way that justified lethal fire. Thirteen bullets at a car driving by innocently, carrying a father and his three small children. Shooting a plumber holding a wrench and claiming that he was “moving rapidly toward the soldiers.” Three bullets at the stomach of a 17-year-old who was on his way to take his brother home.
      All this can be called terror; there is no other definition. All this can be called the actions of death squads; there is no other description. It sounds horrible, but it really is horrific.
        It could be less horrific if the Israeli media bothered to report on it, possibly shocking Israelis. It could be much less horrific if IDF commanders took the necessary steps given their army’s murderous recklessness. But most of the media believed that the killing of a child interests no one or is unimportant, or both, so this shocking incident wasn’t reported on.
        If the soldiers had shot a dog – also a shocking act, of course – it would have attracted more attention. But a dead Palestinian child? What happened? Why should it interest anyone, why is it important?
       “Are you working for the Arabs?” journalist Yinon Magal maliciously tweeted, addressing Haaretz’s Hagar Shezaf, virtually the only journalist who covered the boy’s funeral. This is the new journalistic ethos: Reporting the truth is tantamount to working for the Arabs.
       Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist and author. Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz that often focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Levy has won prizes for his articles on human rights in the Israeli-occupied territories.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk   

Socialist Gaza.

           It is great to hear the word "socialist" coming out of the struggle in Gaza. So often the mainstream media portray the Gaza situation as poor little Israel being attacked by that nasty Hamas, an organisation on which the Zionist state has managed to get most of the world to stick the "terrorists" label. Always causing a distortion of what is actually happening on the ground, in Zionist Israel's favour of course.

This report from Struggle la Lucha:

 

  

        The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Palestine’s largest socialist movement, held a large rally in Gaza City on Wednesday, June 2. The rally was held under the banner of celebrating the victory of the Resistance in the latest Israeli war on the besieged Strip, which started on May 10 and lasted for 11 days.
       The rally was also motivated by another objective, asserting the centrality of the socialist movement in Palestinian resistance and political discourse. Thousands of Palestinians, mostly PFLP supporters, turned out to the massive rally, where hundreds of men and women fighters marched in the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City.
      “From the top of the ruins of our homes, leveled to the ground by our enemy to break the will of our people and our Resistance, we insist that Palestine is one and that we do not accept compromises, backdoor dealings or divisions,” Jamil Muzher, a top PFLP official in Gaza, said.
       “We bring to you greetings from the Secretary-General (of the PFLP) Ahmad Sa’adat to the Arab and Palestinian people and to the free people of the world as we celebrate the victory of our people everywhere,” Muzher said in reference to the imprisoned leader of the PFLP. Sa’adat has been a prisoner in Israel since 2002. 
        Muzher also commended the “tough resisters” of the PFLP’s armed wing, Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, along with the armed wings of all Palestinian political groups, including Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and other movements.
        “Our people have fought for over 73 years and resisted in every possible form including popular and armed resistance,” Muzher said, vowing to continue on the same path.
       The rally, which was joined by the Palestine Chronicle correspondent in the Gaza Strip, featured men and women fighters, Che Guevara banners, and posters of Palestinian prisoners from the socialist movement.
        The rally is considered the largest of its kind in Gaza in many years. 

 

 Gallery of photos HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info      

Blood Technology.

     It is a rather dim-witted person that is unaware of the Israeli apartheid state's ongoing genocide of the people of Palestine, This is carried out in front of the eyes and ears of the so called free democratic world, and they do nothing but collude with this vile regime. Most states gain from the expertise the Israeli state has gleaned by testing and experimenting with its various new surveillance, control and war technology, on the Palestinian people. States across the globe eagerly purchase and install this blood stained technology to help control their own populations.

    Only the people can stop this money for misery experiment, to rely on the users is naivety in the extreme.

This from BDN

 

Dear Supporter,
       Our thoughts are with people everywhere fighting the coronavirus. Israel’s apartheid regime has used the pandemic as a smokescreen to intensify its oppression of Palestinians, with even more impunity than ever. Palestinians count on your continued support during this difficult period, including through online actions you can take from home to end international complicity in Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity.

     Decades of Israeli military occupation and apartheid have devastated Palestinians’ health infrastructure, particularly in the Gaza Strip. The first coronavirus cases have been detected in Gaza while Israel continues its siege on two million Palestinians imprisoned there.

      Israel's largest arms company, Elbit Systems, profits from the siege on Gaza — “battle-testing” its killer drones, white phosphorus, sniper bullets and fighter jet parts, all deployed by the Israeli occupation army to murder or maim Palestinians. Elbit Systems’ Hermes 900 drones were among Israel’s drones that murdered 164 Palestinian children in Gaza in 2014.

     Now the European Union is using Elbit’s Hermes 900 drones to implement the EU’s deadly anti-migration policies.

Sign a petition telling the EU: Don’t finance Israel's military industry, respect refugee rights

    Elbit’s drones are used for aerial surveillance of refugees in the Mediterranean. The EU is betraying its legal and ethical obligation to save lives, replacing boats with Israel’s killer drones, turning the Mediterranean into a cemetery.

Share the petition with others: The EU must say no to Elbit’s killer drones

    Elbit Systems also produces surveillance technology for Israel’s apartheid wall, fence around Gaza and military checkpoints, enabling Israel's apartheid rule.

    In the US, Elbit provides surveillance technology for Trump’s wall with Mexico, which is destroying the land of Arizona’s indigenous Tohono O’odham Nation, and preventing refugees from seeking safety in the US.

Share the news: Elbit spreads deadly repression, we spread solidarity and compassion

     Human rights campaigns are scoring wins in efforts to #StopElbit. Major European pension funds and banks have divested from Elbit. In 2018, the French insurance giant AXA, which calls itself “the most ethical insurer in the world,” divested from Elbit, but only partially, failing to live up to its motto.

Tell AXA to fully divest: insurance companies should invest in life, not in Israeli arms

     Our thanks to Visualizing Palestine for their valuable new infographics showing how Elbit Systems profits from grave human rights violations.

In solidarity,

Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)

 Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Isreali's Apartheid.

 

      Any observer of elections in the "democratic representative" style governments, will know that they change nothing. They may tinker around the edges, but will leave the power structure as before. What they can sometimes tells us is the way the majority think. The recent Israeli elections, as expected, left the Israeli state much as it has always been, but it did tell us that the majority of the population of Israel are right wing, believers of land grabbing and the persecution of those on the land they wish to grab.

     During the recent Israeli elections, Netanyahu made no secret of his plan to grab more Palestinian land for Jewish settlements and get rid of those who have lived there for centuries. Still the people of Israel said yes, that's what we want.

His nearest rival in the election was another right wing authoritarian, with just a slightly different shade of racism and race supremacy. How do you deal with a people with that mind set? 

I think Gideon Levy's article hits it on the head.

       You can be disgusted, you can be fearful, you can even be shocked, but you can’t deny his incredible talent: Benjamin Netanyahu the wizard struck again. Now he’s also an alchemist – take a serious indictment, scatter incitement, and win the admiration of the masses. You can be contemptuous, you can denounce it, you can even rise up against the nation that voted that way, but you have to respect its choice. To bow your head. It’s the will of the people. The people want Netanyahu.
      The time has come to recognize that fact: Israel is right-wing, hard right. Racism is politically correct, personal corruption makes no difference, as long as you guarantee the continuation of Jewish supremacy, rule over another nation, arrogance and hatred. Peace, equality and justice are for the weak. Not for most Israelis. They said it loud and clear on Monday, more decisively than in the two previous election campaigns: Netanyahu is our king. Netanyahu is the king of most Israelis.

Read the full article HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Open Savage Insanity.

       Apartheid, ethnic cleansing, genocide, call it what you will, the Zionist state of Israel's treatment of the people of Palestine doesn't contain any shred of humanity. It defies all human decency, it is a vicious psychotic policy built on the insane belief that approximately 2,000 years ago, an invisible man in the sky gave these lands to them and them alone. Based on this insane illusion a nation state and its supporters are quite prepare plunder, brutalise, dispossess and murder all those none Jews that live on those lands. Sadly it is the people of Palestine that are standing in the way of this psychotic nation from realising its insane fantasy dream. All this takes place in full view of the rest of the world, and the other nation states either look the other way, or openly applaud and support this psychotic nation's fantasies. This is usually done for power and profit, no other reason, humanity doesn't appear on their to do list. When will the revulsion of the ordinary people rise up in righteous anger, and put a stop to this psychotic inhuman brutality.

This from PressTV: 

Israel approves 1,800 settler units as elections near

      Israeli forces have injured dozens of Palestinians during clashes with protesters across the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces on Friday stormed al-Arma Mountain in a village in Nablus, where dozens of Palestinians had been staging a sit-in since last night in protest against settlers’ plans to seize the area.

      The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that 134 people were injured during the clashes in the village of Baita near Nablus. Most of the wounded either suffered suffocation due to inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli forces or were hit with rubber bullets. According to the report, one of the wounded was a teenage boy who was hit in his back with a live bullet.

     Palestinian media reports said the clashes were ongoing and the Israeli regime declared the area a “closed military zone” until Friday night. Israeli forces also attacked an anti-settlement rally in the village of Kafr Qaddum in Qalqilya, leaving tens of Palestinians injured. Murad Eshtewi, the head of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee in Kafr Qaddum, said clashes erupted after the Israeli soldiers dispersed a weekly rally by using live and rubber bullets as well as tear gas. One of the injured was hit with a live bullet, while six others were wounded by rubber bullets. Moreover, 33 Palestinians suffered suffocation due to inhaling tear gas.

      The West Bank sees weekly rallies in the lands that the Israeli regime has decided to seize to build settlements on. 

       More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

      Emboldened by US President Donald Trump, Israel has stepped up its settlement construction activities in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounced settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”

      Israeli troops also dispersed another rally in the center of the city of al-Khalil (Hebron), which had been staged to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre and to condemn the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.

      On February 25, 1994, an Israeli settler randomly opened fire at Muslims observing the dawn prayers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the holy fasting month of Ramadan, killing 29 worshipers and injuring 150 others. Later in the day, Israeli forces killed an additional 21 Palestinians who took to the streets across the occupied lands to protest the al-Khalil bloodshed.

      Thousands took part in the Friday’s rally, which also called for an end to the Israeli occupation and condemned Trumps’ Middle East plan. The Israeli forces used sound bombs and rubber bullets against the protesters. They also physically assaulted them.

     Trump unveiled his plan on January 28. The so-called deal would have, among other contentious things, enshrined Jerusalem al-Quds as “Israel’s undivided capital” and allowed the regime to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley.

All Palestinian groups have unanimously rejected the plan.

Rampant Genocide.

     Obviously the only supporters of the Trump/Netanyahu "deal of the Century"  for the people of Palestine, are rabid racists, apartheid supporters, fascists and Trump worshipers. However they will do their utmost to implement this racist land-grab with the hope of obliterating the land of Palestine off the map completely. No rational person with a grain of humanity can stand by and watch this happening. This deal will not be rescinded by debate in the corridors of power, too many in that labyrinth of power and corruption pay homage to their imperial master America. It can only be opposed on the streets in countries around the world. Sadly I don't see Glasgow's name in this list though I do know that there is wide opposition to this extension of American/Zionist imperialism. Let's widely publicise our actions and show the strength of solidarity.

This from Struggle La Lucha:

      Palestinian communities and supporters of Palestine inside occupied Palestine, in the refugee camps and everywhere around the world have mobilized a series of events, actions and demonstrations to express their outrage at the latest colonial insult proffered by U.S. imperialism, the Zionist state and complicit reactionary regimes, the Trump-Netanyahu “deal of the century.”

     A list of actions is below, organized by a wide range of community groups and solidarity movements. This list focuses mostly on events outside Palestine and the camps – there are countless mobilizations taking place there. We know this list is incomplete and growing! will add your action and demonstration to the list if you send us the time, date and location. Send us a message on Facebook or email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to add your mobilization to the growing international rising that makes clear that the people of the world stand with the Palestinian people and will never accept apartheid, land theft and colonization.

UPCOMING ACTIONS

Saturday, 1 February

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
2:00 pm, Aotea Square, New Zealand. More info:
https://samidoun.net/event/auckland-palestine-human-rights-rally/
NAPOLI, ITALY
11:00 am Metro Toledo, Napoli. More info: https://www.facebook.com/giovanipalestinesi.italia/posts/2829767097086466
MILAN, ITALY
4:00 pm, Piazza Duomo/Arengario, Milan. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/giovanipalestinesi.italia/posts/2829767097086466
PARIS, FRANCE
3:00 pm, Fontaine des Innocents, Paris. More info:
https://samidoun.net/event/paris-protest-trumps-declaration-of-war-on-palestinians/
BARCELONA, CATALONIA (SPAIN)
6:30 pm, Placa Sant Jaume, Barcelona. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/comunitat.palestina/posts/2957069284326653
KOBLENZ, GERMANY
12:00 pm, Herz-Jesu-Kirche, Koblenz. More info:
https://samidoun.net/event/koblenz-no-to-the-deal-of-the-century-demonstration/
HAMBURG, GERMANY
3:00 pm, Steindamm 55, Hamburg. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/PalastinensischeGemeinschaftInDeutschlandEv/posts/3309641825727274
BORAS, SWEDEN
12:00 pm, Stora Torget, Borås. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/484555255807680/
GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN
1:00 pm, Gustaf Adolfs torg, Gothenburg. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/170475410928798/
HELSINGBORG, SWEDEN
1:00 pm, Söder, Helsingborg. More info:
https://samidoun.net/event/helsingborg-protest-the-trump-deal/
RONNEBY, SWEDEN
1:00 pm, Ronneby torg, Ronneby. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/pal.in.se/photos/a.777417652281878/2914966685193620/
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
2:00 pm, US Embassy, Dag Hammarskjolds Vag 31, Stockholm. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2692925357660447/
ODENSE, DENMARK
3:00 pm, Banegardspladsen, Odense. More info:
https://samidoun.net/event/odense-no-to-the-deal-of-the-century/
BERGEN, NORWAY
3:00 pm, Den Bla Steinen, Torgalmenningen, Bergen. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/637045693730573/
ENNIS, IRELAND
1:00 pm, The Height, O’Connell Square, Ennis. More info:
https://www.ipsc.ie/event/ennis-emergency-vigil-reject-the-trump-netanyahu-steal-of-the-century-ipsc
DUBLIN, IRELAND
2:00 pm, General Post Office, O’Connell Street, Dublin. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/185899832814621/
LIMERICK, IRELAND
3:00 pm, Bottom of Thomas Street, Limerick. More info:
https://www.ipsc.ie/event/limerick-emergency-vigil-reject-the-trump-netanyahu-steal-of-the-century-ipsc
LONDON, UK
1:00 pm, US Embassy, 33 Nine Elms Lane, London, More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2883478418385390/
MANCHESTER, UK
1:00 pm, Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/281779089464036/
BIRMINGHAM, UK
3:00 pm, opposite Waterstones (by the Bullring), Birmingham. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/birminghampalestineaction/posts/2467249560203413
TORONTO, CANADA
1:00 pm, US Consulate Toronto, 360 University Ave, Toronto. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/120157812630391/
MONTREAL, QUEBEC
1:00 pm, Norman Bethune Square, Montreal. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2649259201840051/
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, US
1:00 pm, 11000 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/519680402004224/
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, US
1:00 pm, Copley Square, Boston. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/205983373778802/
DALLAS, TEXAS, US
2:00 pm, Dealey Plaza, Dallas. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1780900755375497/
HOUSTON, TEXAS, US
3:00 pm, Corner of Westheimer and Post Oak, Houston. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/173949043954721/
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, US
5:00 pm, Five Points Fountain, Columbia. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/UofSCSJP/photos/a.764959730266462/2645478312214585/

Sunday, 2 February

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
2:00 pm, Dam Square, Amsterdam. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/837728293341115/
BERLIN, GERMANY
3:00 pm, Brandenburger Tor, Berlin. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/806759639837552/
OSLO, NORWAY
2:00 pm, Stortinget, Oslo. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1405052866339368/
COLUMBUS, OHIO, US
12:00 pm, 15th Avenue and High Street, Columbus. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/200398221090879/
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, US
1:00 pm, Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2325279181096737/
VANCOUVER, CANADA
2:30 pm, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/172540570673079/

Monday, 3 February

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
2:00 pm, US Consulate General, Museumplein 19, Amsterdam. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/774905216326149/
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
3:00 pm, US Embassy, Boltzmanngasse 16, Vienna. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/566191377123146/photos/a.586026968472920/754733871602228/

Tuesday, 4 February

GIJON, ASTURIAS, SPAIN
7:00 pm, Plaza del Parchis, Gijon (Xixon). More info:
https://www.facebook.com/causaarabe.asturies/posts/2799750740083680

Friday, 7 February

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
2:30 pm, Rond-point Schuman, Brussels. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158109192094456&set=a.10151621688824456&type=3
HELSINKI, FINLAND
4:00 pm, Helsingin Tuomiokirkko, Helsinki. More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/186304922443411/

Sunday, 9 February

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, US
3:00 pm, Oakland (Pittsburgh). More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/487529305243500/

List of COMPLETED ACTIONS

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Men Kek Bissa

         Sorry a day late for Holocaust Day, January 27th. However I thought it was worth remembering that the holocaust was not a one ethnic group cleansing. It included others the regime found not suitable for their distorted vision. Different ethnic groups and those whose political views didn't fit, were also eliminated, though are seldom mentioned on this memorial day.
This from Travellers Times:

 

The Gypsy Camp at Auschwitz - a poem by Raine Geoghegan 24 January 2019

         February 1943: At Auschwitz-Birkenau, a family Gypsy camp was set up in a wooden barracks. August 2 1944: Over 4,000 Roma and Sinti men, women and children were murdered in the gas chambers. January 27 1945 at 3pm, Soviet soldiers reached the camp and found only one Rom among the survivors.

The Gypsy Camp at Auschwitz
the branches on the trees bend and sway
leaves fall and settle on the ground
sunlight seeps through mottled clouds
and all is quiet 

a woman with long red hair
picks a blade of grass
holds it up to the light
remembering her husband
the shape of his mouth
how he spoke her name, Narilla 

men kek bissa: we will not forget 

an old chal with silver hair
takes his hat off, feels the warmth of the sun
on his head
his chavo was four years old when they were imprisoned
a year later he was taken and was never seen again
he had dark curls and hazel eyes 

a chavali runs into the arms of her mother
who remembers she once had twelve chavies
all had hair the colour of the darkest earth
and eyes like wolves 

men kek bissa: we will not forget 

winter birds mourning on the branches
the earth remembering
how it has given refuge to the dead 

no longer dead leaves trampled underfoot
they have become wild breathing flowers
growing in the dust.

       “Except for a few survivors, a whole people unique in its life-style, language, culture and art, was wiped off the face of the earth. The death of the Gypsy Nation was more than physical; it was total oblivion.” Azriel Eisenberg, Witness to the Holocaust, 1981 (New York) taken from Danger, Educated Gypsy, selected essays by Ian Hancock.

      (Romani jib: Men kek bissa – we will not forget; Chal – man; Chavo – boy; Chavali – girl; Chavies – children).

Raine Geoghegan

To mark Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27th, 2019.

(Main photograph: Roma children during the Second World War. The photograph would have been taken by a German soldier somewhere in the Balkans around 1942-3. Outcome unknown. Picture courtesy and (c) Bob Dawson) 

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Israel's Future???

        Israel, a state born on the promise of an invisible man in the sky, who is said to have promised this particular tribe a large part of the Middle East. As far as I am aware, there were no witnesses to this promise, and I doubt if an invisible man in the sky would have the where-with-all to write the promise down and sign it. So some "man" had to do the writing, again, as far as I am aware, their were no witness at the invisible man's dictation. What a load of crap to use as the foundation of a state, but those who believe this nonsense are prepared to maim, kill, and steal land from others to fulfill this childish fiction story.

      That ludicrous fictional promise has spawned the largest concentration camp on the planet, the enslavement and creeping genocide of a group of people who happen to have lived on the plot of land for countless centuries, the Palestinians.

       It is hard to imagine any state built on such ludicrous foundations could possible come into existence, let alone last, but it suited the imperialist powers of the time, and today Israel survives as it is doing the job of the Western imperialists policeman in the Middle East. But for how mach longer?

An interesting article on Israel's possible future,

  By Gilad Atzmon, The End of Israel

          September 14, 2019 "Information Clearing House" - The lesson to be drawn from the current Israeli political stalemate is that Israel is imploding, breaking into the elements it has never managed to integrate into one. The schism is no longer the more quotidian dichotomy of Ashkenazi vs. Arab Jews (aka Sephardim); this divide is ideological, religious, spiritual, political, ethnic and cultural. Nor does it break down to Left and Right, Jewish Israelis are politically with the right even when they pretend to be ‘Left.’ Although some of the most astute critical voices of Israeli politics and Jewish fundamentalism are Israelis (such as Gideon Levi, Shlomo Sand, Israel Shamir and others), there is no political Israeli Left. Israeli politics break down into a lot of extreme right voters and many ordinary hawks. The Arab Joint List Party is practically the only Left party in the Israeli Knesset. This should not be surprising any more. Jewish Left, as I have been arguing for many years, is an oxymoron; Jewishness is a form of tribal identification and Left is universal. The ‘tribal’ and the ‘universal’ are like oil and water, they do not mix very well.
       What is peculiar about the Israeli political divide is that the Israelis are more united than ever in their nationalist beliefs and in the primacy of their Jewish symptoms. Why is it, if the Israelis are so unified, that no one can form a government in their so-called ‘Jewish State’?
        Avigdor Lieberman, formerly an enthusiastic Netanyahu ally and himself a radical Jewish nationalist, delved into the Israeli political deadlock yesterday. He maintained that the elections had already been decided: “The ultra-Orthodox and Messianic bloc reaches 62-61 seats.” The leader of the rabid nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu said, “If there is no voting rate of at least 70% in Gush Dan and Sharon, the Halacha government will be established.”
        Basically, Lieberman said that unless secular Israelis in Tel Aviv go to the polls, they should expect to live in a Halacha State under an ultra right wing Netanyahu government. Lieberman appears to hold the key to Israel’s political stability. Although he and Netanyahu are ideological twins regarding Israeli security and nationalist matters, the two are bitter rivals who fight aggressively against each other. Netanyahu has known for a few years that, absent a strong ultra right wing government, he can expect to spend some time behind bars, an adventure that has become common for Israel’s prime political figures. Netanyahu’s natural partners are the ultra right parties and the orthodox parties. Ideologically, Lieberman should also feel comfortable within such a political coalition but Lieberman has made a crucial political decision, essential for his political survival. A while back he grasped that his political home base, Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, many of them barely Jewish and subjected to constant rabbinical terror, regard the Jewish Orthodox parties as their ultimate foes. Many of these Russian and Ukrainian Jews hold ultra right wing political positions but also see the Rabbis as an imminent threat to their survival.
         Theoretically, Lieberman could broker a huge unity coalition with Netanyahu at the top, joined by Blue and White (Kachol Lavan) and its three right wing field marshals, Lieberman’s own party and probably the Labour party. Such a coalition would hold around 80 Knesset seats, more than enough to sustain a strong government but this coalition would refuse to guarantee Netanyahu’s immunity.
       Netanyahu gambles instead on a weak ultra right wing religious government, a government that may not hold for very long but would buy more time for its PM to stay out of jail.
        This conflict at the heart of Israeli politics is a window into the Jewish state and its fears. Israel is rapidly becoming an Orthodox Jewish state. Israel’s Orthodox Jews are the fastest growing group in the country. They are also the country’s poorest population, 45 percent live below the poverty line in segregated communities. Ordinarily, one would expect the poor to support the left, but Israeli Torah Jews are rabid nationalists and openly lend their support to Benjamin Netanyahu and his party.
        Prof. Dan Ben-David of Tel Aviv University warned recently that Israel could cease to exist in a couple of generations. He pointed to the astonishingly high birth rate among ultra Orthodox Jews and predicted that, based on current trends, they will comprise 49% of Israel’s population by 2065. The ultra Orthodox parties are destined to dominate the Knesset within a generation or less. Ben David predicts that their dependence on Israel’s welfare system will lead to a rapid decline is Israel’s economy. This is economically damaging enough and is made worse by the refusal of most rabbinical schools to incorporate standard Western subjects such as mathematics, science and English into their core curriculum. Consequently, Israel is educating a growing percentage of its population in a fashion that fails to equip them to contribute to the needs of a hi-tech society that is immersed in a conflict for survival.
        The picture that comes across is peculiar. As Israel becomes increasingly Jewish and fundamentalist in its nationalist and religious ethos, it has also become more divided on everything else. The Russian immigrants find it impossible to live alongside the ultra Orthodox and vice versa. The secular enclave in Tel Aviv is committed to seeing their metropolis as an extension of NY. The Israeli Left has morphed into an LGBT hasbara unit. It has practically removed itself from the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Jewish settlers adhere to the concept of a ‘Two Jewish States Solution.’ They want to see the West Bank become a Jewish land. Orthodox Jews are barely concerned with any of these political issues. They well know that the future of the Jewish state belongs to them. All they need to do is sustain a productive secular Jewish minority to serve as their milk cow. On top of all of that we face Bibi’s survival wars that threaten to escalate any minute into a world conflict.
         In light of all of this, the Palestinians are in relatively good shape.. They simply need to survive. Israel seems to be Israel’s fiercest enemy.
         Gilad Atzmon is a saxophonist, writer, and political activist. He was born in Israel, but now lives in London. https://gilad.online/writings/2019/9/12/the-end-of-israel

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk