The day of the Nakba 2015

Palestinians participate in a march to commemorate the ‘Nakba Day’ in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 13, 2015. Photo by AFP

Israel continues to criminalise marking Nakba Day

Activists now face difficulty in commemorating Palestinian dispossession during Israel’s founding due to Israeli law.

By Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera

May 14, 2015

Haifa – Each year on May 15, Palestinians across the world commemorate the Nakba (catastrophe), or the 1948 establishment of Israel that led to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being displaced from their homeland.

The estimated 1.7 million Palestinians who carry Israeli citizenship and live in villages, towns and cities across the country are no exception. Each year, protests, marches, lectures and other events to mourn their ancestors’ dispossession are held in Palestinian communities across Israel.

Yet, since 2011, Israeli legislation has made mourning the Nakba publicly difficult for Palestinians and others in Israel. The “Nakba Law” authorises Israel’s finance minister to revoke funding from institutions that reject Israel’s character as a “Jewish state” or mark the country’s Independence Day as a day of mourning.

Although the Nakba Law has yet to be technically implemented, human rights groups and activists say it has a dangerous deterrent effect and is meant to intimidate Palestinians and others who view Israel’s establishment as a day of mourning for Palestinians.

The US Army & recent developments (protests & laws)!

A Brief History of GI Resistance During The Vietnam War

Published on 6 Jun 2014 | As the controversy continues over the prisoner swap involving U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, peace activist and author David Cortright recounts the history of U.S. soldiers organizing against the Vietnam War.

Sarah Harrison and Jeremy Hammond: People Have A Right to the Truth

Published on 10 Nov 2013 | Michael Ratner: Jeremy Hammond faces ten years in prison Nov. 15 for major act of civil disobedience hacking global intelligence.

...the real motives behind the wars of the past two decades.

Published on 11 Sep 2012 | We are on a road that leads straight to the World War 3, but in order to see that and to fully understand what is at stake you have to look at the big picture and connect the dots. This video examines the history of the dollar, its relation to oil, and the real motives behind the wars of the past two decades.

France may ban Muslim veil in universities amid ‘escalating tensions’

Momentum is growing in France for a ban on wearing religious symbols in the country’s universities. A new report recommends prohibiting students from wearing religious symbols, such as Christian crucifixes, Jewish Kippah skullcaps and Muslim headscarves.

Due to “escalating tensions in all sectors of university life” the High Council of Integration (HCI), a research institute founded by the French government, has made 12 recommendations to ease religious tensions among students.

The report’s key proposal would prohibit wearing religious symbols in “lecture theaters and [other] places of teaching and research in public areas at universities,” Le Monde reported.

In 2004, France passed a law banning schoolchildren from wearing religious symbols, but the law excluded universities. The decision, the report claims, has proved successful in reducing problems stemming from religious differences in schools.

Now the HCI wants to see the same rules applied to universities.

source...

101 East : Into Patani

Published on 28 Jun 2013 : More than 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand's restive southern provinces since 2004. The deadly insurgency is shadowy and shapeless. Attacks often come with no formal demands, causing a vicious circle of violence between Malay-Muslim separatist groups and death squads backed by security forces. The innocent live in fear of the next hit. No government in this predominantly Buddhist nation has been able to get a grip on the unrest, despite measures ranging from brutal to conciliatory. Unprecedented high-powered peace talks this year were supposed to signal hope, yet the killings escalated. How will it stop?

Protesters Call for Ouster of Thai Prime Minister

The group which calls itself ‘V for Thailand’ has already organized three mass assemblies in Thailand’s capital this month demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Wearing white Guy Fawkes masks, protesters have decried the alleged corruption in the government.

So far, the group has only managed to gather more than a thousand people in Bangkok although it claims it has strong support in many provinces.

Yingluck is the younger sister of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who is convicted of plunder. Her critics accuse her of being a puppet of her brother.

In recent years, various groups have organized massive street rallies which made a huge impact on Thai politics. Among the big groups are the Yellow Shirts (anti-Thaksin and pro-monarchy) and Red Shirts (mostly pro-Thaksin).

Snowden Eludes Extradition, Boards Flight to Moscow on Route to Undisclosed Destination

Kimberly Paxton |  Activist Post

With the aid of the whistleblowing organization, WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden has left Hong Kong and is on a circuitous journey to an undisclosed location.

Hong Kong has not complied with the US’s extradition order, which requested that they detain Snowden and transfer him to the custody of American officials, who would take him back to the United States to stand trial for espionage, theft, and conversion of government property.

The HSKAR Government issued a statement on the situation:

Mr. Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel. The US Government earlier on made a request to the HSKAR Government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest of Mr. Snowden. Since the documents provided by the US Government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HSKAR Government has requested the US Government to provide additional information so that the Department of Justice could consider whether the US Government’s request can meet the relevant legal conditions. As the HSKAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for a provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong. 

The HSKAR Government has already informed the US Government of Mr. Snowden’s departure.

Making fun of 'stiff upper lips'?

What kind of Asian are you?

Alternatives to the War on Drugs

Published on 16 Dec 2012 : A retired judge and a former MI5 officer discuss Eurpean models that present a more effective approach

'People able to make difference end up dead'

Published on Nov 11, 2012 by RussiaToday : It's four more years in the White House for US president Barack Obama but the tight race and an expensive election has left some voters less than satisfied. RT's Lori Harfenist takes a political pulse check in the Big Apple.

15 States including Texas have filed a petition to secede from the United States.

As of Saturday November 10, 2012, 15 States have petitioned the Obama Administration for withdrawal from the United States of America in order to create its own government.

States following this action include: Louisiana, Texas, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon and New York. These States have requested that the Obama Administration grant a peaceful withdrawal from the United States.

These petitions were filed just days after the2012 Presidential election.

Louisiana was the first State to file a petition a day after the election by a Michael E. from Slidell, Louisiana. Texas was the next State to follow by a Micah H. from Arlington, Texas.

The government allows one month from the day the petition is submitted to obtain 25,000 signatures in order for the Obama administration to consider the request.

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Tens of thousands rally for Argentina's biggest protest in years.

09 November, 2012

Thousands of pot-banging, flag-waving, banner-hoisting demonstrators massed in Buenos Aires for Argentina’s largest anti-government protest in years. Common themes at the protest included the nation's high levels of crime, corruption and inflation.

The demonstration, which lasted nearly four hours, was aimed at the government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kircher. Police officials said at least 30,000 people participated, while local media reported that hundreds of thousands turned out. Protesters angry at the nation’s current state banged pots and pans as Argentinians young and old rallied until almost midnight.

A column of demonstrators carried a 200-meter-long flag. As they marched through the city, they were greeted with noisy pans, tambourines, and honking car horns. Protesters chanted, “We’re not afraiid!" as they swarmed into the Plaza de Mayo and surrounding area, right in front of the presidential palace.

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London: Thousands take part in anti-austerity protest.

Published on Oct 20, 2012 by Euronews : Nurses, cleaners and ambulance drivers have joined thousands of other demonstrators in London, to vent their anger over public spending cuts and tax hikes. They claim austerity is not working in Britain and are calling on the government to do more to revive the country's struggling economy.

Pepper-sprayed UC Davis students awarded $1 mln

Pepper-sprayed UC Davis students awarded $1 mln

College students and alumni that were injured when a police officer at the University of California, Davis, discharged military-grade pepper-spray in their face during a peaceful protest last year will split a settlement of roughly $1,000,000.

Members of the UC Regents board agreed earlier this month on a settlement to be split among the 21 demonstrators targeted by a campus cop since removed from the force, but the final amount was not disclosed until now. The Sacramento Bee reports on Wednesday that the board had decided behind closed doors on a figure of roughly $1 million.

"We did an injustice to our students that day at Davis, and some amount of recompense is appropriate,” UC Davis student regent Jonathan Stein told the Los Angeles Times after their meeting earlier this month. “More importantly, it's time for us as an institution to publicly acknowledge that's not the way we should treat our students; we were wrong, and we are moving forward.”

The terms of the settlement were unsealed in federal court Wednesday morning and, assuming the appropriate papers are authorized by a federal judge, each of the 21 plaintiffs in the case are expected to receive $30,000, totaling $630,000 in all. Additional plaintiffs are invited to come forward and file claims in order to collect from a pool of $100,000 set aside for a class action suit, and $250,000 will be handed to the attorneys who handled the case.

Lt. John Pike, the officer who injured the protesters during a peaceful demonstration that was caught on tape and took the Internet by storm, was placed on paid administrative leave for several months after the November 18, 2011 sit-in on the Davis campus. Student and alumni had gathered at the school to protest rising tuition fees.

The internal affairs investigation alone into Lt. Pike’s actions cost the university $230,256.73, the Bee reports.

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'Free speech? Let Obama talk to Bradley Manning about it'

Published on Sep 25, 2012 by RussiaToday : Barack Obama stated US won't block anti-Islam film for reasons of free speech. RT discussed Obama's speech in UN with journalist and anti-war activist Don DeBar.

Zimbabwe: Simba Makoni - run again for the Zimbabwean presidency.

ANALYSIS

Simba Makoni intends to run again for the Zimbabwean presidency.

Simba Makoni is the bespectacled former Executive Secretary of SADC turned Zimbabwean Finance Minister (2000 - 2002), turned Presidential candidate in 2008 as leader of his own MKD party. It was with his MKD hat on that Makoni spoke on Tuesday night at SOAS in central London.

By all appearances, Simba is working himself up for another shot at the Presidency - informally announcing his candidacy to an audience of Zimbabwe watchers and members of the Zimbabwean diaspora - found in strength in the UK.

Given past experience, Makoni's chances of beating both Robert Mugabe (ZANU-PF) and Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC) to the top job are slight. Makoni finished third in 2008 with around 8 percent of the vote. He originally wanted to stand as ZANU-PF's Presidential candidate, but was denied this by the continued supremacy of President Mugabe within the party. He remains proud of his former associated with ZANU-PF, stating that 'everyone [his] age had to join ZANU if they wanted to be involved in politics.'

He also has no regrets concerning his involvement in the 2008 election when some, as argued by RAS Director Richard Dowden, have suggested that his candidacy split the anti-Mugabe vote and allowed the veteran President to remain in power. Makoni rejects this argument, stating that he does not believe that the people who voted for him would have voted for Morgan Tsvangirai. Makoni was also able to "introduce new messages to the political campaign" and if he hadn't won the right of a seat at the table "we probably wouldn't have got the Global Political Agreement." (GPA)

The GPA saw the creation of the Government of National Unity in which Morgan Tsvangirai became Prime Minister and MDC figures took up key ministerial portfolios including the Ministry of Finance, now under Tendai Biti. Official dollarization of the Zimbabwean economy took place in 2009, which stopped the hitherto uncontrollable process of hyperinflation, and stabilised the economy.

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Syrian Military is Winning - Ziad Fadel - Syrian Commentator

Published on Aug 27, 2012 by 108morris108 : Today's helicopter loss in Damascus is nothing - Look how many Copters the American's have lost in Afghanistan

The war will take a long time, already Aleppo Lattakia and Damascus are pretty much cleaned up. Western Media is lying ...

'Police crackdown cannot deter Occupy protestors'

Published on Aug 14, 2012 by PressTVGlobalNews : an interview with Tim King, Executive News Editor of Salem News from Oregon to further discuss the issue.

A US newspaper has revealed that the FBI has been raiding the houses of anti-Wall Street protesters in Oregon and Washington in what the agency describes an "ongoing violent crime investigation."

The Oregonian newspaper reported that heavily-armed domestic terrorism units of the FBI have been raiding the homes of the activists in Seattle and Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon over the last month.

The report said that at least six homes have been raided in the two states since July 10.The FBI has described the raids as part of an ongoing violent crime investigation, linked to last year's Occupy May Day protests, during which a number of minor acts of vandalism allegedly took place.

The paper said the agents were searching for "anti-government or anarchist literature or material" as well as "documentations and communications related to the offenses, including but not limited to notes, diagrams, letters, diary and journal entries, address books, and other documentations in written or electronic form."

2012 Summer Olympics: 5 activist groups you’re likely to hear from in London

The Olympics were initially meant to bring countries together, and the Olympic torch was originally conceived as a symbol of harmony. But that vision may be a little too idyllic for modern times. Economic hardship and social unrest continue as London's Games get rolling, and organizers have braced themselves for a variety of demonstrations.

More from GlobalPost: London protesters gear up for the Olympic games

Already, as many as 400 took to the streets on Saturday in East London to demostrate against what they call the "Corporate Olympics." Police reported that the demonstration, organized by the Counter Olympics Network, unfolded "without any incident," but protesters voiced their anger over free tickets for the upper class and "roads being turned into exclusive highways for VIPs." The placement of missiles on residential rooftops was another complaint among the activisits.

In addition to the Counter Olympics Network, GlobalPost takes a look at four more protest groups that are likely to make a scene in London: Space Hijackers, Art Not Oil, Greenwash Gold, andAnonymous.

1. Counter Olympics Network (CON) is an umbrella group for people and organizations with a variety of concerns — including the environment, corporate power, civil liberties, housing and labor issues and more.

(Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)

What they want: With so many broad concerns on its agenda, CON views the Olympics as a place to be heard. On its website, CON states its mission: “Our aim is not to oppose the Olympics as such, but to use the spectacle to strengthen existing campaigns and activism on local issues like housing, privatization and surveillance. We also want to hold the organizers of the Olympic games to account, to ensure the promises made to the local people impacted on by the Games are kept.”

How they go about getting it: A little civil disobedience. CON’s website includes updates on current campaigns, such as the "Counter Olympic Torch Relay," and also advertises upcoming events and demonstrations. Saturday's protest was titled "Whose games? Whose city?" and the poster promised “a fluffy, family friendly protest for all.”

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