Dear Friend,
A group of mainly Native American protesters blocked the road leading up to Mount Rushmore for three hours before President Donald Trump gave a speech at the national monument Friday night. When they refused to disband, the protesters faced off with the South Dakota National Guard, which shot close-range shells at their feet and sprayed some protesters with pepper spray, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
Kindly support honest journalism to survive. https://countercurrents.org/subscription/
If you think the contents of this news letter are critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/.
In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
Countercurrents.org
Native Americans blocked road to Mount Rushmore hours before Trump’s fiery speech as
protesters refuse to celebrate July 4
by Countercurrents Collective
A group of mainly Native American protesters blocked the road leading up to Mount Rushmore for three hours before President Donald Trump gave a speech at the national monument Friday night. When they refused to disband, the protesters faced off with the South Dakota National Guard, which shot close-range shells at their feet and sprayed some protesters with pepper spray, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
A group of mainly Native American protesters blocked the road leading up to Mount Rushmore for three hours before President Donald Trump gave a speech at the national monument Friday night.
When they refused to disband, the protesters faced off with the South Dakota National Guard, which shot close-range shells at their feet and sprayed some protesters with pepper spray, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
By 7 p.m., 15 protesters who refused to leave the road had been arrested.
Trump went on to give a divisive speech at Mount Rushmore, saying the country was under siege by “far-left” fascists waging “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children.”
The Black Hills, where Mount Rushmore is located, is a sacred area for local Native Americans, and a contested space.
The Supreme Court in 1980 ruled that the U.S. had illegally taken the land from the Sioux tribe in a deal brokered in 1873. The Mount Rushmore carvings were completed in 1941.
Jeff Ostler, a historian at the University of Oregon, told ABC News that the federal government had offered the Sioux people a settlement of $1 billion for taking the land. The tribe has refused, saying they will only accept their land back.
Some of the protesters on Friday held signs reading “Protect SoDak’s First People,” “You Are On Stolen Land,” and “Dismantle White Supremacy,” according to the Associated Press.
Hehakaho Waste, a spiritual elder with the Oglala Sioux tribe, told the AP: “The president needs to open his eyes. We’re people, too, and it was our land first.”
A total of 15 people were arrested after refusing to leave the road.
A group of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters in Washington, DC, has marked July 4 by trampling the U.S. flag before setting it on fire, while arguing that the U.S. state symbol represents “slavery, genocide and war.”
Footage that shows protesters mocking the U.S. flag began making rounds online on Saturday evening.
One of the videos, filmed at a square outside the White House, an area which was officially named ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza’ in wake of the protests, shows a young black woman dancing on the U.S. flag sprawled on the ground, as another female protester with a megaphone in her hand can be heard shouting: “F*** the 4th of July. F*** the American flag. That’s what we are saying.”
Another video shows the woman, who does the chanting, being confronted by a man, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of Jesus.
“What does the American flag represent?” the woman asks, prompting him to respond: “America. Every citizen that lives in America.” The protester with a megaphone then goes on to argue that the banner is a symbol of slavery, saying, “it was built on the back of slaves.”
Other videos show protesters stomping on the flag and preparing to set it alight.
Protesters rejoice at the banner finally catching fire, and then begin chanting as guided by one of the group’s leaders: “We knew what this flag represents: One, two, three, four, – slavery, genocide and war, – five, six, seven, eight, – America was never great.”
The torching stunt had been touted as a “flag burning challenge” and was reportedly organized by the Revolutionary Communist Party, or RevCom.
While the flag went up in flames to the cheers from the public, some protesters were apparently not on board with the idea. As the same group attempted to burn a number of hand-sized American flags, they were confronted by fellow activists, arguing that such an action would pay right into the hands of the Trump administration.
“We refuse to celebrate”
Other media reports said:
Not all Americans are kicking back to watch fireworks to celebrate independence this holiday weekend.
Amid thousands of protests against police brutality and a pandemic that has disproportionately ravaged communities of color, many people spent the Fourth of July drawing attention to what they say is a hypocritical celebration of freedom.
Protesters held rallies, marches and sit-ins Saturday in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and more than a dozen other U.S. cities and towns.
On Friday, protesters blocked a highway leading up to Mount Rushmore, where President Donald Trump was scheduled to speak. Police used pepper spray and arrested the protesters, who argue the land in which the monument lies on – Black Hills – was seized from the Lakota Sioux by the U.S. government in the 1800s, and that the Trump administration opposes the interests of Native Americans and other minority groups.
On Saturday in the nation’s capital, where Trump planned to host hundreds of people at the White House for music and fireworks, organizers led several demonstrations across the city amid the 90-degree heat. Dozens of veterans marched in support of Black lives near the National Mall. Some organizers camped out in tents along Black Lives Matter Plaza.
Kerrigan Williams, co-founder of Freedom Fighters D.C. helped lead a “Juliberation” march through the city’s Northwest neighborhoods.
The Independence Day holiday “doesn’t really mean anything when Black people weren’t free on July 4th and those same liberties weren’t afforded to us,” said Williams, who has been co-organizing marches in the city for at least three weeks.
“We’re still marching for the same things.”
Williams, who grew up in Houston, said she used to mark the Fourth of July with family cookouts. But thoughts of her enslaved ancestors always lingered in the back of her mind. The family’s real celebration, Williams said, was on Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating June 19, 1865, when Galveston, Texas, finally got the news that President Abraham Lincoln had freed enslaved people in rebel states two and a half years earlier.
Amy Yeboah, a professor of Africana Studies at Howard University, joined dozens of law students for an eight-hour sit-in outside the Supreme Court.
“We’re honoring Black women – the lives that have been lost to police brutality – but also the blind eye that America has to the injustices that face Black women,” Yeboah said, invoking the names of Breonna Taylor, Rekia Boyd and Aiyana Jones, who were fatally shot by police.
“This being the celebration of independence, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I’ll be talking about how these are not things Black women have been given the space to celebrate,” Yeboah said. “Their justice is still being considered.”
Chicago
In Chicago, hundreds gathered downtown Saturday afternoon for a rally and march through the streets. Dozens more were marching in neighborhoods across the city.
Rabbi Michael Ben Yosef, an activist and South Side resident who organized the downtown protest, said he grew up celebrating the Fourth of July with family, watching fireworks and having barbecues. As he grew older, started his studies, experienced police brutality and lost a nephew to gun violence, that all began to change.
“Independence for people of color has not been part of our livelihood. We’re constantly murdered, harassed because of police brutality all over the country. The concept of freedom does not seem to come to our doorstep, even though we’ve been here 400 years,” Yosef said. “We look it as an abomination to recognize anything that comes with the Fourth of July.”
Yosef said event-goers planned to take a knee in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in memory of George Floyd. A violinist was also expected to play the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Yosef had prepared a banner for the march bearing the face of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and his famous words – “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”
The quote comes from a July 5, 1852, address that Douglass gave at an Independence Day celebration in Rochester, New York. “Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common,” he said. “This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”
New York
In Brooklyn, New York, activists held a “Confronting July 4th” march and rally to honor Black and indigenous activists, saying they “refuse to celebrate the whitewashing of this country.”
Jo Macellaro, who helped to organize the event, said Douglass’ words still ring true, more than 160 years later.
“So much of it is still relevant,” Macellaro said. “What does the Fourth of July mean to people who are still oppressed, marginalized – who don’t have all the freedoms we’re supposed to have in this country?”
Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, dozens gathered for a “Farce of July” march and caravan. In Seattle, organizers hosted a “4th the Culture” day of performances celebrating black lives. In Pittsburgh, where pro-Trump groups held a boat parade to celebrate Independence Day, dozens of protesters – many dressed in black – gathered along the marina and nearby bridge, chanting “no KKK, no fascist USA.”
Many more protests were planned in Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Honolulu, Detroit, Newark, New York City, Orlando, Houston, San Francisco and Philadelphia. But not all of the protests were taking place in the nation’s largest cities.
Tallahassee
About 100 people gathered at a park in Tallahassee, Florida, Saturday morning to march to the Historic Capitol as a protest against police misconduct. The group shouted “enough is enough” and “say their names; too many!” as well as several other chants as some held their fists in the air.
Iowa
Des Moines Black Lives Matter protesters congregated at the Iowa State Capitol for a demonstration led by Black and Indigenous activists calling for the removal of “monuments to white supremacy” in Iowa.
Georgia
In Stone Mountain Park, Georgia – home to a massive carving of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson on horseback – about 175 people, all wearing black, held a “peaceful march,” according to police.
Salem
In Salem, Oregon, a portion of downtown was closed Saturday for a Black Lives Matter Solidarity Rally. The event, coordinated by Salem Community Organizers, was expected to draw up to 1,000 people, City of Salem officials said Thursday.
Indiana
In Brazil, Indiana, immigrant advocates gathered outside the Clay County Courthouse Saturday afternoon to urge authorities to suspend immigration enforcement and release federal detainees held at the jail there. The protest began around 10 a.m. in Indianapolis before a caravan made its way to Brazil.
Artists
Artists nationwide were advocating a similar message over the weekend through a public art performance called “In Plain Sight.” The project used sky typing – writing in the sky using water vapor released from planes – to spell artist-created messages at 80 immigration detention facilities, immigration courts, former internment camps and other landmarks.
Many protest organizers said they planned to ask participants to social distance, wear masks and use hand sanitizer to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Some said that medical personnel would also be handing out facemasks.
History of Independence Day demonstrations
The U.S. has a long history of Independence Day demonstrations.
In 1854, abolitionists including William Lloyd Garrison, Sojourner Truth and Henry David Thoreau held a rally in Framingham, Massachusetts, where Garrison burned copies of the Fugitive Slave Law and the U.S. Constitution.
From 1965 to 1968, gay rights activists picketed outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia. In 1976, prisoners at the Marion, Illinois, federal penitentiary staged a hunger strike against their inhumane treatment there. In 1986, after the Supreme Court upheld a Georgia statute that largely criminalized homosexual activity, activists protested in New York City.
More recently, in 2013, following revelations about NSA mass surveillance programs, Restore the Fourth, a nonprofit supporting the Fourth Amendment, held rallies in dozens of cities.
In 2018, Patricia Okoumou climbed the Statue of Liberty to protest the detention of migrant children.
Trump’s angry words darken US July 4th weekend
An AFP report said:
The U.S. marked its Independence Day in a somber mood, and an angry speech from President Donald Trump have cast a shadow over what normally are festive celebrations.
Across the country, Main Street parades have been canceled, backyard barbecues scaled down, and family reunions put off amid worries about spreading the virus on a day when Americans typically celebrate their 1776 declaration of independence from Britain.
Fireworks displays are typically a high point of the holiday, but an estimated 80 percent of the events, including in cities like Indianapolis, Atlanta and Nashville, have been canceled this year.
Some locales are urging people to watch fireworks from their cars.
But other Americans, weary of lockdowns or simply defiant, carry on as if the deadly pandemic were a thing of the past.
Officials in Washington have discouraged residents from massing on the National Mall for the capital’s fireworks display.
Trump, fresh from his appearance Friday on Mount Rushmore, plans to take in Saturday’s “Salute to America” in Washington, complete with military music and flyovers, from a White House balcony.
He and his wife, Melania, released a video message wishing Americans “a very, very happy Fourth of July.”
Trump was optimistic on virus trends that have health officials deeply concerned. “We got hit with this terrible plague from China,” he said, “and now we are getting close to fighting our way out of it.”
Trump’s address at the Washington festivities will pay tribute to health care workers, police and the military, White House spokesman Judd Deere told AFP.
Social distancing would be observed, he added — in contrast to the practice at Mount Rushmore.
While presidents’ July 4th speeches traditionally are uplifting affairs that emphasize patriotism and national unity, Trump in South Dakota angrily lashed out at protests that have erupted since unarmed African American George Floyd was killed by police.
Facing a tough re-election battle in November and eager to mobilize his political base, Trump denounced “violent mayhem” on US streets, though most demonstrations have been peaceful, and accused protesters of waging “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.”
Trump seeks `garden’ of U.S. heroes
An AP President Trump has a vision for his second term, if he wins one, of establishing a “National Garden of American Heroes” that will pay tribute to some of the most prominent figures in U.S. history, a collection of “the greatest Americans to ever live.”
His idea, conveyed in a speech Friday night at Mount Rushmore and expanded on in an executive order, comes as elected officials and institutions are reckoning with whether it is appropriate to continue to honor people, including past presidents, who benefited from slavery or espoused racist views, with monuments or buildings and streets named after them.
The group of 30-plus features Founding Fathers and presidents, civil rights pioneers and aviation innovators, explorers and generals.
Absent from Trump’s initial list are any Native American, Hispanic or Asian-American individuals. The White House and Interior Department declined to comment on how the list was assembled.
To be certain, the monument is far from a done deal and Trump’s plan could be dashed if presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden denies him a second term in November or Congress balks at allocating funding for the project.
Trump’s list includes George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., all already represented on or near the National Mall in Washington, along with Susan B. Anthony, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Billy Graham, Douglas MacArthur, Christa McAuliffe, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington and Orville and Wilbur Wright.
But Trump also is looking to put an ideological stamp on the idea of American greatness with the inclusion of conservative stalwart Antonin Scalia, the late Supreme Court Justice.
Trump in recent weeks has repeatedly condemned the desecration and toppling of historic statues by demonstrators during protests over racial injustice and police brutality following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Trump’s executive order says the garden should open before July 4, 2024, and he leaves it up to a federal task force to make recommendations about the use of federal money and a proposed site. The order specifies “a site of natural beauty” that is near at least one major population center.
The order says priority should be given to monuments to former presidents, to individuals and events relating to the discovery of America, the founding of the United States, and the abolition of slavery. “None will have lived perfect lives, but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying,” according to the order.
The order includes language to make clear that non-U.S. citizens who played significant roles in American history also could be honored in the garden.
As examples of individuals who made substantive contributions to America’s public life or otherwise had a substantive effect on America’s history, it cites: Italian explorer Christopher Columbus; Junipero Serra, a Roman Catholic priest who established Spanish missions in California; and the Marquis de La Fayette, a French officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
A statue of Columbus, who has been criticized for brutal treatment of Native Americans, was removed this past week from outside the city hall in Columbus, Ohio. Last month, protesters toppled a statue of Serra in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Some historians say that Serra, who was canonized by the Catholic Church, had a mixed history that included him acting as an agent of the Spanish Empire’s colonization efforts in the 18th Century.
Trump on Friday again lashed out against a “left-wing cultural revolution” that he says is teaching American children “that the men and women who built” the country “were not heroes, but that were villains.”
“The radical view of American history is a web of lies — all perspective is removed, every virtue is obscured, every motive is twisted, every fact is distorted, and every flaw is magnified until the history is purged and the record is disfigured beyond all recognition,” Trump said.
The world’s largest Confederate monument faces renewed calls for removal
A Reuters report said:
Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, a nine-story-high bas-relief sculpture carved into a sprawling rock face northeast of Atlanta, is perhaps the South’s most audacious monument to its pro-slavery legacy still intact.
Despite long-standing demands for the removal of what many consider a shrine to racism, the giant depiction of three Confederate heroes on horseback still towers ominously over the Georgia countryside, protected by state law.
The monument – which reopens on Independence Day weekend has faced renewed calls for removal since the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died during an arrest by a white police officer who pinned his neck to the ground with a knee.
“Here we are in Atlanta, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement and still we have the largest Confederate monument in the world,” said Gerald Griggs, a vice president of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP civil rights group, which staged a march last week calling for the carving to be scraped from the mountainside. “It’s time for our state to get on the right side of history.”
The sheer scale of the monument makes its removal a daunting task to contemplate. Longer than a 100-yard American football field, it features the likenesses of Jefferson Davis, the president of the 11-state Confederacy, and two of its legendary military leaders, Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, notched in a relief 400 feet above ground.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans is an organization that staunchly defends Stone Mountain and other Confederate statues and emblems. Dedicated to teaching the “Southern Cause,” according to its website, it believes their removal is akin to purging American history.
The Southern or “Lost Cause of the Confederacy” holds that the war was fought over a heroic, but lost, effort to defend states’ rights to secede from the Union in the face of Northern aggression, rather than the preservation of slavery.
Martin O’Toole, an official of the Georgia chapter, said the monument is not a totem of racism at all. It’s history, plain and simple, he says.
“It’s three men on horses,” O’Toole said. “What’s racist about that?”
Maurice J. Hobson, an associate professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University, counters this, describing the Southern Cause as “a false history” that downplays slavery’s role in the Civil War.
He said the Confederate leaders were traitors to the U.S.s who fought to hold onto a Southern economy that depended on slavery.
All three men featured on the monument, Davis, Lee and Jackson, were slave owners.
“The whole of Stone Mountain was erected to show what some white Georgians revered,” he said.
Stone Mountain has long held symbolism for white supremacists. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a hate group that was formed by Confederate Army veterans and has a history of lynchings and terror against Black people, held its rebirth ceremony atop mountain in 1915 with flaming crosses. Klansmen still hold occasional gatherings in the shadows of the edifice, albeit now met with protesters behind police tape. Many of those cross-burnings took place on or around July 4.
The monolithic monument was proposed more than a century ago and had numerous false starts over the years.
But with the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, segregationist officials in the state pushed for the creation the Stone Mountain Memorial Association in 1958 and purchased the park. The carving was completed in 1972.
“This debate has been going on for years, and we’re sensitive to it,” John Bankhead, a spokesman for the group, said. “We want to tell history as it is, not as some say it is.”
In the past, others have suggested putting more balance into the monument. There was a proposal to build a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr, the Atlanta-based civil rights icon, but the Sons of Confederate Veterans, as well the King family, rejected the idea.
Even though that idea floundered, Hobson advocates adding more carvings to the rock face, including African American historical figures and civil rights leaders.
“It needs to be put in a context that forces a conversation, a serious conversation,” he said. “The easiest way to rectify it, is surround it.”
Griggs of the NAACP said that the civil rights group has consulted with stone masons who said it would cost about $300,000 to $400,000 to remove the towering images.
“Take it down,” he said. “Restore the mountain to its original condition.”
Black Lives Matter a lot in Cuba… since 1959
by Francisco Dominguez
Cuba has contributed in very practical ways to the liberation struggle of Algeria, Ghana, Congo, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, and a few others. No wonder, the very first country
Nelson Mandela visited after its release from prison in 1991,even though he received red-carpet invitations to many ‘weighty’ countries in the world, was Cuba. Yes, for Socialist Cuba Black Lives Do Matter.
When in 1868, Cuban slave-owner Manuel de Céspedes embarked on a 10-year nationalist uprising against Spain, the colonial master, he did not imagine he would be building not only the political bases of an independent Cuba but also the ideological blocks of a new Cuban identity.
Scholars correctly point out that Ten Years War (1868-78) turned out to be the “crucible of mass [Cuban] nationalism” since for the first time ever “blacks and whites… joined together” in the struggle for independence. About 70 percent of the fighters and officers were black or mulatto, and therefore, racist concerns that could make Cuba another Haiti, arose among the reluctant pro-independence white elite. In the second independence war (1895-98) Blacks may have contributed with over 85 percent of the rank and file soldiers, thus exacerbating white elite misgivings about independence.
It is well known that Cuba’s elite, upon being conceded a heavily US-protected independence in 1903, robbed blacks of the fruits of the victory they did more than anybody else to achieve. They were excluded from the police force (officers “had to be White, with fucking blue eyes…” – ex-slave in 1968 interview), but also from the civil service, parliament, and from just about every public sphere. Thus black people rebelled against discrimination in 1912, which was brutally crushed with about 3,000 of them were slaughtered.
Thus by 1959, on the eve of Fidel’s Revolution, the Black population was overwhelmingly poor, were overrepresented among the prison population, had the lowest educational levels, including high levels of illiteracy and chronic unemployment, inhabited squalid lodgements and neighbourhoods or tenements (solares), and were de facto discriminated in every other sphere of social, political and cultural life, which included even public spaces such as parks, i.e. they suffered from institutionalised racism. The promise of equality proclaimed by the republic was by 1959 thoroughly unfulfilled, despite formal laws that abstractly condemned racism and discrimination.
Fidel’s revolution ensured full employment on egalitarian bases, many of the jobs created where in industry, social services, health, education and high technology sectors, which recruited year after large number of skilled labour that the comprehensive, universal and free education system was churning out, year in, year out. The significance of this was monumental since by 1959 Cuba’s Black population was about half of the total. In this period 106 social programmes were implemented and instituted.
Additionally all forms of discrimination were abolished by the Cuban Revolution starting from an open debate on the issue to which Fidel invited intellectuals, academics, activists, workers, social organizations, members of political parties, and others. Among the many conclusions and decisions coming out of the debate came books, articles, and the promotion of important national and international events in Black History. The constitution prohibits any form of discrimination based on race, gender or ethnic origin, and all relevant institutions educate Cubans from a tender age on the ethical and philosophical principles that all human beings are equal. Cuban culture vigorously celebrates its African-ness through music, carnivals, and the very widespread practice of Santería, an Afro-Cuban religion brought by slaves to Cuba in the 17th century.
José Antonio Aponte Ulabarra
Many Black men and women since 1959, have had access to the highest levels of politics, science, education, technology and social life in general. A former British MP struck a powerful chord when he said this truth: Cuba is the only country on earth where the daughter of a sugar cane cutter, could become a medical doctor. Yet some racist social and cultural attitudes persist, but they pale into insignificance compared to advanced countries, such as the U.S. or the U.K. The current Cuban government led by Miguel Diaz-Canel has launched a comprehensive government programme, called AponteCommission, after José Antonio Aponte, leader of the 1812 slave rebellion, to combat it. Unlike ‘civilized’ countries where statues for slave traffickers and racist generals have been erected.
And, there is the role socialist Cuba has played in Africa, where its manifestations of solidarity have, on more than one occasion risked the very existence of the revolution itself, such as in Angola both in 1975 and 1987 when Fidel, at the request of the MPLA pro-independence movement requested military assistance, of which he sent sufficient to defeat both Western powers intervention and apartheid South African elite troops.
Cuba has contributed in very practical ways to the liberation struggle of Algeria, Ghana, Congo, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, and a few others. No wonder, the very first country Nelson Mandela visited after its release from prison in 1991,even though he received red-carpet invitations to many ‘weighty’ countries in the world, was Cuba. At the gigantic rally held in Havana to welcome him Mandela said:
“The Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the people of Africa. The Cuban internationalists have made a contribution to African independence, freedom, and justice, unparalleled for its principled and selfless character.From its earliest days the Cuban revolution has itself been a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people.”
Yes, for Socialist Cuba Black Lives Do Matter.
Dr Francisco Dominguez is a senior lecturer at Middlesex University, where he is head of the Research Group on Latin America. He is National Secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. Dominguez came to Britain in 1979 as a Chilean political refuge. Ever since he has been active on Latin American issues, about which he has written and published extensively. He is co-author of Right wing politics in the New Latin America, Zed Books.
Originally published in Arsnotoria.com
A Statue of Hatuey
by Don Fitz
A monument to Hatuey is in Baracoa, Cuba. The plate at the base reads “To the memory of Chief Hatuey, unforgettable native, precursor of the Cuban liberty, who offered his life, and glorified his rebellion in the martyrdom of the flames on 2/2/1512. Monuments Delegation of Yara, 1999”.
Politics Of Keeping People Away From Politics
by Vidyarthy Chatterjee
When J. R. D. Tata told The New York Times reporter that “the parliamentary system is not suited to our needs”, he was in effect justifying the excesses of the Emergency, which is hardly surprising considering the fact that strong-arm
methods have since long been used by Tisco to achieve its ends.
We Need Digital Detox
by Bilal Ahmad Dar
These cell phones have made us psychological handicaps. They have colonized and subjugated the psyche and psychology of the people. People have become so addicted to these cell phones that they cannot live their life without them. Modern man has completely made his life dependent on cell phones. Psyche of the modern man and cell phones are inseparable these days. Cell phone has so much colonized the psyche of the modern man that he feels ill at ease without it. These cell phones are proving very detrimental for our mental health. But we do not realize it because of its entertaining feature.
Cell phones are so convenient that they’re an inconvenience. Haruki Murakami
Technology, as we know, has transformed our life. It has made things easy for us. It has lessened the humdrum of our day to day life through its entertaining tools and gadgets. Because of technological and communication revolution modern man has become a kind of post-human (a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human). Technology has transformed us humans. It has enhanced our abilities and capacities. With the help of modern technological tools, we can do any complex and difficult work in a trice of a time. But this technology has also flipsides attached to it. Technological gadgets have made the life of modern man both easy going and complex. It has made us technological dependents. We are not able to do anything without technological tools.
Cell phone is one of the dearly entertaining gifts given to us by the technological world. It has multiple uses. It is used for communication, entertainment, and education. Cell phone has made communication easy. We can talk to people who live in the remote corners of the globe. Such is the charisma of cell phones. But we have become very much addicted to it and its associated applications. We have made it the essential and necessary element of our life. We consider our life incomplete without cell phones. These cell phones have made us psychological handicaps. They have colonized and subjugated the psyche and psychology of the people. People have become so addicted to these cell phones that they cannot live their life without them. Modern man has completely made his life dependent on cell phones. Psyche of the modern man and cell phones are inseparable these days. Cell phone has so much colonized the psyche of the modern man that he feels ill at ease without it. These cell phones are proving very detrimental for our mental health. But we do not realize it because of its entertaining feature.
The inseparability of the modern man and cell phone has compelled the modern psychological linguists to coin cell phone addiction related neologisms. ‘Nomophobia and Ringxiety’ are two neologisms related to the addiction of modern man with cell phones. Due to the cell phone addiction modern man has become the victim of a new kind of phobia called ‘Nomophobia’. It is defined as the fear of not having a mobile phone with you. Each of us is the victim of this phobia. Where ever we go, we first of all verify whether we have taken our cell phones with us or not. We search our pockets continuously whether our dear cell phone is there or not. At times, cell phone is in our hand, we start fumbling our pockets. Such is the addiction of cell phones. This cell phone addiction has made us psychic patients. We are not able to enjoy anything because of this cell phone addiction. This cell phone addiction and social media mania have even affected our social relationships.
Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter etc. are those alluring applications that have seeped into the psyche of the modern man. Modern man remains unnecessarily busy with these social media apps. These social media apps have so much dominated the psyche and heart of the modern man that he has lost the taste for every physical or field game. The major part of both day and night time of the modern man gets consumed in these social media apps. These apps have conquered the psyche of the modern man and have made him a sort of psycho.
Due to the cell phone and social media intoxication modern man has fallen prey to new psychological disorders. Most of us have become the victims of ‘Ringxiety’ and ‘Nomophobia’. Ringxiety (Phantom vibration syndrome) is a neologism. In linguistic terminology, it is portmanteau word. It has been made by blending ‘Ring’ and anxiety. Hence ‘Ringxiety. It is defined as the anxiety of the modern man because of cell phone ring or notification. This is the fact these days. We time and again feel that our cell phone is ringing, when actually it is not. It is actually our cell phone addiction that makes us feel so. Both ‘Nomophobia and Ringxiety’ are basically the psychological impacts of heightened use of cell phones. We should limit the use of cell phones in order to save ourselves from becoming the social misfits. So far we are only the victims of ‘Nomophobia and Ringxiety’. Let’s de-addict ourselves from these cell phones by busying ourselves with less harmful things and more lucrative activities like reading books and by playing games in the playing field.
Postscript: Cell phones are not a sign of power; they are a sign of subservience. Dough Pappas
Bilal Ahmad Dar is a Research Scholar at the Department of English, AMU. He can be mailed at: bilalbismil89@gmail.com
Reopening Vs Lockdown Is A False Dichotomy
by Marc Norton
California is seeing a surge in coronavirus infections, and most of our government
misleaders, from Governor Gavin Newsom on down, are trying to sweep the true story under the rug with the same kind of blowhard fake news that we hear from the Trump administration.
A Virus and the New Normal
by Debanjana Dey
The recent coal block auctions proposed will lead to the destruction of biodiversity hotspots, declared ‘no go’ zones for mining. The opening of coal blocks to private investment which are located in the dense forest of Indian states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra, which are rich in biodiversity might force new viruses to seek new survival strategies and hosts. In the case of coronavirus strains, the most commonly known hosts are bats and pangolins. Different groups of bats have their own unique strains of coronavirus, indicating that bats and coronaviruses have been evolving together for millions of years
In the absence of a pharmaceutical remedy to the outbreak of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), non-pharmaceutical interventions have become necessary. Physical distancing, containment of areas by restricting movement of people, and a nationwide lockdown have been the strategies adopted globally. In India, after about two months of nationwide lockdown and the subsequent unlocking process, most of us are hoping for a vaccine against the virus so that we can return back to our normal life as early as possible. But what is the ‘normal’ that we are referring to?
It is time to ponder if the ‘normal’ (the pre COVOD-19 days) that we are referring to was actually a normal condition. The virus has exposed the vulnerable underbelly of a politically and economically constructed normal; one outside the bio-physical world. It makes us acknowledge that our normal was always a gross abnormality and violation for several other species.
The judiciary and the executive are accusing each other for India’s economic slowdown due to measures like physical distancing and reverse migration of the informal workforce that keeps our economy going (https://thewire.in/political-economy/supreme-court-environmental-clearance-economic-slowdown). To ensure economic growth and make the nation atmanirbhar, the national leadership is promising more extraction of coal. The vicious circle intensifies. The chain of events that follow, will now lead to more extraction to regain a flawed normal.
The virus and its new normal
Unlike bacteria or other microorganisms, a virus cannot replicate on its own. It needs a host. Viruses possess a genetic material, DNA or RNA (RNA in the case of coronavirus), encapsulated within a protein coat which enables them to attach to host receptor cells and use the metabolism and machinery of the host cell to replicate. A virus which usually circulates among animal hosts can move to human host by three possible means (UNEP, 2016).
First, if there are changes in the biological structure of the virus to invade new hosts. This occurs as a response to the drive to adapt to evolutionary pressures or mutation in their genetic material that increases their pathogenicity. It increases the ability to invade new hosts and also to evade the host’s immune response.
Second, if there are changes in human and animal hosts. Usually, zoonotic transmission (transmission between animals and humans) of a virus directly from wildlife host to human host is uncommon. It is mostly bridged by livestock[i]. Intensive livestock productions with homogenized populations are the most susceptible to any emerging zoonotic disease; the most potential bridge to transmit the virus to human beings.
Third, if there are changes in environment or natural habitat caused by human activities. Over the last few decades, the changes in global climate have posed severe threat to the survival of living beings with observed increase in temperature, changes in precipitation pattern, melting of glaciers, elongation of summer months etc. which have shifted the geographical ranges, seasonal activities, migration pattern and interaction among many species. Climate change influences the environmental conditions which enable or disable distribution, reproduction and survival of pathogens, vectors and hosts. As more forests are being cleared, with increasing urbanization and high population densities, the risk of encountering a new virus increases i.e. as animals are pushed out of the forest, the likelihood of viruses moving directly or through vectors to human populations increases. Putting together these three factors creates an ideal environment for transmission of virus from animal hosts to human hosts. COVID-19 is also a zoonotic disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. The new normal for this virus and perhaps others whose home turf has been disrupted, is to use animals and human beings to propagate.
Deforestation and Strip-mining: Back to our old normal
The recent coal block auctions proposed will lead to the destruction of biodiversity hotspots, declared ‘no go’ zones for mining. The opening of coal blocks to private investment which are located in the dense forest of Indian states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra, which are rich in biodiversity might force new viruses to seek new survival strategies and hosts. In the case of coronavirus strains, the most commonly known hosts are bats and pangolins. Different groups of bats have their own unique strains of coronavirus, indicating that bats and coronaviruses have been evolving together for millions of years
(https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200423082231.htm). Pangolin species too serve as natural reservoir of SARS-CoV-2-like coronaviruses (Zhang, 2020). Both these species are critical for our ecosystem, for their natural services like pollination, seed dispersal, soil fertilization and insect/pest control. Destroying their habitats and villainising the hosts (bats and pangolins for COVID-19) will not help maintain healthy populations of diversified species, ecosystem functions and planetary wellbeing.
Human interventions, especially economic activities over the latter half of the 20th century, have led to severe disruptions in the ecosystem processes that govern the planetary health and wellbeing of all life forms (Rockstrom etal, 2009). Economic growth, driven by urbanization, industrialization, modern agriculture, dams, railways and roadways, led to massive land use changes (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.02.020). These encroachments into forests and destruction of habitats increased human contact with wildlife. Urbanization also fueled increasing demand for livestock products worldwide, leading to intensification and industrialization of animal production. These changes in the human-animal relationships have increased the risks of spillover of viruses (which circulate in wild animals) to use the ‘homogenized animal populations’ in intensive farming as a bridge to infect human populations (Jones etal, 2013). That India has not witnessed ‘a local outbreak’ in recent times may just be a matter of time. The Nipah virus outbreak was linked to intensification of pig farming and food production in Malaysia. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was a result of forest clearance which led to closer contact between wildlife and human populations.
Perhaps the most viable containment of any such pandemic is a potential vaccine. But the high rate of mutation of RNA virus adds to the challenge, and may not be a lasting solution. A better option will be to keep the pandemic at bay, which is possible if we track the pathways through which a virus transcends the boundary from animal to human host and amend them. Instead, we are now pushing ahead with further environmental disruption; knowing fully well that this can lead to several disasters(https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/recipe-for-triple-disaster-ramesh-to-javadekar/articleshow/76474132.cms). We are pushing to get back the one and only normal we know; economic growth based on mindless extraction. Are we incapable of the pluralism of multiple pathways, choices, and adaptation strategies evident in the behaviour of the virus?
References
Jones, B.A., etal. (2013). Zoonosis emergence linked to agricultural intensification and environmental change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 110(21), 8399–8404.
Rockstrom, J etal. (2009) Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity. Ecology and Society. Vol. 14, No 2, Art 32.
Tao Zhang, Qunfu Wu, Zhigang Zhang (2020) Probable Pangolin Origin of SARS-CoV-2 Associated with the COVID-19 Outbreak. Current Biology, 30 (8) Pp. 1578.
UNEP (2016). UNEP Frontiers 2016 Report: Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi.
Debanjana Dey, Researcher at Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research at CSIR-NISTADS, New Delhi. Email- debanjanadey1@gmail.com
In search of ‘Unity, Solidarity and Peace’ in a Fragile
World
by Bhabani Shankar Nayak
The horrors of deaths, destitutions and common vulnerabilities due to the pestilence of COVID-19 has brought back the ideals of universal unity, peace and solidarity into the center stage of a fragile world. These ideals are historically proved shelter during every crisis created by colonial, imperialist and reactionary nationalist adventures during 19th century, and productivist plunders of capitalism during 20th and 21st century.
Modi’s visit to Leh: Media uses the occasion to sing his praises
by Dr Abhay Kumar
Amid India-China border standoff, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday made a “surprise” visit to Leh and indirectly referred to China by saying that “the era of expansionism is over”. Making a mountain out of a molehill, the
mainstream media used the occasion to indulge in an act of hero-worship. It turned blind to critical questions and concerns raised by the opposition parties and security analysts.
Important Growth Lessons from Life in Lockdown days…
by Ashok Sharma
The World changed in March of 2020. We’ll be able to to tell coming generations of this season we’re living through. We will speak of the pain and the harm. And we will talk of the wisdom and honour that this time has delivered to us and also reflecting on the good that we may find as we stay inside,shelter-in-place and experience more stillness.
US, Australian & Anglosphere Responses To Apartheid Israel’s Illegal West Bank Annexation Plan
by Dr Gideon Polya
US lackey, Coalition-ruled Australia is second
only to Trump America as a fervent supporter of Apartheid Israel, with similarly pro-Apartheid Israel and hence pro-Apartheid and US lackey Canada coming a close third in this Anglosphere race to the bottom of the Palestinian Genocide barrel. Evangelicals-beholden Trump has not yet committed to supporting further illegal Apartheid Israeli annexation in the West Bank, with Australia and Canada disingenuously expressing “concern”.
US lackey, Coalition-ruled Australia is second only to Trump America as a fervent supporter of Apartheid Israel, with similarly pro-Apartheid Israel and hence pro-Apartheid and US lackey Canada coming a close third in this Anglosphere race to the bottom of the Palestinian Genocide barrel. Evangelicals-beholden Trump has not yet committed to supporting further illegal Apartheid Israeli annexation in the West Bank, with Australia and Canada disingenuously expressing “concern”.
What seems forgotten in all this international discussion of this latest Israeli flouting of International Law is that the West Bank (presently 3 million Indigenous Palestinian inhabitants) and the Gaza Concentration Camp (presently 2 million inhabitants) have been highly abusively ruled by Apartheid Israel for 52 years in an evil, racist, de facto annexation that grossly violates International Law. Indeed Apartheid Israel has already illegally annexed Al Quds (Jerusalem, the third holiest site for Muslims), and an ethnically cleansed Golan Heights (part of Syria). Zionism is genocidal racism, and genocidally racist Apartheid Israel is based on mendacity, genocide and endless theft (see my poem “And then they stole the falafel” ). Zionist theft has meant that of Palestine that was nearly 100% owned by Palestinians a century ago, all but 10% has been ethnically cleansed by the Zionists, with the racist Zionists now threatening to annex a further 30% of this tiny remainder.
Acutely pertinent to this criminal Zionist proposal is the 2016 UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2334 that was passed unanimously (except for an Obama America abstention) and stated the following: “The Security Council,
“Reaffirming its relevant resolutions, including resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 446 (1979), 452 (1979), 465 (1980), 476 (1980), 478 (1980), 1397 (2002), 1515 (2003), and 1850 (2008),
“Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirming, inter alia, the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force,
“Reaffirming the obligation of Israel, the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations and responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and recalling the advisory opinion rendered on 9 July 2004 by the International Court of Justice,
“Condemning all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions,
“Expressing grave concern that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperilling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines,
“Recalling the obligation under the Quartet Roadmap, endorsed by its resolution 1515 (2003), for a freeze by Israel of all settlement activity, including “natural growth”, and the dismantlement of all settlement outposts erected since March 2001,
“Recalling also the obligation under the Quartet roadmap for the Palestinian Authority Security Forces to maintain effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantling terrorist capabilities, including the confiscation of illegal weapons,
“Condemning all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation, incitement and destruction,
“Reiterating its vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders,
“Stressing that the status quo is not sustainable and that significant steps, consistent with the transition contemplated by prior agreements, are urgently needed in order to (i) stabilize the situation and to reverse negative trends on the ground, which are steadily eroding the two-State solution and entrenching a one-State reality, and (ii) to create the conditions for successful final status negotiations and for advancing the two-State solution through those negotiations and on the ground,
“1. Reaffirms that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace;
“2. Reiterates its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard;
“3. Underlines that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations;
“4. Stresses that the cessation of all Israeli settlement activities is essential for salvaging the two-State solution, and calls for affirmative steps to be taken immediately to reverse the negative trends on the ground that are imperilling the two-State solution;
“5. Calls upon all States, bearing in mind paragraph 1 of this resolution, to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967;
“6. Calls for immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction, calls for accountability in this regard, and calls for compliance with obligations under international law for the strengthening of ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, including through existing security coordination, and to clearly condemn all acts of terrorism;
“7. Calls upon both parties to act on the basis of international law, including international humanitarian law, and their previous agreements and obligations, to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric, with the aim, inter alia, of de-escalating the situation on the ground, rebuilding trust and confidence, demonstrating through policies and actions a genuine commitment to the two-State solution, and creating the conditions necessary for promoting peace;
“8. Calls upon all parties to continue, in the interest of the promotion of peace and security, to exert collective efforts to launch credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process and within the time frame specified by the Quartet in its statement of 21 September 2010;
“9. Urges in this regard the intensification and acceleration of international and regional diplomatic efforts and support aimed at achieving, without delay a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Madrid terms of reference, including the principle of land for peace, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Quartet Roadmap and an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967; and underscores in this regard the importance of the ongoing efforts to advance the Arab Peace Initiative, the initiative of France for the convening of an international peace conference, the recent efforts of the Quartet, as well as the efforts of Egypt and the Russian Federation;
“10. Confirms its determination to support the parties throughout the negotiations and in the implementation of an agreement;
“11. Reaffirms its determination to examine practical ways and means to secure the full implementation of its relevant resolutions;
“12. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council every three months on the implementation of the provisions of the present resolution;
“13. Decides to remain seized of the matter” [1].
Set out below as a series of quotations are how the Anglosphere countries of the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand have responded to the Apartheid Israeli threat to illegally annex 30% of the West Bank:
(1). America – Evangelical-beholden Donald Trump will probably agree, but Presidential Race-leading Joe Biden is opposed to the proposed Apartheid Israeli annexation.
Republicans. US President Donald Trump is presently undecided as to whether or not to support the proposed Israeli annexation of 30% of the West Bank. However he is critically supported by the fervently pro-Zionist Evangelicals and Pentecostal Christians. Thus Dr Mike Evans (a prominent Evangelical figure) (2 July 2020): “ Our support is crucial, and he [Donald Trump] cannot win it without us. We are 100% supportive of applying Israeli sovereignty to the region. Our support of this did not begin with Trump, but with our Bible, because we believe that God decided to apply sovereignty thousands of years ago and told it to the Jewish people’s prophets… I believe that any aide advising the president to withdraw his support on application of sovereignty could jeopardize the president’s chances of winning the elections. The worst thing the president can do during an election is announce his rejection of recognizing the land of the Bible, since all Evangelicals are united behind the Bible where it is stated that who blesses Israel – God blesses him. We will push any advisor urging him to refrain from supporting the application of sovereignty out of the White House” [2].
Of course this Biblical literalism is utter rubbish. Thus, for example, genetic analysis shows that I am 24% British Celtic and 57% Ashkenazi Jewish (Eastern European Jewish) but zero English, French, Benelux, Scandinavian, German, Swiss or Middle Eastern in origin, this being consonant with about 300 years of recorded family history. As variously argued by anti-racist Jewish scholars Arthur Koestler (in “The Thirteenth Tribe”) and Professor Shlomo Sand (in “The Invention of the Jewish People”), the Ashkenazim derive from first millennium CE conversion to Judaism of Khazars in Southern Russia. Indeed the genetic descendants of the Palestinian Jews of the time of Jesus are today’s sorely oppressed Palestinians. The Jewish Israelis of today largely derive from Yemeni, Berber and Khazar converts to Judaism. The Ashkenazi Jews running Apartheid Israel are not Semitic but are highly abusively ruling 7 million undoubtedly Semitic Indigenous Palestinians who descend from the Jewish and non-Jewish inhabitants of Rome-ruled Palestine. Indeed historical written use of the very name “Palestine” and its variants (e.g. “Palestina”) dates back to the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus (484 – c. 425 BC), and the name evidently derived from the Philistines, sea peoples who invaded Palestine in the 12th century BCE (see Geoffrey Bromiley, editor, “The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia” and G.B. Grundy, editor, “Murray’s Classical Atlas”).
Democrats. In contrast, the Democratic Presidential candidate and former Vice President under Barack Obama, Joe Biden, is a fervent supporter supportive of Apartheid Israel and, of course, dances to the tune of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that ferociously lobbies for Apartheid Israel. Indeed one of the last acts of the Obama regime was to give serial war criminal Apartheid Israel a further $38 billion in military aid over the next decade. However, even Establishment Americans have their limits, and Joe Biden has refused to support the illegal annexation of West Bank territory, stating (May 2020): “I do not support annexation. The fact is, I will reverse Trump’s undercutting of peace” [3]. Indeed Barack Obama, who had been repeatedly humiliated in his own country by war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to veto and merely abstained from the 2016 UNSC Resolution 2334 that castigated Apartheid Israel and was passed unanimously (except for the US abstention) [1].
(2). Australia – Australian Greens and the Labor Opposition correctly say that annexation violates International Law, but the pro-Apartheid Coalition Government has merely “raised concerns” over annexation with Apartheid Israel.
Australian Greens (26 June 2020): “The Greens call on the Australian Government to add its voice to global calls and forcefully speak out against the Israeli Government’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank in clear violation of international law” [4].
Adam Bandt (Australian Greens MP and leader of the Australian Greens) (26 June 2020): “There has been an increasing and overwhelming chorus of global voices condemning the Israeli Government’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank as soon as 1 July. Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump have virtually no support on the international stage from leaders across the political spectrum, including many Jewish supporters of Israel internationally and in Australia. Yet the Australian Government remains resolutely silent, offering tacit approval for a plan that is an indisputably grave breach of international law, thwarts Palestinians’ right to self-determination, destabilises the entire region and further jeopardises the prospects of a two-state solution. This plan is not only a further blow to Palestinian human rights after decades of occupation and de facto annexation through settlement construction. It is also detrimental to Israel’s security – a point made by many in Israel’s security establishment – and it is a disaster for Israel’s democracy. The misguided and dangerous plan for annexation is driven by the far right in Israel and the US. It is designed to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, not to create conditions for peace. It’s well past time for Australia to show some leadership and speak out. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne must make clear to the Israeli Government that serious breaches of international law have diplomatic consequences, including the possibility of Australia joining internationally coordinated sanctions should annexation proceed. This annexation is not a done deal – pressure from countries like Australia can make a difference. There has never been a more critical time for the Australian Government to speak against this gross breach of international law” [4].
Richard Marles (MP, Deputy Labor leader, Opposition Shadow Minister for Defence) and Penny Wong (Senator, Labor Leader in the Senate and Opposition Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) (30 June 2020): “Labor opposes the annexation of land in the West Bank by the Israeli Government. Annexation of any part of the West Bank will weaken the viability of any future Palestinian state, undermine the prospect of a two-state solution, violate international law and risk destabilising Israel’s neighbours, which the world cannot afford. We expect the Australian Government to join with likeminded countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain in making these concerns clear. Labor is a strong supporter of the state of Israel – that will never change. We share the concern expressed by the Global Jewish Coalition and the Commanders for Israel’s Security – a group of 293 retired Israeli generals, admirals, and leaders from Mossad, Shin Bet, and the police – that unilateral annexation would jeopardise Israel’s security. Labor has a long and proud history of supporting a just and durable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We continue to call on both sides of the conflict to refrain from any actions that hamper peaceful outcomes for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples” [5].
Senator Marise Payne (Australian Coalition Government Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women) (1 July 2020): “The Australian Government is a longstanding supporter of a two-state solution, in which Israel and a future Palestinian state coexist, in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders. We urge all parties to refrain from actions that diminish the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution, including: acts of violence and terrorism including rocket attacks on civilians, and land appropriations, demolitions, and settlement activity. In this context, we are following with concern possible moves towards the unilateral annexation or change in status of territory on the West Bank. The focus needs to be on a return to direct and genuine negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians for a durable and resilient peace arrangement, as soon as possible. Australia has raised our concerns with Israel in relation to indications of annexations, and I have done so directly with my Israeli counterpart” [6]. Senator Payne’s predecessor as Australian Coalition Government Minister for Foreign Affairs (2013-2018) , Julie Bishop (now Chancellor of the Australian National University), notoriously questioned the illegality of illegal Zionist settlements on the West Bank.
(3). Canada – Fervently pro-Apartheid Israel and hence pro-Apartheid PM Justin Trudeau has “deep concerns” but the Canadian Ambassador to the UN says that annexation is “contrary to international law”.
Justin Trudeau, the craven, Zionist- and US-beholden Prime Minister of US lackey, pro-Zionist and consequently pro-Apartheid Canada, has pusillanimously and disingenuously expressed “concern” over the proposed illegal and war criminal annexation (2 June 2020): “I have highlighted both publicly and directly to Prime Minister Netanyahu and alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz the importance of staying away from measures that are unilateral and our deep concerns and disagreement with their proposed policy of annexation” [7].
Marc-Andre Blanchard, Canadian Ambassador to the UN , seeking support for a Canadian seat on the UN Security Council, has found some moral courage, stating in a letter to all UN ambassadors (10 June 2020): “Canada views any unilateral annexation of parts of the West Bank as contrary to international law. Canada has expressed deep concern and disagreement with the proposed policy of annexation and raised the issue publicly” [7].
74% of Canadian citizens polled are opposed to the annexation [7].
(4). UK – Zionist-subverted, pro-Apartheid Israel and hence pro-Apartheid UK Government timidly admits that annexation is “against the rules-based international order” and expresses concern over negative consequences for Israel; the Labour Opposition condemns annexation as illegal and proposes a ban on goods from illegal settlements.
James Cleverly (UK Middle East Minister) told the UN security council (June 2020): “Such a step [annexation] would go against the rules-based international order [International law] and the UN charter. Annexation could not go unanswered, and we implore Israel to reconsider” [8].
Boris Johnson (Tory PM of fervently pro-Apartheid UK) (June 2020): “[I am] fearful that these proposals will fail in their objective of securing Israel’s borders and will be contrary to Israel’s own long-term interests… [They] represent a violation of international law… Annexation would put in jeopardy the progress that Israel has made in improving relationships with the Arab and Muslim world… I profoundly hope that annexation does not go ahead. If it does, the UK will not recognise any changes to the 1967 lines, except those agreed between both parties” [9].
Lisa Nandy (Labour Opposition Shadow Foreign Secretary) and backed by the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer (June 2020): “The proposal to unilaterally annex nearly a third of the West Bank is an illegal act which will undermine the prospect of a peaceful two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, and has serious implications for the stability of the Middle East. It is a shameful proposition to which the UK cannot be a silent witness. Across the world concern is growing … So far the UK government has been conspicuously absent from this global response. This is now urgent. The government must be clear with the Israeli coalition government that concrete action will follow, including a ban on goods entering Britain from the illegal settlements in the West Bank. This is a major step, but such a blatant breach of international law must have consequences. It will take a level of courage that so far ministers have not been willing to show” [10].
(5). New Zealand – New Zealand Government says that “annexation would gravely undermine the two-state solution, breach international law, and pose significant risks to regional security”.
Winston Peters (New Zealand Labor and New Zealand First Coalition Government Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister) (23 June 2020): “New Zealand is a long-standing supporter of Israel’s right to live in peace and security. However, successive New Zealand governments have also been clear that Israeli settlements are in violation of international law and have negative implications for the peace process. The New Zealand Government’s view is that annexation would gravely undermine the two-state solution, breach international law, and pose significant risks to regional security. We call on Israel to reconsider these plans. New Zealand has consistently pursued a principled and balanced approach to the Middle East Peace Process and continues to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This Government stands ready to assist in any constructive way we can to support this process. It is critical now for Israel and Palestine to work towards a negotiated, two-state solution. Both sides have legitimate issues and grievances and these have to be addressed through direct negotiations, with the aim of seeing Israel and a Palestinian state existing side by side, in peace and security”
Final comments.
Apartheid Israel is involved in an ongoing Palestinian Genocide and as a dirty tricks surrogate of the US has been complicit in other genocidal atrocities around the world. Likewise Australia is involved in an ongoing Aboriginal Genocide and Aboriginal Ethnocide as well as participating in numerous genocidal atrocities as a UK or US lackey. It is hardly surprising given this appalling history that Coalition-ruled Australia, led by fervent Christian Zionist PM Scott “Scomo” Morrison (thence Scum-o, Skim-o, Scam-o, Scheme-o) , is second only to Trump America as a supporter of nuclear terrorist, racist Zionist-run, serial war criminal, genocidally racist, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel [12-14]. Indeed all 5 countries of the Anglosphere (the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) derive from deliberate genocide of the original Indigenous inhabitants [12-18].
Apartheid Israel’s proposed annexation of 30% of the West Bank will leave only about 7% of Palestine for Palestinian State for 14 million Indigenous Palestinians. Even those Anglosphere Governments and Oppositions critical of this latest proposed genocidal atrocity bend over backwards to declare their undying love for Apartheid Israel. Thus the Australian Labor Opposition Shadow Minister for Defence: “Annexation of any part of the West Bank will … violate international law… Labor is a strong supporter of the state of Israel – that will never change” [5]. And, of course Zionist-subverted Mainstream media minimize or eliminate reportage of Apartheid Israel’s endless genocidal atrocities.
Accordingly it is useful to briefly sketch in numbers the horrific nature of the ongoing Palestinian Genocide:
(1) since 1916 there have been 2.2 million Palestinian deaths from Zionist violence (0.1 million) or from Zionist-imposed deprivation (2.1 million );
(2) there are 7 million Palestinian refugees and all of the 14 million Palestinians are excluded from all or part of Palestine;
(3) of about 14 million Palestinians (half of them children, three quarters women and children), 7 million Exiled Palestinians are forbidden to even step foot in their own country, 5 million Occupied Palestinians are held hostage with zero human rights under Israeli guns in the Gaza Concentration Camp (2.0 million) or in ever-dwindling West Bank Bantustan ghettoes (3.0 million), and nearly 2 million Palestinian Israelis live as Third Class citizens under over 60 Nazi-style Apartheid Israeli race laws;
(4) 90% of Palestine has now been ethnically cleansed of Indigenous Palestinian inhabitants in an ongoing war criminal ethnic cleansing that has been repeatedly condemned by the UN;
(5) GDP per capita is a deadly US$3,200 for Occupied Palestinians as compared to US$44,000 for Apartheid Israel;
(6) through imposed deprivation, each year Apartheid Israel passively murders about 2,700 under-5 year old Palestinian infants and passively murders 4,200 Occupied Palestinians in general who die avoidably under Israeli Apartheid each year (i.e. a circa 10 year life expectancy gap; this violates Articles 55 and 56 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War that demand that an Occupier must provide life-sustaining food and medical services to the Occupied Subjects “to the fullest extent of the means available to it” );
(7) despite the ongoing Palestinian Genocide and 2 mass expulsion events – the 1948 Nakba (800,000 expelled) and the 1967 Naksa (400,000 expelled) – 50% of the Subjects of Apartheid Israel are Indigenous Palestinians and of these 73% (the Occupied Palestinians) cannot vote for the government ruling them (i.e. egregious Apartheid) [12-14, , 19-26].
With 90% of the land of Palestine now ethnically cleansed of Indigenous Palestinian inhabitants (and Apartheid Israel now proposing a genocidal extension to 93%), the “2-state solution” is dead. The only realistic solution for a peaceful and just Palestine is immediate dissolution of Apartheid Israel and its immediate replacement (after the example of post-Apartheid South Africa) with a nuclear weapons-free, unitary state in which all 14 million Indigenous Palestinians, including 7 million presently Exiled Palestinians, will live peacefully in Palestine with Jewish Israelis, with peace, nuclear disarmament, internationally-guaranteed airport-level security (with interim retention of the present armed forces), justice, equity, reconciliation, one-person-one-vote, equal human rights for all, zero tolerance for racism, and freedom for all citizens to go anywhere in Palestine. It could and should happen tomorrow [27, 28].
Serial war criminal Netanyahu is simply waiting for the Green Light from Christian Zionist-beholden Donald Trump in this 2020 Presidential election year. What can decent people do? Decent people must (a) inform everyone they can, and (b) urge and apply Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) not only against Apartheid Israel but also against all those people, politicians, parties, collectives, corporations and countries who variously support this nuclear terrorist, genocidally racist, grossly human rights abusing, and serial war criminal rogue state.
References.
[1]. United Nations, “Israel’s settlements have no legal validity, constitute flagrant violations of international law, Security Council reaffirms. 14 delegations in favour of Resolution 2334 as United States abstains”, 23 December 2016: https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12657.doc.htm .
[2]. Itamar Eichner, “Trump withholding annexation will cost him election, Evangelicals warn”, YNet, News, 2 July 2020: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rJWP700jCL .
[3]. Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, “Biden lead complicates Israel annexation plan. US presidential candidate and his Democratic Party would if victorious in November likely reverse Trump’s support for West Bank annexation”, Asia Times, 29 June 2020: https://asiatimes.com/2020/06/biden-lead-complicates-israel-annexation-plan/ .
[4]. “Australia must urgently condemn Israel’s annexation plans: Bandt”, Greens MPs, 26 June 2020: https://greensmps.org.au/articles/australia-must-urgently-condemn-israels-annexation-plans .
[5]. Richard Marles and Penny Wong, “Labor opposes annexation of West Bank land” Media Release, 30 June 2020: https://www.richardmarles.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20.07.01-LABOR-OPPOSES-ANNEXATION-OF-WEST-BANK-LAND.pdf .
[6]. Marise Payne, “Statement on the Middle East”, 1 July 2020: https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-release/statement-middle-east .
[7]. Mersiha Gadzo, “Canada’s support for Israel in the spotlight ahead of key UN vote. As Canada vies for UNSC seat, new survey shows 74 percent of its citizens want country to oppose Israel annexation plan”, Al Jazeera, 17 June 2020: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/canada-support-israel-spotlight-key-vote-200616183626119.html .
[8]. Patrick Wintour, “UK criticized for “lacklustre” response to Israel’s West Bank plans”, Guardian, 29 June 2020: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/29/uk-criticised-for-lacklustre-response-to-israel-west-bank-plans .
[9]. Peter Beaumont, “Boris Johnson warns against annexation in Israeli newspaper article”, Guardian, 2 July 2020: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/01/boris-johnson-warns-against-annexation-in-israeli-newspaper-article .
[10]. Harriet Sherwood, “Lisa Nandy urges ban on imports of West Bank goods”, Guardian, 28 June 2020: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/27/lisa-nandy-leads-calls-for-sanctions-on-israel-over-west-bank-annexations .
[11]. Winston Peters, “New Zealand expresses concerns over proposed Israeli annexation plans”, Beehive Release, 23 June 2020: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-expresses-concerns-over-proposed-israeli-annexation-plans .
[12]. Apartheid Israel’s Palestinian Genocide & Australia’s ongoing Aboriginal Genocide Compared”, Countercurrents, 20 February 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/02/apartheid-israels-palestinian-genocide-australias-aboriginal-genocide-compared/ .
[13]. Gideon Maxwell Polya, “US-imposed Post-9/11 Muslim Holocaust & Muslim Genocide”, Korsgaard Publishing, Germany, 2020 (for details see: https://korsgaardpublishing.com/portfolio/23945/ and https://www.amazon.com/US-Imposed-Post-9-Muslim-Holocaust-Genocide/dp/8793987056 ).
[14]. Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, that includes a succinct history of every country and is now available for free perusal on the web: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ;
[15]. Gideon Polya, “The US Has Invaded 70 Nations Since 1776 – Make 4 July Independence From America Day”, Countercurrents, 5 July, 2013: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya050713.htm .
[16]. Gideon Polya, “British Have Invaded 193 Countries: Make 26 January ( Australia Day, Invasion Day) British Invasion Day”, Countercurrents, 23 January, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya230115.htm .
[17]. Gideon Polya, “As UK Lackeys Or US Lackeys Australians Have Invaded 85 Countries (British 193, French 80, US 70)”, Countercurrents, 9 February, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya090215.htm .
[18]. “Stop state terrorism” : https://sites.google.com/site/stopstateterrorism/ .
[19]. Francis A. Boyle, “The Palestinian Genocide By Israel”, Countercurrents, 30 August, 2013: https://www.countercurrents.org/boyle300813.htm .
[20]. “The genocide of the Palestinian people: an International Law and Human Rights perspective”, Center for Constitutional Rights, 25 August 2016: https://ccrjustice.org/genocide-palestinian-people-international-law-and-human-rights-perspective .
[21]. “Palestinian Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/ .
[22]. Professor William A. Cook (editor), “The Plight of the Palestinians. A Long History of Destruction”, Palgrave Macmillan, London , 2010.
[23]. Gideon Polya, “Review: “The Plight Of The Palestinians. A Long History Of Destruction””, Countercurrents, 17 June, 2012: https://www.countercurrents.org/polya170612.htm .
[24]. Gideon Polya, “Israeli-Palestinian & Middle East conflict – from oil to climate genocide”, Countercurrents, 21 August 2017: https://countercurrents.org/2017/08/21/israeli-palestinian-middle-east-conflict-from-oil-to-climate-genocide/ .
[25]. Gideon Polya, “End 50 Years Of Genocidal Occupation & Human Rights Abuse By US-Backed Apartheid Israel”, Countercurrents, 9 June 2017: https://countercurrents.org/2017/06/09/end-50-years-of-genocidal-occupation-human-rights-abuse-by-us-backed-apartheid-israel/ .
[26]. Gideon Polya, “Israelis kill ten times more Israelis in Apartheid Israel than do terrorists”, Countercurrents, 1 March 2017: https://countercurrents.org/2017/03/01/israelis-kill-ten-times-more-israelis-in-apartheid-israel-than-do-terrorists/ .
[27]. Gideon Polya, “Democratic One-State solution (Unitary State, Bi-national State) for post-Apartheid Palestine”, 22 December 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/12/democratic-one-state-solution-unitary-state-bi-national-state-for-post-apartheid-palestine/ .
[28]. “One-state solution, unitary state, bi-national state for a democratic, equal rights, post-apartheid Palestine”: https://sites.google.com/site/boycottapartheidisrael/one-state-solution .
Dr Gideon Polya taught science students at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia for 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds” (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London , 2003). He has published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ); see also his contributions “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality” in “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics” (edited by Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/australian-complicity-in-iraq-mass-mortality/3369002#transcript ) and “Ongoing Palestinian Genocide” in “The Plight of the Palestinians (edited by William Cook, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2010: https://countercurrents.org/polya170612.htm ). He has published a revised and updated 2008 version of his 1998 book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” (see: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the “forgotten” World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/listen-the-bengal-famine ; Gideon Polya: https://sites.google.com/site/drgideonpolya/home ; Gideon Polya Writing: https://sites.google.com/site/gideonpolyawriting/ ; Gideon Polya, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Polya ). He has recently published Gideon Polya, “US-imposed Post-9-11 Muslim Holocaust & Muslim Genocide”, Korsgaard Publishing, Germany, 2020 (for details see: https://korsgaardpublishing.com/portfolio/23945/ ).When words fail one can say it in pictures – for images of Gideon Polya’s huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/gideonpolya/ .
Palestine, Annexation and the Wrong Story
by Rima Najjar
How complicated is it to question, if only with a raised eyebrow, the premise that Jewish settlers had a RIGHT to rob and dispossess Palestinians? In giving “both sides” equal time and implying that the annexation was a “security issue,” Nick Schifrin’s reporting on PBS NewsHour (which also implicates Woodruff) is a shameful disgrace.
Will the ICC Investigation Bring Justice for Palestine?
Co-Written by
Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo
In the past, there have been many attempts at holding accused Israeli war criminals accountable. Particularly memorable is the case of the late Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, (known, among other nicknames, as the ‘Butcher of Sabra and Shatila’) whose victims attempted to try him in a Belgian Court in 2002. Like all other efforts, the Belgian case was dropped under American pressure. History seems to be repeating itself.
A Story of Human Grit And Kindness During COVID Lockdown
by Mohd Tarique
This is a story from Lalbagh Community at Mansarover Park, Shahdara where Koshish has been working for few years now. This is the settlement of about 300 families, mostly from de-notified communities. With loss of traditional occupations, current generation engages
in multiple vocations like selling old clothes, Lemon-Chilli threads, drum players etc. The community survives on daily earnings and therefore has been facing a very difficult time since the Covid-19 situation arose.
Co Dependence Day
by Philip A Farruggio
They’ll be shooting off the fireworks, eating and drinking like ‘ Ants at a picnic’ and sending ‘ Social Distancing’ out the window. Why not? It’s July 4th once again, a time to celebrate. Celebrate what?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.