Palestinian Land Day 2022

 

 

Today, 30th March, is Yorn al Ard//Land Day in Palestine and is marked by Palestinians wherever they live. Land Day is held on the anniversary of March 30, 1976,when Palestinian villages and cities across the country witnessed mass demonstrations against the states plans to expropriate 2,000 hectares of land in and around the Arab villages of Araba and Sakhnin as a part of a plan to "Judaise the Galilee".Israel's Galilee region. In coordination with the military, some 4,000 police officers were  dispatched  to quell the unrest. At the end of the day, six Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed, and over one hundred injured by state security forces.

The Day of the land - or Land Day marked the first mass mobilization of Palestinians within Israel against internal colonialism and land theft. It also signalled the failure of Israel to subjugate Palestinians who remained in their towns and villages, after around 700,000 of them were either expelled or forced to flee battles or massacres committed by Zionist armed groups in 1948.It's commemoration is a reaffirmation that the Palestinians who remained in the area on which Israel was declared in 1948, are an inseperable part of the Palestinian people and their struggle.

This important day in Palestinian history commemorates the Palestinians sense of belonging to a people, to a cause and a country, to stand united against racial oppression and rules of apartheid,and the discriminatory practices of the Israeli government, giving continual potency to the Palestinians cause , its quest for justice and Palestinian rights, and its resistance to injustice,who never cease to fight for their land while holding passionately to their history and identity. It is the right of return, recognised in the United Nations Resolution 194, that drives Palestinians to continue with the commemoration of Land Day - regardless of their geographical location. and reveals Palestinians’ unyielding commitment to every single inch of their native land.

The day is celebrate annually by Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and further afield in refugee camps and among the Palestinian diaspora worldwide, with demonstrations, marches and by planting olive and fruit trees, in honor of Indigenous sumud (resilience). 

Sumud  is the concept most frequently employed to describe the daily reality experienced by Palestinians in the occupied territories and those caught up in the ongoing diaspora, translates as steadfastness and refers to a form of everyday resistance, and describes a stubborn insistence on continuing with life despite all obstacles.

 Land Day is typically met with violent Israeli repression, yet  this movement gained a renewed surge in 2018 when thousands of Palestinians — families, people of all ages, and genders — commemorated Land Day by peacefully walking towards the border areas along the Gaza Strip. They dubbed this the Great March of Return and originally intended to highlight the sacrifices of those who resisted and continue to resist land acquisition; it was also a protest against Israel’s 10-year long siege of Gaza. 

 It was land that motived them to start this largely non-violent protest which was met with Israeli fire and snipers. Israel claimed the lives of hundreds of Palestinians at the Great March of Return, and thousands more lives before and since then. But it is beyond doubt, that Israel has failed to erase the love in the hearts of all Palestinians for their land.

Since the Great March of Return, Palestinians in Gaza have held weekly marches towards a security fence put up by Israel. They mainly attempt to break the siege around their territory and demand their land back as well.

On March 29, 2002, at the height of the Second Intifada, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield, a devastating military assault that killed nearly 500 Palestinians, wounded over 1400, and left over 17,000 Palestinians homeless.  Though these events all happened years apart, they serve as a great representation of the realities of ongoing Israeli settler-colonialism, ethnic cleansing, occupation, and apartheid today.

Today many of the Land Day protests  against the theft of their lands focus on the Negev region, since much of the land that has been marked for appropriation in the Galilee has already been confiscated. The Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel also now face the appropriation of 800,000 dunams of the Negev by the Israeli state.The housing situation for the Bedouin remains dire. Settlements that house 160,000 people are deemed "illegal" by Israel, and risk demolition. The issue of land allocation and housing for Palestinian citizens of Israel has now reached crisis point.

Land seizures remain an essential part of Israeli policy that can be seen regularly applied in area ‘C’ within the West Bank, that is under the full Israeli control. As a result of such measures, and the continued attacks on these lands, and inaccessibility to basic services provided to the people living there, most of the Palestinians have been forced to leave the area that is now considered de facto annexed to the occupying state of Israel.

Seizing land over the last 55 years by the Israeli military occupation has squeezed the Palestinian population, of some 5.3 million, to live in less that 9% of Mandate Palestine. Land seizures also brought to an end the two-state solution that was always supported by the world community as the only possible solution to the Palestinian Question.

Land Day therefore  continues to be poignantly relevant as Israel continues to confiscate land, expand their colonies, and continue to build their illegal settlements in flagrant violation of all international conventions, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law.Land day  has come to symbolise the struggle of the Palestinian people for their legitimate rights to their own land, homes and property; indeed, their legitimate right to their homeland and for its people to  proudly declare that they are one from the River to the Sea.

 As we commemorate the Palestinian Land Day, let us  continue to  strongly condemn Israel’s policies and practices of seizing the Palestinian land. It is worth noting that while some 10 million Palestinians live in refugee camps struggling and demanding to return to their land since they were displaced starting in 1948 with the Nakba, the State of Israel opens its doors to Ukrainian refugees. A quarter of a million are expected to arrive from Ukraine to Palestinian land, not because of solidarity, but as a way to deepen colonization and change the ethnic composition in the region. 

Whilst not forgetting the people of Ukraine's terrifying ordeal at the present time, it's important  that we do not forget the Palestinian people either .The daily  attack on the people of Palestine just like the people of Ukraine is deeply saddening which sees  occupation practices, depriving people of their basic human rights as articulated under international Law. 

Today, the Israeli occupation continues its dispossession of lands, most recently with the announcement of the forced expulsion of 38 Palestinian families from the occupied East Jerusalem village of Al-Walaja. 300 Palestinian residents of Al-Walaja await the Israeli  court’s ruling on the demolition of their homes.  

According to the United Nations, al-Walaja has lost more than 85 percent of its lands since 1948, while 90 percent of the residents of the village and their descendants were forced out, many of them ending up in nearby refugee camps. International outrage can stop these demolitions. Harnessing today’s mass movement, it is crucial that we work to defend Palestinians’ rights to remain in and return to their homes. 

Israel’s apartheid regime has consistently displaced Palestinians from their native lands, simultaneously destroying their ecosystems. This Land Day, Palestinians across the board are resisting ethnic cleansing from al-Walaja, Jerusalem, to Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills, to Al-Naqab desert in what is known as Israel today, to the Jordan Valley, to Gaza, and beyond.  This Land Day, Palestinians and non-Palestinians across the world resist settler colonialism and call for long-overdue sanctions on apartheid Israel.

On Palestinian  Land Day we can express our solidarity through our deep commitment to continue working towards ending the prevailing violations and work towards bringing about a just peace. Against a backdrop of furtehr desctruction  of land by Israel we must promote the Palestinian right to access and use their land and Properties. Write to your MPs on the need to defend the rights of the Palestinian People and hold Israel accountable to its obligations under international humanitarian Law. I would also urge you to support, promote and sponsor the Keep Hope Alive – Olive Tree Campaign, to help Palestinian farmers, access, maintain and save their land. Olive trees and harvests have an exceptionally important place in Palestinian culture, especially in villages where farming is the main source of income for Palestinian families. Palestinians and especially farmers have always looked at olive trees as a national symbol that should be kept and protected as it speaks of the thousands of years of their history in Palestine. This special importance has been expressed in the Palestinian culture, through oral history, songs, and poetry.

As Palestinians renew their commitment to the struggle for freedom , justice and  return, strength must be drawn from the resistance that has not ceased since1976. You can join in celebrating Palestinian cultural resistance through the arts, food and the myriad ways Palestinians resist attempts to sever the connection they have to their land rights here: :https://www.palestinecampaign.org/events/land-day-cook-along/

The Land Day strike  inspired the following powerful poem by Tawfiq Zayyad, Palestinian poet, writer, scholar and politician, that continues to resonate across the Palestinian generations.

Here we will stay - Tawfiq Zayyad ( 7/5/ 29 - 5/7/ 94)

In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee,
we shall remain
like a wall upon your chest,
and in your throat
like a shrad of glass,
a cactus thron,
and in your eyes
a sandstorm.
We shall remain
a wall upon your chest,
clean dishes in your restaurants,
serve drinks in your bars,
sweep the floors of your kitchens
to snatch a bite for our children
from your blue fangs.
Here we shall stay,
sing our songs,
take to the angry streets,
fill prisons with dignity.
In Lidda, in Ramla, in the galilee,
we shall remain,
guard the shade of the fig
and olive trees,
ferment rebellion in our children
as yeast in the dough.

Link to poem by Mahmoud Darwish on the same theme :-

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/to-our-land-mahmoud-darwish-13309.html

 'if the olive trees knew  the hands that planted them, their oil would become tears.'

- Mahmoud Darwish

Palestinian  planting olive Trees on Land Day

 

  

 

Massive solidarity for Lowkey as pro-Israel group tries to get him banned from Spotify

  

People are standing in solidarity with the ouspoken British-Iraqi rapper, and Palestine solidarity campaigner Lowkey whose real name is Kareem Dennis. after he became the latest target for a British pro-Israeli group We Believe in Israel. that is trying to get the performer banned from Spotify.  

 It's been reported that  the  group "Will be campaigning for Spotify to remove 'dozens of instances of problematic material,' including Lowkey's [2010 track] Long Live Palestine - Part 2."which they consider most problematic.

 

 

But it isn’t going well for the pro-Zionist group, because people are showing they will not be silenced in their support for Lowkey and the Palestinian struggle. I believe that Israel's call to ban Lowkey's music from the streaming giant spotify is the latest salvo in an escalating war by the Israel lobby against the rapper - seemingly in revenge for his political stances in support of Palestinian liberation.

Lowkey is a passionate and eloquent defender of Palestinian rights, and is well versed in the history of the region. This video shows him speaking at the Oxford Union in 2019:

 

 

Cambridge Palestine Society was forced to postpone a talk by Lowkey after a smear campaign by the Israel lobby on campus. The talk went ahead a week later. But the lobby wasn't done. Recently an event by Lowkey planned for the National Union of Students conference was canceled altogether, after another smear campaign by the Union of Jewish Students - an anti-Palestinian group which has been directly funded by the Israeli embassy.

 Lowkey's three "Long Live Palestine" tracks have become anthems for the Palestine solidarity movement in the UK. The video for part three alone has had more than 1.1 million views on YouTube since it was released in 2019: 

 

 

Lowkey has worked with some of the biggest names in the British music industry and is widely respected in the UK rap scene.

His music has featured other artists such as Wretch 32, Akala, the Arctic Monkeys, Reverand and the Makers and Babyshambles.

Spoken word artist Potent Whisper released a video about what’s happening with Lowkey. He sums up the situation:

This group of people are British based lobbyists. They use their influence to support Israel. Lowkey is a rapper who talks about the wrongs they do. He isn’t scared to speak about the things they won’t put on the news. Now they want to get revenge because he gets a lot of views. They want to lobby Spotify to try and get his songs removed.

He continues:

Israel drops bombs on streets but wants to call his songs extreme. I mean, I guess in a way you can kind of see why. Like if you were them, you’d be extremely worried. The people were exposing your killing of civilians – that’s why you spend so much on the MPs you lobby, so you can try legitimising killing Palestinians.

And as he asserts:

But ultimately what it comes down to is this: if they’re alleging that his music is violent, that defending Palestine is hateful incitement, they should have to prove it facts before they can remove his tracks. If they can’t, then it proves they just want him silenced.

Responding to threats to ban his music, Lowkey stated:

This coordinated campaign is an extension of the brutalisation of the Palestinians. Palestinians are routinely arrested by Israel for posts on social media, even children. Dareen Tatour spent almost a year in occupation jail for posting a poem to her Facebook.

He continued:

Artists and musicians should never have to fear threats to their livelihood or person for the music they make. We will not be silenced on Palestine, not now, not ever.

The response on social media has shown that Lowkey is right.with musicians and celebrities coming out in support of the rapper, and numerous artists putting their names to an open letter defending him.

The letter, has been signed by rappers Wretch 32 and Ghetts, model Anwar Hadid, actor Michael Malarkey, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters and hip-hop DJ Charlie Sloth.

The signatories are calling “on Spotify and all other platforms not to buckle to pressure groups who would rather see his music removed than grapple with the issues he highlights.”

The letter describes Lowkey as “the target of a coordinated smear campaign to demonize, defame and deplatform him.”

“Lowkey’s music has inspired and energized millions around the world and ignited an interest in many about the issues he raises in his work,” the signatories explained. “As a relentless  advocate for Palestinian human rights, he is a target for many who would rather his message not be heard."

The others signatories on the letter are:

Award-winning filmmaker Farah Nabulsi, comedian and actor Guz Khan, boxer Billy Dib, award winning musicians Ana Tijoux and FredWreck, artist and music producer Bu Kolthoum, singer Maverick Sabre, rappers Avelino, K Koke and Styles P, musicians Narcy, Mr Hudson, Khxled Siddiq and Blay Vision, record producer Dexplicit, directors Charlie Sarsfield and Chirolles Khalil, actor Aymen Hamdouchi, broadcaster and actor Mim Shaikh and creative directors and photographers Zekaria al-Bostani and Elliot Hensford.

Since news broke last week of the latest Israel lobby campaign against Lowkey, there has been an outpouring of support for the rapper and campaigner on social media.

"The apartheid regime’s counter-measures are increasingly desperate. They know the game is up. Long live @Lowkey0nline," tweeted Matt Kennard, investigator at Declassified UK.

"@Lowkey0nline is one of the very few who exposes their colonial settler project in occupied #Palestine. His work is essential & invaluable," campaigner Abier Khatib tweeted.

"British Israel lobby is pressuring Spotify to remove the music of rapper @Lowkey0nline, because they don't like the lyrics of 'Long Live Palestine'. There's no limit to Zionist zeal to bully, punish and censor," tweeted journalist Ali Abunimah.

"Solidarity with @Lowkey0nline - an immensely gifted lyricist who uses his art and profile to highlight and fight injustice - it’s because he makes a difference that they want to silence him," UK-based academic Paul O'Connell tweeted.

Previous campaigns by the pro-Israel lobby groups have called on Go Fund Me to remove Palestine Action from their fundraising page, and condemned Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for using the term "Israeli apartheid".

The furor around Lowkey underscores the fact that this has very little to do with antisemitism and far more to do with his steadfast support for Palestinian liberation. He is a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and brings its people’s struggles to a global audience of millions through his music.

The power of music to reach and radicalize a new generation is well understood by pro-Israel groups. In 2011, The Jewish Chronicle described Lowkey’s increasing influence and recognition as one of the most gifted lyricists in hip hop as a “potential nightmare” for their side. Hence the desire to demonize, defame and deplatform him from Spotify.

Nevertheless, despite the best efforts of pro-Israel groups, public sympathy for Palestine and identification with its cause is on the rise at universities and among the public more generally. A February poll conducted by YouGov showed that more than two-and-a-half times as many Britons (27%) now sympathize with Palestine more than with Israel (11%) – a figure that continues to rise.

The tireless work of activists exposing its crimes has led to organizations as diverse as the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Harvard Law School identifying Israel as an Apartheid regime.

The attempt to de-platform Lowkey is part of a growing phenomenon which social commentators refer to as cancel culture. With its threat to free speech, the UK Tory government is seeking to introduce new legislation to combat its rise. 

However despite their best efforts Lowkey's music is now reaching  even more people. Their plan has perfectly backfired.We will not be silenced. We will continue speaking out against the apartheid Israeli state. And we will unapologetically continue to defend the lives of Palestinian people. Attacking freedom of speech and expression has been a tool used by the Israeli Occupation to control the narrative and silence the oppressed. Much respect too to all those that are showing Lowkey and the Palestinians their support and solidarity. I stand with Lowkey too and the Palestinian people against Israel apartheid, as Lowkey said " Long live Palestine, Long live Gaza,"

Here is the pettition to Spotify,, please  sign :-

https://www.change.org/p/spotify-do-not-buckle-to-pressure-from-the-israel-lobby-to-deplatform-lowkey?signed=true

Beyond Imperious Forces

The virus of austerity is sweeping through the land 

Infected by fear, racism, and hate, seeking to expand

Guided by autocracy, hypocricisy and kleptocracy

Exploitative system, leaders with no morality,

Capitalist manifestations weighing us down

A dreary flood of gestures making  us drown,

" That which we are, we are" billionaire chancellor said

Him and his chums supping fine wine, choices of bread, 

With arrogant pomposity, offering no light

We have to get off our knees now and fight,

Against a system that daily delivers anxiety

A carnivourous beast, with force of impeity,

That tightens it's claws, consuming  hearts

Suffocating hope, leaving disdainful marks,

These malignant forces want us to be compliant

Restrict our voices of protest, be quiet and silent,

The longer they stay in power, think we are indispensable

Our minds kept in place by their irresponsible tentacles,

Beyond this merryground of  coercive controlled pestilence

Punctuate their darkness, release angry defiance,

Rising like red roses, together we must stand

Build a fairer society, beyond deepening  quick sand.

Rishi Sunak's Spring Budget Statement

Absolutely shameful Spring budget for the rich from  Rishi Sunak the Chancellor who this afternoon boasted of giving “security for working families as we help with the cost of living”.However, in reality, there is little to help those who are at the sharpest end of the growing cost of living crisis. By definition, his cut to basic income tax will not help the poorest families for the simple reason that they do not pay tax on their income in the first place.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said the Spring Statement “has failed families who need help now” and highlighted that the “small print shows that pay packets are now expected to fall in value by £11 a week this year”.

“After 12 years of Tory government, Britain needs a pay rise. But this Chancellor has no plan to get wages rising and give working people long-term financial security,” she said. 

Unite’s Sharon Graham argued the Spring Statement “just tinkers around the edges” of the cost of living crisis, saying: “Workers will still be facing sleepless nights worrying about how to make ends meet, overwhelmed by rocketing prices.”  

Who had a good Budget today? Big business. The best off. Landlords. Who had a bad day? Those earning less than £30,000 a year, who have been abandoned. Pensioners. Those struggling on benefits . Anyone needing healthcare, or just care. Public employees.No help for the thousands queuing up at FoodBanks.mo extr mony for health, schools or other public services, and no help for those who can't heat their homes. While wages and benefits are going down, and a complete collapse of society is happening right before our eyes,we get more austerity,thrust upon us,  but that;s Tory priorities for you, and when  Martin Lewis financial pundit is getting into fight mode whilst simultaneously  running out of advice for the public you know things are bad. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/my-head-sunk-martin-lewis-23477991

By far the most important announcement was the one Sunak didn't make. Faced with an energy cost crisis which will plunge 10 million into fuel poverty, Sunak provided nothing to low income households on benefits and pensions. On the contrary: by uprating benefits and pensions only by the 3.1% which was last October’s inflation rate, not the 7% + which will be the inflation rate over the next few months, Sunak has directly made 9 million of the poorest people around £500 poorer. 

And this huge income cut comes on top of the £1000 a year Sunak took from Universal Credit recipients in the autumn when he withdrew the £20 a week pandemic uplift. So this is a total £1700 hit to the incomes of the UK’s poorest households. 

Sunak trumpeted his raising of the threshold at which National Insurance contributions begin to be paid. But remember, most benefit recipients do not pay NI as their incomes are too low. Neither do pensioners. So they do not benefit from this at all. Most benefit recipients do not own a car. So they do not benefit from the fuel duty cut. They do not pay income tax, so will not benefit from the 1p cut in 2024. We have no idea if they will benefit from the £500m Sunak gave local councils. 

Sunak’s statement  was obviously aimed at Tory MPs whose support he wants in a future leadership election. But if this callous treatment of people on low incomes - by a Chancellor who happens to be the wealthiest chancellor in history with a joint wealth with his wife of over £630m, if this what will attract their support, they should be ashamed. Ther complete failure to do anything meaningful to tackle the cost of living crisis , coupled with inflation and high taxation, means people are facing the biggest fall in living sandards since records begun in 1956, and highlights how out of touch with reality.our Government is. 

The Torys long term plan appears to be about  re-creating a master-servant relationship between the monied few and the impoverished millions. Every single thing they do takes more from the poor to further enrich the wealthy. This Spring budget is just further confirmation  that Sunak and the Torys are unwilling and fundamentally unable to support the vulnerable in our society at a time when they need it most, Remember people if we were living in France, we;d be taking to the streets, We have to get rid of them before they starve us all  to death,

Israeli Apartheid Week 2022

 Israeli Apartheid Week,(IAW) is an international week of action that has taken place for the last 16 years in over 200 universities and cities around the world. It aims to raise public awareness about Israel’s racial discrimination against all parts of the Palestinian people, which amounts to the crime of apartheid under international law. This week allows us to amplify Palestinian voices, build The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement campaigns works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law and allow us to show our solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for justice.

In 2022, the theme of Israeli Apartheid Week is ‘Art Against Apartheid’: aiming to highlight the role of culture and art in the Palestinian struggle against oppression. Israeli Apartheid Week also using the  theme of United Against Racism, links up the Palestinian anti-apartheid struggle with all those fighting racism, oppression and discrimination across the globefrom Palestine to Black Lives Matter.

Here in Britain, Israeli Apartheid Week is a chance for university campaigns to raise awareness about their work, launch new campaigns, and link with other organisations to fight to kick #ApartheidOffCampus.

 IAW provides an opportunity to network and strengthen the links between the Palestinian liberation struggle and other struggles against racism, oppression, and discrimination. In 2022, as in every year since 2005, we will once again join our voices to denounce apartheid and celebrate Palestinians diversity. This year, we plan to shed light on the role of culture, and art in particular, in decolonizing our minds in our collective struggles against cultural appropriation and oppression. From March to April, communities around the globe will come together to organize inspiring actions and events to show that now, more than ever, we are #UnitedAgainstRacism.

Calling the Israeli regime as one of apartheid is not rhetoric, nor is it an exaggeration or a propaganda tool. This is the reality in modern day Palestine, where the Israeli regime  through laws, practices and most aspects of life and the policies instituted by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people meets the UN definition of Apartheid. This apartheid regime is not only imposed on the people in Palestine, but also on millions of Palestinian refugees denied their right to return to their homes and lands..Under Israeli law, and in practice, Jewish Israelis and Palestinians are treated differently in almost every aspect of life including freedom of movement, family, housing, education, employment and other basic human rights. Dozens of Israeli laws and policies institutionalise this prevailing system of racial discrimination and domination.

The occupation Wall is also another element of the wider system of severe restrictions on the freedom of movement imposed by the Israeli authorities on Palestinian residents of the West Bank. There are over 600 closure obstacles blocking Palestinian movement within the West Bank. In addition, the system of roads is segregated: travel on hundreds of kilometres in the West Bank is restricted or prohibited outright for Palestinians, whereby Israelis are able to travel about freely. About one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is completely prohibited to Palestinians without a special permit issued by the Israeli military.

These severe restrictions violate not only the right to freedom of movement,they also effectively prevent Palestinian residents from exercising a wide range of fundamental human rights because of their identity, including their right to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living. Farmers are stopped from assessing their fields and thus from exercising their right to sustain their livelihood. Many Palestinians are also prevented from seeking work outside their locality. Children are prevented from accessing schools and students face restrictions in choosing their university of choice. Patients are prevented from assessing hospitals, blocking them from exercising their right to the highest sustainable standard of health.  Israel has in effect created a system of seperation in the West Bank which fits the textbook definition of apartheid. Segregation is also carried out by implementing separate legal regimes for Jewish Israelis and Palestinians living in the same area. For example, Jewish Israeli settlers living in the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are governed by Israeli civil law, while Palestinians also living in the occupied West Bank are governed by Israeli military law.

As awareness across the world of all of this continues to increase  campaigns to boycott, divest and sanction this regime provide a very effective and natural response. The world witnessed a similar response transpire and bare fruit in the case of South Africa, and there are very good reasons to believe that it will do the same in the case of Palestine. 

 In 1966 the United Nations called for an International Day of remembrance for the 69 Africans who were killed and the 189 injured by the Apartheid Police in Sharpeville, South Africa. The Police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid "pass laws" on March 21 1960.

 The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), a splinter group of the African National Congress (ANC) created in 1959, organized a countrywide demonstration for March 21, 1960, for the abolition of South Africa’s pass laws. Participants were instructed to surrender their passes and invite arrest. Some 20,000 Blacks gathered near a police station at Sharpeville, located about 30 miles south of Johannesburg. The police opened fire on them with submachine guns without warning.

 Following the dismantling of apartheid, South African President Nelson Mandela chose Sharpeville as the site at which, on December 10, 1996, he signed into law the country’s new constitution.  Since then, the Apartheid System in South Africa has been dismantled but Apartheid in Israel has only been 

 only been strengthened. In 2018 Israel officially declared itself an Apartheid State with the passage of the Jewish Nation State Law which removed Arabic as an official language and designated ‘Jewish Settlement’ as a national goal.

 What happened at Sharpeville, horrific though it was, pales into comparison with the thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered for the crime of being Palestinian. In 2018 Israeli troops shot thousands of Palestinians deliberately disabling peaceful protestors at the Gaza fence and killing hundreds in the process.

 The IAW observes that “the recognition of Israel as an apartheid state is becoming increasingly mainstream”. There are visible signs of exceptional support for the cultural and academic boycott of Israel. IAW makes the pertinent conclusion: “Apartheid Israel is realizing that its South Africa moment is nearing”.

In the past year three major human rights organisations have declared that Israel is an Apartheid State. The first was B’Tselem which, on January 12 2021, declared that:  The Israeli regime enacts in all the territory it controls… an apartheid regime. One organizing principle lies at the base of a wide array of Israeli regime enacts in all the territory it controls… an apartheid regime. One organizing principle lies at the base of a wide array of Israeli policies: advancing and perpetuating the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians. https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid

 The next human rights organisation to describe Israel as an apartheid state was Human Rights Watch in April 2021. It declared that:  For the past 54 years, Israeli authorities have facilitated the transfer of Jewish Israelis to the OPT and granted them a superior status under the law as compared to Palestinians living in the same territory when it comes to civil rights, access to land, and freedom to move, build, and confer residency rights to close relatives.

  HRW described Israeli Apartheid as a crime against humanity ‘which stands among the most odious crimes  in international law.’ https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution

The third organisation to describe Israel was Amnesty International this January. In a damning report calling for Israeli authorities to be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians, which includes Palestinians living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), as well as displaced refugees in other countries.It described Israeli apartheid as ‘a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity.’ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/02/israels-apartheid-against-palestinians-a-cruel-system-of-domination-and-a-crime-against-humanity/ 

While Israel has been accused of perpetrating apartheid before, this is the first time an international organisation at the level of Amnesty International has gone as far as accusing the state of Israel of perpetrating apartheid against Palestinians as a whole.

"Our report reveals the true extent of Israel's apartheid regime," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General.

"Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem, Hebron, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights.

"We found All of the above leads to a growing acceptance that Israel is an Apartheid state, or that its policies are Apartheid policies. This strengthens calls to expose such behaviour as well as demands to impose appropriate measures that deal with Israel as an Apartheid state, one that should be boycotted and censured until it ends its racist Apartheid policies.d that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid.

"The international community has an obligation to act," Ms Callamard said.

"There is no possible justification for a system built around the institutionalised and prolonged racist oppression of millions of people.

"Apartheid has no place in our world, and states which choose to make allowances for Israel will find themselves on the wrong side of history.

"Governments who continue to supply Israel with arms and shield it from accountability at the UN are supporting a system of apartheid, undermining the international legal order, and exacerbating the suffering of the Palestinian people.

"The international community must face up to the reality of Israel's apartheid, and pursue the many avenues to justice which remain shamefully unexplored."

 All of the above leads to a growing acceptance that Israel is an Apartheid state, or that its policies are Apartheid policies. This strengthens calls to expose such behaviour as well as demands to impose appropriate measures that deal with Israel as an Apartheid state, that continues to deprive millions of Palestinians, refugees included  of their basic rights, and ,as long as Israel maintains its apartheid regime, we must refuse to artwash its brurl oppression against Palestinians, and  should be boycotted and censured until it ends its racist Apartheid policies.

The dates provided for the Israeli Apartheid Week 2022 are: Europe and North America 21 – 28 March; Africa from 21 March – 4 April; Asia-Pacific 28 March – 4 April; Latin America and Arab World (incl. Palestine) 11 – 18 April.

 A Global Rally Against Israeli Apartheid will take place on March 26th in which arenas of our collective resistance to Israeli apartheid and all forms of racism and oppression. From dance, to music, to poetry, the rally will highlight the critical role that culture and art play in decolonizing our minds against cultural appropriation and oppression and highlighting culture as a weapon of resistance.

 Some of these artists, speakers and creatives include: Saana Moussa, Rana Nazal. Radiodervish, Kayda Aziz, Badiaa Bourezi, Estrefania Vega, El Funoun, Palestinian Dabke Troupe and more!

You can register for the event here :https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NkZjN90PRMG4l20jHj6fsQ

 “One has to keep telling the Palestinian story in as many ways as possible, as insistently as possible, and in as compelling a way as possible, to keep attention to it, because there is always the fear that it might just disappear.” ( Edward Said, 2003)

https://bdsmovement.net/iaw 

Together With Refugees

 

Horrified by the last few weeks events? Feeling helpless ? 

Here are some things you can do to show your support for victims of war and terror.  In this particular time of crisis in Europe it is more important than ever that we draw together to support each other and help those in need. In spite of the public outcry that the UK should be doing more to help refugees, our government is continuing with plans to introduce the new Nationality and Borders Bill, which is expected to pass into law later this month. that, according to most of the organisations involved with refugees and asylum seekers, will actually make reaching sanctuary in our country more difficult and more dangerous.

The Nationality and Borders Bill is not for the protection of society, but is a potential threat to the helpless refugees who travel through the jaws of death to reach Britain, a place that they believe to grant them safety. Despite the Ukraine crisis, the Bill is  being brought forward.

The plans outlined in the bill will have grave consequences for people fleeing conflict, and that they are unlikely to stop people attempting to reach safety, but will instead punish and criminalise  the most vulnerable.This bill will see people fleeing war and persecution, like those fleeing Ukraine right now, criminalised, detained and deported. We need to say it loud and say it clear “Refugees are welcome here” 

Today is Anti-Racism day  there are Stand Up to Racism national demos  taking place which will have a strong focus on the Anti-Refugee Bill. and on Sunday 20 March Cardiff STAR and Stand Up to Racism have organised a  rally will be meeting at City Hall at 12 and marching to a rally  the Senedd from 2:30pm.

‘Together With Refugees’ www.togetherwithrefugees.org.uk - an umbrella organisation uniting many of the different support groups - is calling for us to highlight the need and the response to people fleeing for their lives, and  for a better approach to supporting refugees in the UK no matter how they came here and ensuring people can live in dignity while they wait for a decision on their asylum application. 

March 21st is the official start of Spring, a time of rebirth and hope for the coming year.

So, at 4pm my local Amnesty and refugee support groups will be on the beach at Poppit Sands near St Dogmaels and, Cardigan, West Wales, where local sand artist Rachel will create one of her wonderful designs, featuring the orange heart symbol of Together with Refugees. Come and watch, or take part . Wear orange ! Fly a kite ! Wave a flag ! Build a sandcastle ! Bring a picnic! And take a few minutes to stand together as a community sending our thoughts and prayers to those who do not have the luxury to enjoy all these things. Rachel will create a space within the heart for musicians, silence and contemplation. Stay for as little or as long as you wish..Hopefully  you can join us, you will be most welcomed.Together we can spread a message of hope and solidarity.

Remembering the Tolpuddle Martyrs

 

On March 18th 1834, six farm labourers in Tolpuddle, Dorset England  were found guilty of taking an illegal oath and  attempting to form  a union, the friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers in a backdrop of  harsh working conditions. As they were barred from church halls or other indoor spaces, they sheltered under the spreading branches of the now world famous  sycamore tree in the heart of Tolpuddle,  to sign their oath. Under this tree in 1834,  exploited by their employers – paid just 9 shillings a week and living in dreadful poverty – they formed one of the first trades union in Britain to bargain for better pay and working conditions under the leadership of George Loveless. This tree is still growing strong and has become a symbolic birthplace of the Trade Unions movement. and a place of pilgrimage for trade unionists and socialists.

The life of an agricultural labourer in early nineteenth century Britain was a hard one. The Enclosure Acts, decreasing wages, rising unemployment, mechanisation and the poor harvests of 1828 and 1829 had led to widespread poverty and growing discontent amongst rural labourers.

 Loveless demonstrated the class politics than ran through those early struggles of the British labour movement. “Labour is the poor man’s property,” he said, “from which all protection is withheld. Has not the working man as much right to preserve and protect his labour as the rich man has his capital?” The fledgling union led by Loveless and his five comrades set out their demands to the local establishment: they would not accept any pay offer less than 10 shillings a week.

The landowners at this time, led by local squire James Frampton and supported by the government, were desperate to put a stop to the union and with  the bloody French Revolution and the wrecking of the Swing Rebellion https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-captain-swing-riots.html fresh in the minds of the British establishment, landowners were determined to stamp out any further outbreaks of dissent.

The Tolpuddle Six, George Loveless, James Loveless, Thomas Stanfield, John Stanfield, Joseph Brine and James Hammett  were arrested, sent to nearby Dorchester for Trial, and charged under the 1797 Mutiny Act. On the 19th  March they were convicted of administering secret oaths, however the real reason was because they had formed a trade union. To the likes of James Frampton, trade unionism was the thin end of a very dangerous wedge, but forming a union had not been illegal since 1824, when the Combination Acts had been repealed.The only option available to Squire Frampton was to invoke a law that actually applied to sailors in the Royal Navy and was designed to prevent mutinies. This made illegal the taking of secret oaths, which it was maintained had been done by the Tolpuddle unionists when recruiting new members. They were sentenced to the maximum penalty, seven years  penal labour and transported to Botany Bay,Australia as common criminals simply because they had made a stand against the poor treatment they received from their employees.

In sentencing the men the Judge Baron John Williams stated that their punishment was necessary for the ‘security of the country’ and would also serve as ‘an example and a warning’

.Lord Melbourne ensured the sentence was swiftly carried out.The Combination Acts may have been repealed but the ruling elite wanted to send a clear message and deter any would-be trade unionists. The six farm workers from Tolpuddle had been made an example of.and from their smoke-filled, stinking cell below the Crown Court in Dorchester, five of the convicted men were taken in chains to the prison hulks.

George Loveless later referred to the proceedings as having ‘a shameful disregard of justice’. James Frampton and his son Henry were both on the Grand Jury. The Foreman was Lord Melbourne’s brother-in-law William Ponsonby, wealthy landowner and the Whig MP for Dorset.

One of the chief witnesses called to give testimony in the trial was John Lock. Lock was the son of James Frampton’s head gardener at Moreton Hall and one of Frampton’s informers.

The Radical MP Thomas Wakley alleged in Parliament that the witnesses had been placed in gaol before the trial to ensure they appeared and gave the ‘required evidence’. Wakley also maintained that the men of the Petty Jury had been deliberately selected as those mostly likely to return a guilty verdict, which they duly did after little deliberation.

George Loveless wrote a short statement for the court ‘My lord, if we had violated any law it was not done intentionally… We were uniting together to save ourselves, our wives and families from starvation.’

Transportation to Australia was brutal. Few ever returned from such a sentence as the harsh voyage and rigours of slavery took their toll. Hulks were condemned ships. There were usually three decks, each containing between 500 and 600 prisoners, issued with coarse convict clothing and fettered with heavy irons riveted to their legs. Disease was rampant. Epidemics of cholera, dysentery and smallpox swept through the packed masses, resulting in a tragic number of deaths on these voyages in such fetid ships.

The harshness and injustice of their treatment caused massive public outcry which led to enormous support for them with people across the country  rallying together and campaigning for their release.

On the 24 March 1834, 10,000 people attended a meeting held by Robert Owen’s Grand National Consolidated Trades Union.

Then on the 21 April up to 100,000 people assembled at Copenhagen Fields, near King’s Cross. Led by Robert Owen the demonstrators marched through London to Kennington Common.

They brought with them a petition of over 200,000 signatures calling for the Tolpuddle Martyr’s to be pardoned, but the Home Secretary Lord Melbourne refused to accept it due to a large number of people present.

The London Central Dorchester Committee was formed to campaign for the release of the six men and to raise funds for their families.

Questions were asked in Parliament. The first of several petitions calling for the men to be pardoned was presented to the House on the 26 March. The Radical MP Thomas Wakley and William Cobbett MP for Oldham were vociferous campaigners for the men’s release.

In June 1835 the new Home Secretary Lord John Russell proposed to give the men conditional pardons, but this was rejected. In the face of continued pressure, the Government finally granted a full pardon on the 14 March 1836.George Loveless arrived back from Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in June 1837. Thomas and John Standfield, James Loveless and James Brine returned from Australia in March 1838 and James Hammett in August 1839, with all of the free men returning home as heroes.Their victory became a symbol to a working-class movement of the power of combination, not only in the matter of wages but in the achievement of democratic power through a charter of political rights.

However, they did not return to their old lives, although James Hammett spent most of the rest of his life in Tolpuddle, working as a builder’s labourer. He had always been the outsider of the group and it is possible that he had not actually been at the meeting witnessed by Edward Legg but had accepted arrest to protect his brother John, whose wife was about to give birth.

The other five continued to be active in the workers’ movement, including during the early years of Chartism, which campaigned for parliamentary reform. They all wrote about their experiences in Australia, particularly George Loveless who had a gift for eloquent writing as well as speaking.

The London Dorchester Committee, which had been formed to campaign for the Martyrs’ pardon and return, raised funds that allowed the men to take leases on farms in Essex, which they used as the base for their continuing political activity. While in Essex, James Brine married Thomas Standfield’s daughter, thus uniting the five men as an extended family. The Committee had also done what they could to support the families of the Martyrs during the latters’ time in Australia.

However, the opposition of local landowners in Essex persuaded the men to take another long journey, this time in somewhat greater comfort. All the families emigrated to Canada at various times during the 1840s, settling in Ontario and, except for James Loveless, buying farms of their own. The Lovelesses were active in Methodism in the Siloam area. More children were born, and they lived contented lives, all five Martyrs reaching old age. The last to die was James Brine in 1902, at the age of 90.

It would appear that, once in Canada, they sought to leave their old lives behind them, even to the extent that their Canada-born children were told nothing about the events of the 1830s.However, England had no intention of forgetting the Martyrs, who became symbols of the working-class movement.

Whilst in prison, George Loveless wrote a short poem: 

 

From field, from wave,
From plough, from anvil and, from Loom;
We come, our country’s rights to save,
And speak a tyrant faction’s doom:
We raise the watch-word liberty;
We will, we will, we will be free!; 

 

These words have inspired generations of people to fight injustice and oppression. The Tolpuddle martyrs story is about how ordinary working  people combined together to defend their lives.They  are commemorated every year at the Tolpuddle Martyrs festival every July, I have been planning to make a pilgrimage for years. Here is a link http://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/ 

The idea of solidarity as a basic human right is now an international demand. The act of solidarity works. We need dissent and action in this land, now more than ever, to help shape and build into a better fairer place for all.

The Martyrs tree

“The Knotted Gun” by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd

 

 The original sculpture of "The Knotted Gun" also known as “Non Violence” was created by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, a friend of John Lennon. Reuterswärd created this piece of art after Lennon was fatally shot in the archway of the Dakota, his residence in New York City on December 8, 1980,.

The perpetrator Mark Chapman a  huge fan of Lennons used a ;38  gun to shoot the music icon four times..

Only six hiours before he died, Lennon had met Lennon who signd a copy of the album Double Fantasy for him.

Lennon was pronouved dead when he arrived at the Roosevelt hospital. He was 40,

Chapman pleeaded guilry to his crime and was sentenced to life in prison,

Mark Chapman, who is said to be deepy religious, was a huge Beatles fan who greatly admired John Lennon. However his idolisatiin turned sour, irked by a famous Lennon  quip, about the Beatles being "more popular than Jesus" claiming it was blasphemy. Having recently has a religious convrsion prior to his deision to kill the musician, religion and belief was the motive behind the murder,

Chapman is reported to have planned to kill Lennon, three months before he carried out his crime.He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Recently, during his 2020 parole hearing Chpman said he kiled Lennon for "self glory" He called his act "despicable" and  said he deserved the death penalty. He also told the parole board at his correctional facility in New Yorj that he was "sorry"

As the news that Lennon  had been  senselessly gunned down in cold blood, rolled out across the world, there was a worldwide outpouring of grief that ensued on an unprecedented scale, that continues to inspire grief and anger to this day,. 

Lennon  is remmbered for his vision of peace and at the time of his death  was one of the most public advocates for peace and non-violence. In many of his songs his lyrics focussed on the vision of a world without violence. 

 

“Imagine all the people

Livin' life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one "

Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd was deeply moved  by the murder of his  friend and, both as a tribute to John Lennon and as a protest against  other outbursts of unnecessary violence, he produced his most iconic work as he wanted to honor the singer’s vision of a peaceful world, 

“My first sketches in three dimensions were rather rough and simple, but the important thing was that the idea of the knotted barrel was with me from the very start,” he said.

It is a sculpture in bronze, symbolizing a Colt Python 357 Magnum revolver, which pipe points upwards. The gun is cocked, but the knot makes it clear that it will not shoot.In a direct and uncompromisingly manner he managed to turn an object, traditionally used for attack, into a symbol with a universal and clear message of non-violence and peace, and not coincidentally, transformed a symbol of aggreive male sexuality into one of impotence.

Initially, "Non-Violence" was installed at the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park, across the street from the home that Lennon shared with Yoko Ono. In 1988, it was acquired and donated by the government of Luxembourg to the United Nations headquarters in New York, outside which it now stands.

According to Kofi Annan, who was the 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations at the time : 

 " The Non-Violence Symbol has not only endowed the United Nations with a cherished work of art; it has enriched the consciousness of humanity with a powerful symbol. It is a symbol that encapsulates, in a few simple curves, the greatest prayer of man: that which asks not for victory, but for peace"

.

Inside the U.N. building is a mosaic representing all the nations of the Earth, accompanied by Jesus’ words, “Do unto others what you would have others do unto you.” For many seasoned peace campaigners, this prayer was partly answered when the Arms Trade Treaty became international law on 24 December 2014,

Any state that is a party  to the treaty must obey strict rules on international arms transfers. The Treaty was designed to stop deadly weapons from getting into the hands of people who will use them to commit human rights violations, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.The treaty seeks to regulate the international trade in conventional arms, from small arms to tanks, combat aircraft, and warships. It aims to foster peace and security by putting a stop to the destabilizing flow of arms to conflict regions.

More than 100 countries have joined the Treaty, and there are over 30 more who have signed the treaty which is the first step towards becoming a party to the ATT.

The Treaty can help save lives, but only if it is properly implemented, and if states are held accountable when they breach it.

Yet every year corporate actors still supply large volumes of military equipment to some of the most violent and unstable parts of the world. This equipment is often used unlawfully in the context of armed conflicts and in political unrest marred by serious human rights violations.

The ATT treaty help at least a bit in addressing and halting the uncontrolled flow of arms and ammunition that fuels wars, prolongs conflict, atrocities and human rights abuses. The devastating humanitarian consequences of war fueled in part by the irresponsible export of arms, underline just how urgently this treaty is needed.

Sadly the global arms trading is still on the rise and continues to fuel human rights abuses. This is because some of the largest arms exporters like Russia and the USA have not ratified the treaty. And even countries that have ratified the treaty fail to comply with it, and transfer weapons and munitions to places where they risk being used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, including possible war crimes.

Civilians typically bear the brunt of modern conflict. Weapons such as artillery, mortars, guided bombs and missiles destroy hospitals, homes, markets and transport systems, pushing survivors into poverty. People’s lives are destroyed. This is the cost of an unregulated arms trade industry.Irresponsible arms trading affects those living inside and outside areas of armed conflict and political instability.

Gun violence remains a daily tragedy that impacts people around the world, the vast majority of whom are not living in conflict zones. the statistics are frightening. Globally twelve billion bullets are produced every year. That is almost enough to kill everyone in the world twice.There are more than 875 million firearms in the world, 75 per cent of them in the hands of civilians. Guns outnumber passenger vehicles by 253 million, or 29 per cent. Each year about eight million new small arms, plus 10 to 15 billion rounds of ammunition are manufactured, enough bullets to shoot every person in the world not once, but twice Every day, thousands of people are killed, injured and forced to flee their homes because of gun violence and armed conflict.

Since 1993, the ever so powerful Knotted Gun sculpture has been the symbol of the non profit Non-Violence Project (NVPF), which was founded by two Swedes :Rold Skolebrand and Jan Helleman. Friends since childhood, they caw the unacceptable increase in violence around the world and decided to do something inspiring and constructive to reach the hearts of the next generation. 

They embarked on a journey that took them deep into the roots of violent behaviour, A journey  that made them realise that education is the only tool that works. The projects mission is to inspire, motivate, and engage young people in understanding how to solve conflicts without resorting to violence.

It holds violence prevention and nonviolence education programs for schools and sports clubs around the world.

Its logo is Reuterswärd's sculpture, It has educated eight million students, teachers, and sports coaches with programs covering three main subjects: conflict management, self-esteem building, and nonviolence.

Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono are, among others, ambassadors of the Non-Violence Project.

Reuterswärd wrote later that humor was the finest instrument to bring people together. While making his peace symbol, he thought of adding a touch of humor to make his “weapon” symbolically ridiculous and completely out of orderl

Until his death from pneumonia, age 81, in May 2016, he was one of Sweden's most famous artists, as well as a respected author. He studied with Fernand Léger in Paris 1951 and was a professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm between 1965 and 1969. In 1986 he was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal for painting, 

Since his iconic bronze sculpture exhibited in front of the United Nations, it has been adopted by various causes around the world.and replicas have been placed in more than 30 strategic locations around the world: Here  a list of a number of them.

• Unites States (Original) – New York City – Headquarters of the United Nations
• Luxembourg – Kirchberg – Parc Central
• China – Beijing -Chaoyang Park
• Germany- Berlin – at the parc of the federal chancellery. It was unveiled in 2005 by chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who received it from Reuterswärd in recognition of his Iraq policy.
• France – Caen Mémorial de Caen, a world war II museum. Unveiled in 2005.
• Switzerland – Lausanne – Olympic Museum
• Mexico – Mexico City – Mexipuerto Shopping Mall and 683 Calle Ferrocarril de Cuernavaca Polanco
• India – Chennai – Perambur, ICF
• Georgia – Rukhi – Senaki, Leselidze Highway
• Lebanon – Beirut – Seafront
• Northern Ireland – Belfast Girdwood Community Hub 
• in Liverpool/UK, in Cavern Walks shopping centre, next door to the original site of the famous Cavern Club in Mathew Street where the Beatles played in their early days together. It was unveiled in 2000 by Dr Michael Nobel, then head of the Nobel family society and chairman of the Non-Violence Foundation
•  Cape Town/South Africa -at the entrance to the Victoria and Alfred waterfront. It was unveiled in 1999 when the government announced its stringent new gun control legislation.
• In Stockholm/Sweden (1995 – unveiled by HRH Princess Victoria of Sweden in the middle of Sergelgatan
•  In Göteborg/Sweden (1997 – Kungsportsavenyn & Engelbrektsgatan

In this day and age when things turn  so quickly into violence, as we are witnesing conflicts currently causing chaos and destruction across the world, the message Reuterswärd's  sculpture is bearing is more important and poignant than ever.

To quote Mahatma Ghandi : 

 " Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man. Destruction is not the law of the humans. Man lives freely by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him. Every murder or other injury, no matter for what cause, committed or inflicted on another is a crime against humanity." 

Three years ago yesterday, firty-one people were killed by a single gunman during Friday prayers in Christchurch, New Zealand. And every day for these past weeks our attention has turned to the ongoing killing in Ukraine, as Russia seems intent on destroying a people unwilling to be subjugated.

The suffering in Ukraine and other places like Gaza and Yemen is immense.

Our attention must remain in all thse places, and on all those subject to the threat and violence of others. Even in thse dark hours we can win this struggle, indeed we must. Let us pray for all those who are touched by gun violence, hearts broken by loss and for all the lives cut short. Allow peace to flood our minds and hope that all the violence in the world can be left behind.

Anti-War Hypocrisy

My word of the day is "Hypocrisy" Anti war sentiment is  currently being splashed all over the mainstream media here in the UK, Daily the news bombards us with images of innocent people who have been bombed, shot at  displaced and lost loved ones, We are officially urged to sympathise with these people, John Lennon's song "Give peace a chance" was played at the international rugby match at Twickenham at the weekend.

The terrifying images of death and destruction inflicted on Ukraine by the Russians brutal, criminal  and irresponsible invasion have rightly aroused widespread horror, and accompanying sympathy and solidarity with the Ukrainian people. This sentiment is encouraged by Western media and politicians.

Yet when  Russia bombed Chechnya and Syria, the Western media looked the other way. In Syria, victims of Assad’s chemical weapons attacks were initially worthy of our sympathy. But once Syria’s revolution had developed into a civil war, involving parties over which Washington had little control, the Obama administration was happy to reach an agreement with Putin: he could bomb Aleppo indiscriminately while the US focused its efforts on destroying ISIS.

Both Russia and the US had a shared interest in keeping Assad in power, even when his regime’s repression cost 350,000 lives and created millions of refugees. While Obama may have had a different strategy for achieving this objective, he shared Putin’s contempt for Syria’s democratic opposition.

Similarly, when Hilary Clinton  needed to justify the extension and escalation of Washington’s two-decade long occupation of Afghanistan, Afghan women and girls became sympathetic victims needing rescuing from the Taliban. Once US troops evacuated Kabul last October, Afghan women had served their purpose—they have been erased from our TV screens, while their country lies in ruins.. 

Lets also compare and contrast to the US/ UK- led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was justified by lies about non existent weapons of mass destruction, which broke international laws. No mention of the thousands of  innocent casualties, No news coverage of bereaved parents and orphaned children, Criticism of our involvement barely tolerated and treated by some as tantamount to treason. Anti-war songs banned from the radio. Recently Tony Blair, one of the main architects of this atrocity, was awarded for his criminal efforts with a knighthood. I am reminded too that 73% of the world dictators are supported by the United States, Britain sells arms to rogue state Saudi Arabia, which have been used to kill children in Yemen. Yesterday the Saudi regime executed 81 men , in its largest mass execution in history, yet Boris Johnson is about to visit the country to beg for more oil. If our government rally cared about human rights, it would end it's cosy relationship with the Saudis, But I guess it's ok for them to have double standards.

 A strong  argument could also  be made that the crisis in the Ukraine could have been avoided if NATO had been willing to rule out membership for Ukraine, granting the nation  a neutral statussimilar to Finland and Austria during the Cold War, At the same time , Putin's rewriting of history and his insistence that Ukraine  is inherently part of Russia , along with his decision to launch a full scale invasion  is indicative that he would have done so regardless, and far from keeping the peace Nato throughout it's existence is a threat to it, agressive in manner and in action  and is a continued threat to all our safety..

And if  the West is so opposed to bombing schools, clinics and peoples homes why is it that Palestine Action activists are currently on bail for trying to stop Elbit Systems making killer drones for use in  Gaza and Yemen? And surely seperating the people who die under falling bombs into Ukrainians, Dombassions, Kurds, Afghanis, Palestinians, Alvis, Yazidis, Christians, Shias or Sunnis etc etc and taking a stance accordingly is the height of immorality, Are not all these lives equal ?

The people of countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, and those fleeing wars, instability and poverty in North Africa and elsewhere are dehumanised and presented as unworthy of our sympathy by the mainstream media.Their victimhood must, at all costs, be concealed—lest it bring into question the capacity of the US and its allies to dominate and control (often with the most brutal and naked military force) those parts of the world.I will also point out that the state of Israel has been occupying and killing innocent children and women for years with impunity and the world's media turns a blind eye at best, and at worst acts as a mouthpiece for Israeli government propaganda,

Russia breaks International Humanitarian Law, commits war crimes and we all go mad - quite rightly. Israel has been doing the same every single day since June 1967 and we just shrug our shoulders and occasionally slap their wrists.

We impose sanctions - quite rightly - on Russia but we do not impose any on Israel. Worse - legislation is currently going through Parliament which will make it illegal to practise Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel

I am proudly anti-war and have been since my teenage years, I just don't understand  .how anybody can be flexible on what is essentially a moral issue. 

The victims of war deserve our solidarity and support, whoever they are, and wherever they happen to be. The Ukrainians who are bravely fighting against Russian invasion deserve it. But so too do the Palestinians, Afghans, Syrians, Iraqis etc. We should not be fooled by the hypocritical statements of out political leaders. They'd happily increase the mayhem by sending British men and women to fight and possibly die,if it was not for the threat of a nuclear war which would devastate the whole of Europe.

At least representatives if Uktaine and Russia have met today, with an agenda about a way to restore peace. Let's all continue to fight wars, not war, for a world of peace.