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Peace,
Mike Baldwin
Farewell!
6 years ago
Monday, December 28, 2009
Hunger strike commences for the #Gaza freedom March RT
Our #STL Friends are on a Hunger strike: in Egypt awaiting opportunity to go to Gaza. Pray for and fast with Hedy, J’Ann and Sandra.
In solidarity with them, I have joined their hunger strike and hope you will too. We must raise public awareness of this humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Below is the most recent press release from Code Pink. Please go to their website for updates as this action progresses--and pass the word!
French Delegates Take Over the Boulevard in Front of French Embassy in Cairo
What: A contingent of several hundred French activists takes over the boulevard in front of the French embassy, demanding buses to go to Rafah When: Sunday, December 28, late evening. A group of French activists from the solidarity group EuroPalestine take over Mourad Street, the boulevard in front of the French Embassy in Cairo, next to the Four Seasons Hotel. They occupied the street with tents for 4 hours, stopping traffic, demanding buses to take them to the Gaza strip, forcing the French Ambassador to come and negotiate on their behalf. The French solidarity group Europalestine, part of the Gaza Freedom March, a group of 1,400 activists from 42 countries, congregated in Cairo after the Egyptian government barred their entry to the Gaza strip. The international coalition had intended to take part in a non-violent demonstration with 50,000 Palestinians to commemorate Israel’s Cast Lead operation and protest the ongoing blockade. When Egypt refused to give them permission to board buses for the Rafah crossing, the French group, over 300 strong, sprung into action, occupying Avenue Charles de Gaulle—Mourad Street—in front of the French Embassy and demanding that their ambassador take action. Dozens of armored police transport vehicles line the far side of the boulevard. Hundreds of riot cops with Plexiglas shields are blocking the French activists in. Red water cannons sit on the other side of the street. The French activists are talking with the riot police, asking them about their professions and their children. There are on-going negotiations, but they insist that they will not leave until they have buses that will take them to Rafah. According to Olivia Zemor, the coordinator of the French group, “we are waiting for the buses, we are staying in front of the French embassy, even if it’s not comfortable, it’s much more comfortable than Gaza.” The Gaza Freedom March coordinators have put out a call to action for all to join them in front of the French Embassy.
Peace,
Mike Baldwin
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Leading Iran cleric condemns Ashura deaths - Yahoo! News
TEHRAN (Reuters) – An opposition leader criticized Iran's hardline rulers on Monday for killing innocent people during a religious festival, a reformist website reported.
Police said five people died in Tehran when pro-reform protesters fought security forces on Sunday, the most violent clashes since a contested June 12 presidential vote sparked political turmoil across Iran.
"What has happened to this religious system that it orders the killing of innocent people during the holy day of Ashura?," moderate cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who came fourth in the election, said in a statement, the Jaras website reported.
"Why is such a holy day not respected by the rulers?"
Opposition websites said police opened fire on protesters in central Tehran. Eight people were killed in the capital and other Iranian cities when tens of thousands of opposition backers took to the streets, they said.
The deaths were the first in street protests since the immediate aftermath of the disputed June election.
Among the dead was opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi's nephew, whose death was described as a "martyrdom" by a Mousavi ally. State TV said "unknown assailants" killed Ali Habibi Mousavi Khamene.
Police said investigations were under way into the suspicious deaths and more than 300 protesters had been arrested in Tehran.
Jaras said police shot and killed four protesters in central Tehran and that unrest had spread to other parts of Iran, including the holy city of Qom, Shiraz, Isfahan, Najafabad, Mashhad and Babol.
The reports could not be independently verified because foreign media are banned from covering protests.
The White House condemned the "unjust suppression" of civilians by the Iranian government and said the United States was on the side of protesters.
UNREST ACROSS IRAN
The killings showed that the confrontation between the opposition and the clerical establishment had entered a volatile phase, in which the security forces appeared determined to stamp out the pro-reform movement.
The disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has plunged Iran into its biggest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution, exposing deepening divisions in its ruling elite and setting off a wave of protests that the opposition says left over 70 people dead.
Officials say the death toll was half that number.
The post-election turmoil has also made Iranian officials unable to resolve a dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which the West fears is a cover to build bombs. Iran denies this.
Authorities had strongly warned the opposition to avoid using the two-day Shi'ite Muslim Tasoua and Ashura festival over the weekend to revive protests against the clerical establishment.
This year's Ashura coincided with the seventh day of mourning for leading dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died a week ago at the age of 87 in Qom.
A spiritual patron of Mousavi's movement, he was a fierce critic of the hardline clerical establishment.
(Editing by Jon Boyle)
via news.yahoo.com
Facebook | Anniversary of the Gaza War
Anniversary of the Gaza War
The seige still continues!
Host: Type: Network:
Date: Time: Location: City/Town: Description
On Dec. 27th last year, Israel began their military offensive, Operation Cast Lead, on the people of Gaza. During their three week war on the occupied Gaza Strip, Israel killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, injured more than 5,000, and destroyed 4,000 buildings causing an estimated $2 billion in damage to civilian infrastructure.The war continues in Israel's illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, denying 1.5 million civilians their right to food, clean water, electricity, and other necessities of life. Since the end of the three week military offensive in January, Israel has allowed only 41 truckloads of construction materials into the Gaza Strip. Thousands of truckloads of reconstruction materials are needed to rebuild the tens of thousands of homes, businesses, schools, mosques and other buildings destroyed and damaged during the war. As a result, thousands of Gaza residents are still living in tents, and the Strip’s economy remains in ruins.
Meanwhile, the United States is scheduled to provide Israel with $30 billion of weapons at taxpayer expense over the coming decade. At a time when millions of people in the US are being turned out of their homes due to foreclosures, why are we giving Israel billions of dollars to destroy Palestinian homes?
As we vigil, three St. Louisians are on their way to Gaza for the Gaza Freedom March, (ahttp://www.gazafreedommarch.) Most recent news has indicated that officials are going to refuse to allow the thousands of activists march.
Please join us as we stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza!
via facebook.com
Elie Wiesel: Go with Us to Gaza! An Appeal to the Nobel Peace Laureate
Elie Wiesel: Go with Us to Gaza! An Appeal to the Nobel Peace Laureate
December 5th, 2009 Posted by Mark Chmiel<!--[endif]-->
In his 1986 address upon receiving the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel pointed out that, during the Holocaust, “the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.”
Yet, on one of the great issues of our time, the Israel-Palestine conflict, Mr. Wiesel has not abided by the moral maxims he championed in the above address. For example, in the second volume of his memoirs, he admitted, “Indeed, I can say in good faith that I have not remained indifferent to any cause involving the defense of human rights. But, you may ask, what have I done to alleviate the plight of the Palestinians? And here I must confess: I have not done enough….In spite of considerable pressure, I have refused to take a public stand in the Israeli-Arab conflict. I have said it before: since I do not live in Israel, it would be irresponsible for me to do so.”
In recent years, we the undersigned have traveled to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories—the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip—and have seen for ourselves the disturbing, heart-breaking, and outrageous effects of Israel’s domination and aggression against the Palestinian people, aided and abetted by the U.S. government and armaments corporations. December and January mark the one-year anniversary of Israel’s attack, which is described by the Goldstone Report of the United Nations as “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population.”
In the spirit of Mr. Wiesel’s call to interference, three people from the Metro area –Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor; Sandra Mansour, a Palestinian activist; and J’Ann Allen, a grandmother and wife of a retired military officer—will leave for Gaza on December 26th to join over a thousand people from approximately 40 countries on the Gaza Freedom March [http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/]. Along with 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza, they will march to call attention to the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis there.
Hedy, Sandra, and J’Ann call on Mr. Wiesel to join them and bear witness to the suffering, humiliation, and torment caused by Israel’s indiscriminate violence:
Let us go, Mr. Wiesel, and listen to the lamentations of Palestinian parents who have lost their children, and the children who are now orphans;
Let us go, and stand amid the desolate ruins everywhere the eye can see—of destroyed homes, hospitals, clinics, factories, mosques, and schools;
Let us go, and interview a few of the tens of thousands of still homeless men, women, and children;
Let us go, and listen to the doctors’ heart-rending accounts of the misery and maiming inflicted on civilians by the munitions of the Israel Defense Forces;
Let us go, and walk with the farmers among their destroyed fields, greenhouses, and groves;
Let us go, Mr. Wiesel, and make eye contact with the Gazans who daily battle hunger and daily fight despair due to Israel’s inhumane siege.
Let us refuse neutrality. Let us not be silent.
May more of us be willing to turn the following words of Mr. Wiesel into concrete deeds of solidarity and witness: “When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.”
Seeing is believing,
J’Ann Allen, Center for Theology and Social Analysis; adjunct instructor, Forest Park Community College
Anna Baltzer, Jewish American human rights advocate; author of Witness in Palestine
Barakat Barakat, SLU undergraduate
Sharifa Barakat, SLU alum, 2009
Mark Chmiel, Center for Theology and Social Analysis; adjunct professor, Saint Louis University
Hedy Epstein, Holocaust survivor; author of Remembering Is Not Enough; SLU alum
Daanish Faruqi, Graduate student, Washington University
Dianne Lee, Center for Theology and Social Analysis; professor, Forest Park Community College
Sandra Mansour, Georgetown University, Graduate School alum
Kelly McBride, Graduate student, American University at Cairo; SLU alum, 2006
Matthew Miller, Graduate student, Washington University
Angie O’Gorman, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Immigration Law Department; adjunct professor, Saint Louis University
Nima Sheth, SLU medical student; SLU alum, 2008
Magan Wiles, MFA student, University of Tennessee; SLU alum, 2004
via bookofmev.com
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