SOLIDARITY,

Just a little celebration in keeping with the previous post.

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OCCUPY AND SOLIDARITY ARE WINNERS.

From The Irish Examiner:

Battle of Vita Cortex comes to an end after 161 days

Thursday, May 24, 2012 - 05:14 PM

       One of the longest-running industrial relations protests in the history of the State ended in Cork today. On Day 161, the marathon sit-in protest at the Vita Cortex factory ended with a ceremonial march out the gate. The 23 workers who occupied the factory since December 16 have now all been paid an undisclosed sum by company owner, Jack Ronan, as the final part of their redundancy. The foam-workers’ stand lasted longer than the Dublin Lockout of 1913, when James Larkin led thousands of workers for 146 days in the most significant industrial relations dispute in Irish history.
The former Vita Cortex staff said their campaign began on nothing more than a gut instinct and a feeling of injustice. The workers were due to leave the foam factory for the last time when it shut down on December 16 last year. When it became clear they would not receive their redundancy package of 2.9 weeks’ wages per year of service they decided to take a stand.
      On a shift rota, they have occupied the building ever since, and their efforts have seen them held up as a symbol of workers’ rights. Up to 5,000 people marched through Cork to support their plight on a rainy day in February in one of the largest public demonstrations the city has seen in recent years. The campaign attracted support from soccer legends Alex Ferguson and Paul McGrath, former President Mary Robinson, philosopher Noam Chomsky, actor Cillian Murphy and Cork sport and GAA stars.
      Former machinist Helen Crowley, who gave 27 years’ service to the company, said: “The whole campaign snowballed in a way. You got completely swept away in it.” After spending Christmas, New Year’s Day, St Patrick’s Day and Easter in the Kinsale Road factory, the workers were today looking forward to normal life again.
     Jim Power, who worked for the company for 43 years, summed up the mood. “It’s a relief really. Now that it’s all over, I look forward to normal living again,” he said. Seán Kelleher, who worked at the plant for more than 47 years, said: “This campaign has dominated our lives for the past five months. It was the generosity of the Cork people that kept us going.”
After months of failed negotiations, the company finally agreed at a meeting in Cork earlier this month to pay the workers.

Article courtesy of The Evening Echo newspaper

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DAWN RAIDERS DAWN RAIDED!!

           At 5:30am this morning a group of dozen protesters from Unity & the No Borders Network blockaded and closed the gates at the UKBA reporting centre in Brand Street Glasgow, in protest against the continuing detention of children and the practice of early morning raids following the harrowing dawn raids and subsequent detention of two African families in the city over the last month. 

          Protesters have attached themselves through lock on tubes across the entrance of the main gates, blocking the exit for dawn raid vans, and closing all vehicle exits to the building where the heavy handed UK enforcement teams are based.
The team of protesters are chained together through tubing on which reads the slogans “STOP DAWN RAIDS” & “END DEPORTATIONS”. Banners in support of refugee rights hang across the gates.
          The peaceful protest attracted the attention of 15 police officers. As protesters blocked the road this morning, members of the UKBA Enforcement Teams which carry out the dawn raids arrived, protesters believe, in preparation to carry out a dawn raid on another family this morning. Protesters believe that we have managed to successfully stop the UKBA detaining a family today.

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STILL THE MOST DEMOCRATIC STATE IN THE MIDDLE EAST???

May 24, 2012 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- One of South Africa’s largest tertiary institutions, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, is a site of multiple controversy but a near-disaster on May 21 deserves more reflection because it points us in a positive direction: away from allying with the Israeli state and its apartheid policies during a time of heightened racism. A representative of Israel had been invited to speak but was then disinvited, after the university was called on by staff and students to respect the “academic boycott” of Israel.

From South Africa, the African continent and everywhere else, it is a critical time to step up pressure against the rogue regime in Tel Aviv. Israel’s hard-right leader, Benyamin Netanyahu, is in a dangerous career phase, preparing to bomb Iran; illegitimately holding thousands of Palestinian prisoners in worsening conditions; expanding settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank; terrorising Gaza; and tightening his militaristic hold over the region.

Netanyahu’s approach to protecting his core constituency was unveiled at a recent cabinet meeting, in his paranoid description of African refugee immigration (mainly from Eritrea, Ethiopia and South Sudan): “If we don't stop the problem [sic], 60,000 infiltrators [sic] are liable to become 600,000, and cause the negation of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic [sic] state.”

Interior minister Eli Yishai picked up the same theme: “They [African immigrants] should be put into holding cells or jails … and then given a grant and sent back."

In spite of police data confirming that Israelis commit more than twice as many crimes per person as African immigrants, Yishai claimed, “most African infiltrators are involved in crime”.

According to the Hotline for Migrant Workers, “In the last month, the number of hate crimes carried out by Israelis against Africans has risen tremendously. Multiple Molotov cocktails were thrown into houses of Africans in southern Tel Aviv on two separate occasions, a week apart.” Then on the night of May 23, the logic of Netanyahu/Yishai unfolded at street level when hundreds of their followers attacked Africans in what was widely described as a race riot, leaving many injured, with a dozen Israelis arrested for violence.

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THE ONLY DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST!!!!

         It is not very often that we hear a criticism of Israel coming from America. As we all know America is Israel's banker and minder, and in return Israel is the US policeman in the Middle East, who refers to itself as, “the only democracy in the Middle East”. So when US state department raise concerns about Israel's treatment African asylum seekers, stating that they are being denied their basic human rights, the situation must be serious. The US annual report on human rights says that many asylum seekers are refused refugee status, so cannot access health care. This report also criticises the Israeli government officials for referring to migrants as “infiltrators”. It is believed that in recent years, approximately 60,000 migrants have entered Israel, mainly from Sudan and Eritrea. The UNHCR states that, last year from 4,603 new asylum applications Israel received, only one was approved. Their figures also show that there are approximately 6,000 previous cases still pending. There is also concern about the fact that Israeli authorities can reject applications and there is no road for appeal, no independent appeal process. All our states are riddled with right-wing politicians, Israel has more than its fair share of those driven by religious extremism. The US state department report criticises some of those right-wing politicians, stating that the are stoking up hatred by referring to “infiltrators” as a cancer, while calling for all migrants to be expelled. There is the usual claim from the Israeli state mouth pieces, stating that the overwhelming majority of migrants are not fleeing war, violence and persecution, but merely seeking a better life, (in state ideology this is a crime). A simple look at the war, violence and persecution taking place in that part of the world makes that kind of statement no more than an utterance blinded by racial and/or religious hatred.

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AH, POOR NICK!!

        UK Uncut has moved it targets from high street corporate tax dodgers to those, "We're all in it together" millionaire politicians. It beggers belief that the people of this country put up with being told to tighten their belts and face poverty with humility, from a bunch of pompous, arrogant over privileged parasitical milliomaires. When will we ever learn!!!

This from a BBC report:

       Hundreds of anti-cuts protesters have gathered outside Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's home in south-west London.

       UK Uncut said disabled activists had chained their wheelchairs at both ends of the street in Putney where he lives. The group, which is staging protest "street parties" in 10 UK cities, said it was targeting Mr Clegg as he was "one of the architects of austerity". A spokesman for Mr Clegg said: "People have a right to peaceful protest."

        A Metropolitan Police spokesman said there were no reported arrests.

        UK Uncut, which has previously targeted high profile people it believes are avoiding paying tax, said it was now targeting politicians. Jean Sandler, 42, a UK Uncut supporter, said: "Nick Clegg is one of the architects of austerity; he's a millionaire and lives in a £1m home. "The cuts are a political choice of this government and the cabinet of out-of-touch millionaires, they are not necessary.

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A NEED FOR A DEBATE.

Food for thought from AdBusters:

Dear occupiers, jammers, dreamers,

        Three years after the May 1968 uprising that swept the world, the great French philosopher Michel Foucault observed that a key strategy of power is to “appear inaccessible to events.” Power, Foucault argued with a nod towards 1968’s failed insurrection, acts to “dispel the shock of daily occurrences, to dissolve the event … to exclude the radical break introduced by events.”

       Forty years later, in light of Occupy, Foucault’s observation still strikes home. Despite achieving the impossible at unprecedented speed – sparking a global awakening, triggering a thousand people’s assemblies worldwide, and giving birth to a visceral anti-corporate, pro-democracy spiritual insurrection – Occupy is now struggling through an existential moment. Our movement has been dealt a blow: our May 1 and follow-up events have been dissolved by power; the status quo has shown itself to be far more resilient than many of us expected.

         Now a passionate debate is emerging within our movement. On one side are those who cheer the death of Occupy in the hopes that it will transform into something unexpected and new. And on the other are patient organizers who counsel that all great movements take years to unfold.

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LIVING IN A PONZI SCHEME.

          We have a system where the poor are pushed deeper and deeper into poverty, and by legislation ruthlessly trapped there. It is a system that will use the language of irrationality to prove its groundless claims. There is the cry from our privileged overlords for a return to family values while at the same time branding a mother who stays at home to look after her children, a scrounger, and if she goes out (forced out) to work, with no time off to care for the kids during the summer holidays, she will be accused of being a bad mother allowing her kids to roam the streets. On occasions when some individual “cheats” the benefit system, all hell breaks loose and our lords and masters scream about all the “lower class” being feckless, lazy parasites. Though they never mention the fact that the system itself is one big ponzi scheme, riddled with fraud and corruption, where that fraud and corruption increases in size as you go up their vitiated ladder.

We have to crack down on those benefit cheats!!

           It is also a system dominated by super-rich, over privileged, privately educated middle aged men, who have no perception of what it is to live at the “ordinary” level of life, to struggle with bills and worry about keeping a roof over your head, or whether your job will be there next month. All that daily struggle is an alien world to the real super-rich parasites who control the system and our daily lives. Like I have said before, they need us, we don't need them.

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THERE WILL COME A TIME.

THERE WILL COME A TIME.

There will come a time when the hordes remember,

who bound our grand-parents to the yoke of oppression,

who sentenced our parents to deprivation,

who bid poverty sink its teeth into our heart,

who teach our children, greed is a noble art.

Who sent our sons through the gates of hell

to a litany of cambist brawls,

crammed coffers with blood-stained gold

while laughing in Ares' halls.

"Who does these terrible things to us?" they will ask,

and when they remember,

they'll bring an energy that is endless

to drive a fist that is fearless.

Then this merciless market-driven world will crumble

under an insurrection of integrity,

the poor will emerge from the dark husk of capitalism

to live in the light of social justice.

There will come a time when the hordes remember.

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FIGHT A WAGE CUT - LOSE YOUR PASSPORT.

An appeal from IUF

         In April, 2,000 migrant workers in a factory in Thailand that processes shrimp for a major supplier to Walmart revolted against their abusive and degrading conditions. The workers, from Cambodia and Burma, protested the seizure of their passports by factory owners in Thailand. Police were called. Shots were fired.
          It wasn't just the passport seizure that incited the workers' anger - it was management slashing wages again. Their wages already failed to cover the most basic needs, and this latest action put workers deeper into the factory's debt. Many of them are still legally and financially trapped at the factory, victims of human trafficking. This is not an isolated incident. Also in Thailand, workers at a pineapple factory recently held similar protests over wage reductions. There are now reports of human trafficking involving children under 15, bought and sold to work there. More than 73% of this factory's shipments to the USA go to Walmart.

Sign the petition to Walmart's VP of Ethical Sourcing, calling for him to demand these factory owners end human trafficking immediately and allow independent monitors to audit all of their factories.

For more information, and to sign the petition, click here.

Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
web-site: www.iuf.org

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COLLAPSE AND CHAOS??

        The collapse of any powerful system, be it monarchy, state or what ever, is always followed by chaos. What we are witnessing at the moment is the collapse of the current powerful force, a financially controlled  economic system. How it plays out will depend on the people, will they take control of their own lives in co-operation with each other, or will the seek out a new Messiah?

An extract from an interesting BBC article:

         The social unrest, economic gloom and austerity in Europe today mirrors one of the greatest crises in British history, says the historian Michael Wood.

        The news from Europe is getting worse by the day. Economic gloom across the continent and multiple crises in the currency zone. With rising unemployment and inflation there are riots in the streets with forecasts of anarchy in some parts of western Europe. And along with the simmering discontent there is a worrying rise of radical groups and populist right wing movements. In the fringes, secessionists are pushing for independence, indeed for the break up of the whole European order under which we have all lived secure and comfortable for so long.

         At home in Britain there are worrying signs in every town - cuts in public services have led to closures of public baths and libraries, the failure of road maintenance, breakdowns in the food supply and civic order. While political commentators and church leaders talk about a "general decline in morality" and "public apathy", the rich retreat to their mansions and country estates and hoard their cash.

       It all sounds eerily familiar doesn't it? But this is not Angela Merkel's eurozone - it is Roman Britannia towards the year 400, the period of the fall of the Roman Empire.

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UNITE AGAINST FASCISM - EDINBURGH..

Message from Unite Against Fascism.

          The Scottish Defence League (SDL) won their court case today, so for the first time these racists will be allowed to march in Scotland. It is outrageous that a Sheriff sees fit to grant racists a march. Racism is not acceptable on the football terraces so why does she think it is acceptable on our streets?

Today’s Unite Against Fascism press release on the court decision can be seen at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2moep8WjsdkNkQxd24zRF9fZWs/edit?pli=1

          However while the SDL will be kept on Regent Road, out of sight of almost everyone, we will march right through the middle of town. Unite Against Fascism urges you to come to the Grassmarket for 12 noon, we will then march up to George IV Bridge, down the High St and across The Bridges to Waterloo Place/Regent Road. We will then have a rally with a broad platform of speakers outside St Andrews House. Our march and rally will be well stewarded and safe.

        It is really important that everyone comes to this march. We need to set down a marker that allowing racists to march is not acceptable. Please bring your relatives, friends and colleagues.

We need to demonstrate that they are a minority and that the overwhelming majority say no to racists and Nae Nazis in Edinburgh.

Saturday May 26 12 noon Grassmarket, Edinburgh

Twitterful Follow events on the day @UAFScot

Facebook: Edinburgh Against The Racist SDL Twitter: @UAFScot Email: uafedinburgh@riseup.net

 

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AUSTERITY = POVERTY.

        What does austerity lead to, apart from enhancing the bank balances of the financial Mafia. A look at Greece today could be a vision of what is in store for hundreds of millions of ordinary people across Europe. The situation in Greece deteriorates on a daily bases and with no end in sight, and will continue to deteriorate as long as we continue with this corporate fascist money orientated system.

A very valid comment from Polizeros:

      From tomorrow’s edition of Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachricthen: “The Greece-exit is a done deal: According to the German economic news from financial circles EU and the ECB have abandoned the motherland of democracy as a euro member. The reason is, interestingly, not in the upcoming elections – these are basically become irrelevant. The EU has finally realized that the Greeks have not met any agreements and will not continue not to meet them. A banker: “We helped with the Toika. The help of the troika was tied to conditions. Greece has fulfilled none of the conditions, and has been for months now.”

       The troika is composed of unelected ex-Goldman executives who want to financially rape Greece to further enrich the bankers, who knew damn well the loans they made were junk and should never have been made. The populace of Greece, who had nothing to do with the loans, is being forced to pay for the sins and crimes of others in the name of a bogus “austerity.” So, for a banker to whine that they tried to help Greece is sactimonious, self-serving rubbish. Greece stops paying pharmacies, who are now charging full-price.

The Eurozone banksters are very sorry that granny in Greece may not be able to afford her meds so that the reckless, garbage loans they forced on Greece can be repaid. But really, what’s a few dead grandmothers in comparison to extortion-like loans being repaid so that a corrupt tiny few can further enrich themselves.

       A Greek exit is very bad news for Obama and could seriously threaten his reelection.

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KIDNAP AND TORTURE.

 This from Labour Start: 

Mexico: Human rights defender kidnapped and tortured

           José Enrique Morales Montaño, of the Center of Support for Workers (CAT) in Puebla was kidnapped and physically tortured on May 15, 2012 as he was headed to the Local Labor Board to accompany a group of textile workers who were fighting a case against a factory in the region. His captors kept a gun pressed to his head for extended periods of time, and threatened to kill him and the other members of the CAT. In the evening of the same day, they left him on an abandoned highway to Veracruz, and stole his cell phone and backpack; he suffered serious injuries.

            Show your solidarity with those in Mexico defending human and labour rights and demand a swift resolution to this injustice.

          Please take a moment to send off your protest message here:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1393&src=lsmm

Spread the word - build the campaign!

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REMEMBER OUR OWN.

          May 23 2008, Utah Phillips, a working class hero died, but he still delivers humour and a working class story.

From Wikipedia:

         Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips (May 15, 1935 – May 23, 2008)[1] was a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an anarchist.[2] He often promoted the Industrial Workers of the World in his music, actions, and words.

Early years 

       Phillips was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Edwin Deroger Phillips and Frances Kathleen Coates. He attended East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father, Edwin Phillips, was a labor organizer, and his parents' activism influenced much of his life's work. Phillips was a card-carrying member of the Industrial Workers of the World, the "wobblies," headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Phillips rode the railroads, and wrote songs.[3]

         He served in the United States Army for three years beginning in 1956 (at the latest). Witnessing the devastation of post-war Korea greatly influenced his social and political thinking.

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NATO PROTEST CHICAGO - 2012.

This from Contra Info:

          In the context of the 2012 NATO Chicago summit, on 20th and 21st May of 2012, many counter-protesters were detained during anti-NATO protest marches. Several anarchists were arrested ‘preemptively’. They were accused of scheduling and preparing militant actions against the summit meeting of the world’s largest warmonger. There are yet no reliable information from friends and comrades who were actually there, but due to the need of dissemination of some facts about the arrests, here follows a first summary by ABC Berlin.

          Late on Wednesday evening of the 16th of May, the cops stormed a house in the neighborhood of Bridgeport in Chicago, without showing an arrest warrant or search warrant, and arrested nine people. Six were released without charges on Friday. However, three were remanded in custody, and are now being subject to investigation and threatened with charges of ‘conspiracy to commit terrorism, material support for terrorism, and possession of explosives or explosive or incendiary devices.’ They are accused of having planned to attack with Molotov cocktails four cops’ stations, the local campaign headquarters of US president Obama, the residence of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and other targets in the city. All three were described by the prosecution authorities as self-proclaimed anarchists, having travelled together from Florida several weeks before the scheduled anti-NATO protests in Chicago. During the police raid in the Bridgeport house, a device was confiscated by the cops, who now claim that this was used to make Molotov cocktails; nevertheless, according to the residents, this was simply a kit for making beer at home. A bail bond of 5 million US dollars cash was set for each defendant (a total amount of 1.5 million).

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - THOMAS MUIR.

       No matter how far back we go in our history, we always find that the state will always come down hard on those who dare to try to change the system in favour of the ordinary people. Our history is litterd with brutality handed out to people who would dare to challenge the state's monopoly on power. It will fight hard to protect the status-quo retaining the power and wealth in the hands of the few.

THOMAS MUIR, 1765-1799.
EARLY LIFE.

Thomas Muir was born and lived at a place called Huntershill, a district just to the north of Glasgow. The house still stands surrounded by it's gardens and trees. Thomas was born into a wealthy home. He studied law at Glasgow University but left on a point of honour in 1780 and completed his studies at Edinburgh University eventually having a law practice in Glasgow. He was however drawn to the reform movements that had developed all over Scotland. The reform movements had gathered momentum as the French revolution in 1789 inspired support for parliamentary reform all over Britain. Thomas Muir had connections with numerous reform societies throughout Scotland; in 1792 with William Skirving he helped to set up Scottish Reform Clubs, the membership open to every class. He wrote many pamphlets and spoke at a considerable number of meetings. He was an open and ardent supporter of radical political reform at a time when the authorities were becoming ever more nervous due to the events in France.

ARREST AND BANISHMENT.

One year later, after presenting a nationalistic address to the Scottish Reform Movement General Convention, on behalf of United Irishmen. Thomas Muir was arrested and charged with sedition. His trial date, which took place in Edinburgh, was brought forward by several months while he was visiting France. Unable to get travelling arrangements in time, his non attendance made him an outlaw. He was found guilty of, '...having created disaffection by means of seditious speeches'. He returned to Scotland in August 1793 and was sentenced to be banished to Botany Bay for 14 years. However, George Washington heard of his sentence and sent the USS Otter to rescue him and take him to the new Republic of America. His escape was made good in 1796, however the USS Otter, on its way home was wrecked off Panama. Thomas Muir was then arrested by the Spanish and taken to Havana where he was deemed to be a spy and shipped back to Spain. On the way back to Spain they encountered three British ships and a battle ensued in which Thomas Muir lost an eye. The Spanish released him in 1797 whereupon he made his way to France. He was made a French citizen and died at Chantilly in 1799.

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More on Glasgow's working class history.

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IT'S AN INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM.

        Not a new video but one that gets the message acros that it is not a national problem, but an international problem.

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THE NEVER ENDING ISRAELI LAND GRAB.

            While the Western world is pre-occupied with saving the Euro, deficit reduction and increasing the banking system's liquidity, Israel continues with its policy of purloining Palestinian land, while at the same time pursuing its agenda of genocide against the Palestinian people. If you have a look at an old map and look at the territory that was marked as Palestine and compare it with what is now considered Palestinian land you get quite a shock. Not only is the land just a fraction of what it was, this land grab by Israel has been allied to thousands of Palestinian deaths at the hands of the Israeli state. In man's blood soaked history I doubt if there has been a longer, more one-sided war. On the one side you have one of the most modern, powerfully equipped military machines in the world, on the other a people armed with second rate makeshift rockets, improvised home-made weaponry and stones, and after approximately 50 years, still the uneven struggle continues. None of this could happen if it was not for the financial and military support of America. What is happening in Palestine is part and parcel of American foreign policy in the Middle East, all the West is also complicit in the death of the the Palestinian people, the destruction of their farms and property and the grabbing of their land.

This from US Palestinian Community Network:

On May 15, across the shatat and in the homeland, Palestinians marked the 64th anniversary of the Nakba of 1948 in a multitude of ways. We rallied, we held vigils, and we took a quiet moment to remember, reflect, and mourn. On this anniversary, we particularly honored our heroes in Israeli prisons, who conducted the longest, and one of the largest, hunger strikes in history. In our long march to liberation and return, it has always been our people, their undiminished courage, and their towering fortitude, that have carried our struggle through. We are honored to be Palestinian, proud of our people, and the nobility of our cause.

It is therefore with grave concern that we issue this letter expressing our dismay at the continued disregard and disrespect for our struggle and our people by the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), and its President, Ziad Asali.

At this time of remembrance, two photos were widely circulated of Asali embracing Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at a celebration of Israel’s independence hosted by the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. While Palestinians were mourning the destruction of 531 of our villages, and the expulsion of nearly 800,000 of our people, Asali saw fit to attend a celebration of that moment, and shake the hands of a man whose task it is to silence us and defend the destruction of our homes, theft of our land, starvation of our prisoners, and elimination of our people.

Indeed, this incident is merely the culmination of a long history of ATFP’s betrayal of our people. Since its inception in 2003, with Asali as its President, ATFP has consistently found itself the focus of the Palestinian community’s ire, and the organization’s history carries a string of resignations by one Board member after another in disgust. In the wake of Israel’s 2008-2009 war on Gaza, several Board members stepped down in protest of ATFP comments to CNN effectively absolving Israel of responsibility for its crimes. In his resignation letter to the Board, one member wrote:

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IN MONEY WE TRUST.

        This society has many problems and the recent media coverage of the "floating" of Facebook on the stock market highlighted one, the adoration of money and those who have it. What a screwed up society we live in when individuals becoming billionaires can create a frenzy with hours of media coverage, and sadly the frenzy was among those who will benefit nothing from the corporate event.

This is Charles P. Pierce's take on it: 

Even given my status as an Old Guy Who Loves Facebook — a phenomenon of the modern age characterized by aggravated carpal-tunnel syndrome, a weirdly revived devotion to high-school chums, and a proclivity for throwing old Van Morrison videos out to a gaping world — I have to admit that the giddy national pageant attending Friday's Facebook IPO has left me awfully cold, and awfully pessimistic that this country ever is going to get its economic house in order in anything resembling a fair and just way. Entire news networks dedicating huge blocks of time, the way they once went live for hours covering the Mercury program, to the release of a stock onto the market. People waiting outside in Times Square for the magic moment, as though it were New Year's Eve or VJ Day, and everyone acting as though this whole thing is some kind of national triumph rather than a simple mechanism by which an incredibly wealthy recluse will become an unimaginably wealthy recluse. We get together to cheer for stock. We get together to cheer for money. We get together to cheer for zillionaires, and not a dime of it is ever going to filter down to any of those people waiting behind the barriers in New York, watching the price of the stock tick upwards as though they all had a personal stake in it.

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ALL YOU FASCISTS ARE BOUND TO LOSE.

A little bit of confirmation never does any harm, enjoy.

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