On Leave
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Far From the 'Banning' Crowd
I hope it's the frenzy of the dying that has made the religious right, and all the people duped and terrified by them, ratchet up the forceful increase in 'shut up and disappear' tactics. You know, the ones they use instead of trying to make a point through reason and calm argument.
You tell them the earth has been around for billions of years and we are just a minuscule dot in an otherwise unfathomably large set of endless universes and their response is 'shut up and disappear'. Suggest that the human experience is colourful, endlessly surprising, diverse, full of more questions than answers and, therefore, beautiful...'shut up and disappear'. Suggest that humans are capable of thinking, choosing and learning from their own mistakes, and need I say it? 'shut up and disappear'.
Fear, paranoia and sexual obsessions are unfortunately the calling cards of these fanatics who want the world in little tiny simplistic boxes that are to0 small and too weak to hold in the crazily gorgeous multiplicity of possibilities offered up by science and art and the ability to love and create and be brave. So they get mad and have to shut us all up and make us disappear.
And yet, here we all are still talking and still dancing and still singing and still loving and still saying we are not afraid. They are so small and they are dying, so we understand that they need to be loud right now, but facts and reason and hearts bigger than their tiny misfiring brains are always going to sway to that everlasting tune they may someday, if they're lucky, recognize as freedom. Before they take their own advice and shut up and disappear.
You tell them the earth has been around for billions of years and we are just a minuscule dot in an otherwise unfathomably large set of endless universes and their response is 'shut up and disappear'. Suggest that the human experience is colourful, endlessly surprising, diverse, full of more questions than answers and, therefore, beautiful...'shut up and disappear'. Suggest that humans are capable of thinking, choosing and learning from their own mistakes, and need I say it? 'shut up and disappear'.
Fear, paranoia and sexual obsessions are unfortunately the calling cards of these fanatics who want the world in little tiny simplistic boxes that are to0 small and too weak to hold in the crazily gorgeous multiplicity of possibilities offered up by science and art and the ability to love and create and be brave. So they get mad and have to shut us all up and make us disappear.
And yet, here we all are still talking and still dancing and still singing and still loving and still saying we are not afraid. They are so small and they are dying, so we understand that they need to be loud right now, but facts and reason and hearts bigger than their tiny misfiring brains are always going to sway to that everlasting tune they may someday, if they're lucky, recognize as freedom. Before they take their own advice and shut up and disappear.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sulayman Al-Bassam's Richard iii on PBS
A friend described him as a 'national treasure'... I might have to agree.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Donald Macintyre says we should be '..very Afraid' of the Israeli elections... One candidate plants a tree in occupied territory as an election ploy (and that isn't his worst behaviour)... Another is in the lead thanks to his racism and his ability to publicly say things like the Egyptian president can "go to hell". And Gaza knows too well what another bunch of candidates did to gain votes...
Well at least someone that doesn't sound ignorant, childish or insane can be elected somewhere.. even though it won't affect the nonsense above much.
Speaking of fear, the racist far right in Russia are also turning their crippling fear of 'the other' into a murderous rampage of stupidity and terror..
The strange contradictions of the human spirit are tugging at me... that flutter we get from the prospect of adventure can make a 56 year old swim across the Atlantic or an 18 year old sign up to kill and die thousands of miles from home... That nagging fear of death can make you an artist or a madman, and which is better at erasing the end? The desire to devour everything can make you a scholar or an adulterer or both...who isn't an adulterer after all with our unquenchable sense of entitlement that grows greater the faster time passes and we see our ability to care for anything other than our fading selves get weaker and hazier... as the noose tightens we try to spread our cornered flesh over its borders, forgetting the endless wonders swarming within...
Time, you damn killer, how we yearn for you in our multitude of final gasps.
But I digress...
Now see here, the NYTimes has some swell photos of "Generation Faithful: Away from Home in Dubai", Gaza/Israel photos in "A War's Many Angles".
And I leave you with... nothing.
Well at least someone that doesn't sound ignorant, childish or insane can be elected somewhere.. even though it won't affect the nonsense above much.
Speaking of fear, the racist far right in Russia are also turning their crippling fear of 'the other' into a murderous rampage of stupidity and terror..
The strange contradictions of the human spirit are tugging at me... that flutter we get from the prospect of adventure can make a 56 year old swim across the Atlantic or an 18 year old sign up to kill and die thousands of miles from home... That nagging fear of death can make you an artist or a madman, and which is better at erasing the end? The desire to devour everything can make you a scholar or an adulterer or both...who isn't an adulterer after all with our unquenchable sense of entitlement that grows greater the faster time passes and we see our ability to care for anything other than our fading selves get weaker and hazier... as the noose tightens we try to spread our cornered flesh over its borders, forgetting the endless wonders swarming within...
Time, you damn killer, how we yearn for you in our multitude of final gasps.
But I digress...
Now see here, the NYTimes has some swell photos of "Generation Faithful: Away from Home in Dubai", Gaza/Israel photos in "A War's Many Angles".
And I leave you with... nothing.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
This girl's photo is one I can't stop coming back to... A sense of guilt and shame, at the world community which has fiddled as Gaza burned and our impotence in the face of these crimes, makes me unable to make her invisible..
===
See photos of Gaza from the relief organization Care.
And Photos of Gaza from Save the Children
===
"The front page of the Beirut daily As-Safir said it all yesterday. Across the top was a terrible photograph of the bloated body of a Palestinian man newly discovered in the ruins of his home while two male members of his family shrieked and roared their grief. Below, at half the size, was a photograph from Israel of Western leaders joking with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister." Robert Fisk
And Photos of Gaza from Save the Children
===
"The front page of the Beirut daily As-Safir said it all yesterday. Across the top was a terrible photograph of the bloated body of a Palestinian man newly discovered in the ruins of his home while two male members of his family shrieked and roared their grief. Below, at half the size, was a photograph from Israel of Western leaders joking with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister." Robert Fisk
===
Paul Kaye lost his mother-in-law to a Hamas rocket, and he describes his family's sadness at what Israel is doing:
"My wife says she feels scared and lost and full of guilt. "It's my country and I see myself as Israeli not Jewish," she keeps shouting at me. Does that make you feel better or worse about what's going on, I ask? "That's worse!" she says, "because Israel is nothing to do with God." I digest this, but don't even know where to begin to start unravelling that statement." continue
===
The Observer reports that eyewitnesses in Gaza say that Israeli Soldiers:
"My wife says she feels scared and lost and full of guilt. "It's my country and I see myself as Israeli not Jewish," she keeps shouting at me. Does that make you feel better or worse about what's going on, I ask? "That's worse!" she says, "because Israel is nothing to do with God." I digest this, but don't even know where to begin to start unravelling that statement." continue
===
The Observer reports that eyewitnesses in Gaza say that Israeli Soldiers:
- attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;
- killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;
- opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;
- used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells continue
===
Caoimhe Butterly, An Irish Human Rights activist riding with ambulances in Gaza reports:
"The morgues of Gaza's hospitals are over-flowing. The bodies in their blood-soaked white shrouds cover the entire floor space of the Shifa hospital morgue. Some are intact, most horribly deformed, limbs twisted into unnatural positions, chest cavities exposed, heads blown off, skulls crushed in. Family members wait outside to identify and claim a brother, husband, father, mother, wife, child." continue
===
Despite the fluffing of feathers that comes with Israel continuously saying it 'withdrew' from Gaza in 2005, Ralph Nader writes:
"In 2006, the Israelis added to their unrelieved control of air, water and land around the open-air prison by establishing a blockade. The natives became restless. Under international law, a blockade is an act of war. Primitive rockets, called by reporters "wildly inaccurate" were fired into Israel. During this same period, Israeli soldiers and artillery and missiles would go into Gaza at will and take far more lives and cause far more injuries than those incurred by those rockets. Civilians-especially children, the infirm and elderly-died or suffered week after week for lack of medicines, medical equipment, food, electricity, fuel and water which were embargoed by the Israelis."continue
===
Who Violated the ceasefire? A Chronology of events assembled from the news and human rights oranisation by Howard Friel
===
Israel's disconnect: Surgical strikes and careful warnings to civilians are what the IDF claims. As I learned in Lebanon, the reality is far different Julie Flint, The Guardian.
===
Video of a boy wounded by the white phosphorus that Israel is being accused of using
===
Friday, January 9, 2009
A very dear friend is writing an excellent poem/song, to deal with the frustration and horror at what is happening in Gaza... and to hopefully move people to feel things they should feel at this disgusting display of human cruelty.
I am afraid I can't be as articulate. The frustration cripples the mind, and the outrageous and vicious statements made everyday to justify the slaughter of civilians is beyond comprehension.
Some lives are more precious than others, and it is so savagely clear in these bloody days.
3 United Nations Schools where civilians were finding refuge are hit, even though their coordinates were known.
More than 700 Palestinians killed, so far
Thousands injured
Medics targeted
The Gaza Community Mental Health Programme was bombed
UN Aid workers shot at
11 Israelis dead 8 of them soldiers, so far.
Another sound bite is that Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 so the Palestinians have nothing to complain about...The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has this to say:
"Israel issued an order declaring the end of the military government in the Gaza Strip, and claimed that it was no longer responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of life there. However, Israel continued to control the air and sea space, movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (also via neighboring countries), the population registry, family unification, and the crossing of goods to and from Gaza . Also, residents of the Gaza Strip rely solely on Israel for its supply of fuel, electricity, and gas. Until 28 June 2006, an independent electric-power station operated in the Gaza Strip, producing about one-half of the electricity needed by the residents in the Strip. The station relied completely on fuel and gas from Israel. On 28 June, Israel bombed the electric-power station. Since then, residents of the Gaza Strip have relied completely on Israel for their electricity."
==
Another sound bite involves the idea that civilians are being avoided:
"Have we forgotten the 17,500 dead – almost all civilians, most of them children and women – in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon; the 1,700 Palestinian civilian dead in the Sabra-Chatila massacre; the 1996 Qana massacre of 106 Lebanese civilian refugees, more than half of them children, at a UN base; the massacre of the Marwahin refugees who were ordered from their homes by the Israelis in 2006 then slaughtered by an Israeli helicopter crew; the 1,000 dead of that same 2006 bombardment and Lebanese invasion, almost all of them civilians?
What is amazing is that so many Western leaders, so many presidents and prime ministers and, I fear, so many editors and journalists, bought the old lie; that Israelis take such great care to avoid civilian casualties"
Robert Fisk. The Independent
"Israel's use of white phosphorus airburst shells over the densely populated Gaza Strip came under fresh criticism last night for endangering civilians."
The Guardian
"In a scathing statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) accused the Israeli army of failing to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded"
ABCNews
Roger Cohen, The International Herald Tribune
"Many kids have stopped eating. They are inactive, they barely talk, they cling to their parents all the time," said Sajy Elmaghinni, who works for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Gaza.
AFP
"Four exhausted children have been discovered cowering in a house next to the bodies of their mothers by staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross" The Guardian
"The major news outlets meekly accepted Israel's banning of journalists from entering Gaza as an excuse for downplaying collateral civilian casualties" The Nation
===
And then:
"Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip today, ignoring a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. " The Independent
BBC
The Huffington Post
Youtube/video:
The massacre of children in Gaza
News footage from french channels
The 19 month blockade of Gaza, an exchange between the two sides.
Clips from a film about life in Gaza: Occupation 101
UN Official outside Gaza Hospital
A Palestinian woman not allowed out of Gaza to get cancer treatment
"Al-Jazeera, based in Qatar, has four correspondents in Gaza and its bulletins are broadcasting graphic images that would never find their way on to western TV screens."
The Guardian
Here are the Jazeera English news channel clips on youtube.
"All we had heard about conditions in Gaza – deprivation, a sense of despair, the lack of economic activity – had not prepared us for the stark reality which we saw."
Desmond Tutu after visiting Gaza during the blockade.
A UN report on the blockade/siege includes the following:
UNICEF photoessay
“It seems the international community is neglecting them, that somehow Palestinian children don’t deserve the protections guaranteed under the Geneva Convention and humanitarian law.
Science Daily, 2006
'Routine day' that made two teenagers a bloody statistic
Political cartoons about the blockade: 1, 2, 3
I leave you with Lama Al-Othman
I am afraid I can't be as articulate. The frustration cripples the mind, and the outrageous and vicious statements made everyday to justify the slaughter of civilians is beyond comprehension.
Some lives are more precious than others, and it is so savagely clear in these bloody days.
========
The Casualties
More than 200 Palestinian children killed, so far.The Casualties
3 United Nations Schools where civilians were finding refuge are hit, even though their coordinates were known.
More than 700 Palestinians killed, so far
Thousands injured
Medics targeted
The Gaza Community Mental Health Programme was bombed
UN Aid workers shot at
11 Israelis dead 8 of them soldiers, so far.
=========
The Talking Points
Anyone who has heard the Israeli spokespeople in the media is bound to have realized that they have a set of talking points that they stick to no matter what question they are asked. Here are some responses and refutations of those arguments:The Talking Points
Palestine's Guernica and the Myths of Israeli Victimhood- Fom the Huffington Post
"Israel has tried to take the initiative in the propaganda war over Gaza but, in one important instance, its version has been seriously challenged". BBC
==
One of the talking points/sound bites is that Hamas broke the ceasefire two weeks before the war on Gaza:
Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen The Guardian, NOV 5th 2008
"Hamas had respected the previously negotiated ceasefire except when Israel used the ceasefire as cover to make assassination raids against Hamas and other Palestinian leaders" Rabbi Michael Lerner
CNN video on Israel breaking the ceasefire
"Israel's military and political leadership took many aggressive steps during the ceasefire that escalated a crisis with Hamas" Foreign Policy in Focus
=="Israel has tried to take the initiative in the propaganda war over Gaza but, in one important instance, its version has been seriously challenged". BBC
==
One of the talking points/sound bites is that Hamas broke the ceasefire two weeks before the war on Gaza:
Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen The Guardian, NOV 5th 2008
"Hamas had respected the previously negotiated ceasefire except when Israel used the ceasefire as cover to make assassination raids against Hamas and other Palestinian leaders" Rabbi Michael Lerner
CNN video on Israel breaking the ceasefire
"Israel's military and political leadership took many aggressive steps during the ceasefire that escalated a crisis with Hamas" Foreign Policy in Focus
Another sound bite is that Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 so the Palestinians have nothing to complain about...The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has this to say:
"Israel issued an order declaring the end of the military government in the Gaza Strip, and claimed that it was no longer responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of life there. However, Israel continued to control the air and sea space, movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (also via neighboring countries), the population registry, family unification, and the crossing of goods to and from Gaza . Also, residents of the Gaza Strip rely solely on Israel for its supply of fuel, electricity, and gas. Until 28 June 2006, an independent electric-power station operated in the Gaza Strip, producing about one-half of the electricity needed by the residents in the Strip. The station relied completely on fuel and gas from Israel. On 28 June, Israel bombed the electric-power station. Since then, residents of the Gaza Strip have relied completely on Israel for their electricity."
==
Another sound bite involves the idea that civilians are being avoided:
"Have we forgotten the 17,500 dead – almost all civilians, most of them children and women – in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon; the 1,700 Palestinian civilian dead in the Sabra-Chatila massacre; the 1996 Qana massacre of 106 Lebanese civilian refugees, more than half of them children, at a UN base; the massacre of the Marwahin refugees who were ordered from their homes by the Israelis in 2006 then slaughtered by an Israeli helicopter crew; the 1,000 dead of that same 2006 bombardment and Lebanese invasion, almost all of them civilians?
What is amazing is that so many Western leaders, so many presidents and prime ministers and, I fear, so many editors and journalists, bought the old lie; that Israelis take such great care to avoid civilian casualties"
Robert Fisk. The Independent
"Israel's use of white phosphorus airburst shells over the densely populated Gaza Strip came under fresh criticism last night for endangering civilians."
The Guardian
"In a scathing statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) accused the Israeli army of failing to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded"
ABCNews
========
"I have never previously felt so despondent about Israel, so shamed by its actions, so despairing of any peace that might end the dominion of the dead in favor of opportunity for the living."[The Israeli Foreign minister Tzipi] "Livni rejected on Thursday a French proposal for a 48-hour truce to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying there was no humanitarian crisis in Strip.
Livni said Israel had been careful to protect the civilian population and had kept the humanitarian situation in Gaza "completely as it should be".
Alertnet
And yet:
Livni said Israel had been careful to protect the civilian population and had kept the humanitarian situation in Gaza "completely as it should be".
Alertnet
And yet:
"The European Commission on Sunday called on Israel to respect international law and allow access to people "suffering and dying" in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip." AFP
Roger Cohen, The International Herald Tribune
"Many kids have stopped eating. They are inactive, they barely talk, they cling to their parents all the time," said Sajy Elmaghinni, who works for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Gaza.
AFP
"Four exhausted children have been discovered cowering in a house next to the bodies of their mothers by staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross" The Guardian
"The major news outlets meekly accepted Israel's banning of journalists from entering Gaza as an excuse for downplaying collateral civilian casualties" The Nation
===
And then:
"Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip today, ignoring a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. " The Independent
========
In Images
Photos of the attacks:In Images
BBC
The Huffington Post
Youtube/video:
The massacre of children in Gaza
News footage from french channels
The 19 month blockade of Gaza, an exchange between the two sides.
Clips from a film about life in Gaza: Occupation 101
UN Official outside Gaza Hospital
A Palestinian woman not allowed out of Gaza to get cancer treatment
"Al-Jazeera, based in Qatar, has four correspondents in Gaza and its bulletins are broadcasting graphic images that would never find their way on to western TV screens."
The Guardian
Here are the Jazeera English news channel clips on youtube.
=========
The blockade/siege of Gaza that preceded the attack:
"All we had heard about conditions in Gaza – deprivation, a sense of despair, the lack of economic activity – had not prepared us for the stark reality which we saw."
Desmond Tutu after visiting Gaza during the blockade.
A UN report on the blockade/siege includes the following:
- Only 23 out of 3,900 industrial enterprises are currently operational
- 70% of agricultural land in Gaza are no longer being irrigated, leading to desertification
- A lack of available cash in the Gaza Strip could lead to a collapse of the financial system
- Half of Gaza City's population is receiving water only once a week for a few hours
- Residents of Gaza City are without power for up to 16 hours each day
- Quality of health services severely affected
UNICEF photoessay
“It seems the international community is neglecting them, that somehow Palestinian children don’t deserve the protections guaranteed under the Geneva Convention and humanitarian law.
Science Daily, 2006
'Routine day' that made two teenagers a bloody statistic
Political cartoons about the blockade: 1, 2, 3
Help:
I leave you with Lama Al-Othman
فلنقم جنازاتنا... ولنقدم تعازينا لموت الإنسان فينا
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