Twee goede documentaires van mijn vriend Benny Brunner, een Israelisch-Nederlandse filmmaker, zijn hier te zien. Warm aanbevolen:
AL NAKBA - http://vimeo.com/3714871
IS IS NO DREAM - http://vimeo.com/3173676
vrijdag 17 april 2009
Benny Brunner
De Israelische Terreur 830
The rhetoric of "peace"
Ziyaad Lunat, The Electronic Intifada, 15 April 2009The Israelis have offered the Palestinians many types of "peace." Their first attempt to reach out to the Palestinians was in 1948 with an offer of a "racist peace." Ethnic cleansing was the basis of a "racist peace" where Zionist terrorists drove out two thirds of the Palestinian population from their homes. Its logic was that expulsion would end strife between Zionists and Palestinians (by eliminating one side) enabling the Zionists to enjoy peace in an ethnic Jewish haven. The Palestinians, stubborn as they were, refused a racist Zionist state as the basis for "peace."
Israel relentlessly extended its hand to the Palestinians offering them a "military peace" instead. Deterrence was the basis of a "military peace" where a Zionist state armed to the teeth would instill fear in the hearts of the Palestinians. Its logic was that through military deterrence the Palestinians would accept their condition of displacement. Soon after their expulsion in 1948, Palestinian refugees continuously attempted to return to their properties. The Zionists initiated a campaign of reprisals to deny their right to return. Hundreds were killed in this way, massacres included Qibya in 1953, Lebanon in 1982, Jenin in 2002 and Gaza in 2009. Palestinians however rejected Zionist military domination as the basis for "peace."
While the above two peace offers were crude, Israel devised an "apartheid peace" as a more elaborate proposal to the Palestinians, hoping they would finally reciprocate. Physical separation between Jews and Arab Palestinians was the basis for an "apartheid peace." Its logic was that the Palestinians would be given limited autonomy to manage their internal affairs and build their own institutions but their demands would have to eventually fall short of full sovereignty. Some Palestinians were co-opted in signing the Oslo accords in 1993, accepting apartheid as the basis for "peace."
During the following years, Israel consolidated its vision for an "apartheid peace," generously referred to as a "two-state solution." More land was taken from the Palestinians for building of Jewish-only colonies and Jewish-only roads, fragmenting the territories. House demolitions cleared unwanted Palestinians from certain areas and a wall was built to encircle the ghettos. Israel's "peace" offensive divided the Palestinians into those who accepted Israel's apartheid, namely the Palestinian Collaborationist Authority in Ramallah, and those who refuse to subordinate their most basic rights to Israel's racism.
Israel relentlessly extended its hand to the Palestinians offering them a "military peace" instead. Deterrence was the basis of a "military peace" where a Zionist state armed to the teeth would instill fear in the hearts of the Palestinians. Its logic was that through military deterrence the Palestinians would accept their condition of displacement. Soon after their expulsion in 1948, Palestinian refugees continuously attempted to return to their properties. The Zionists initiated a campaign of reprisals to deny their right to return. Hundreds were killed in this way, massacres included Qibya in 1953, Lebanon in 1982, Jenin in 2002 and Gaza in 2009. Palestinians however rejected Zionist military domination as the basis for "peace."
While the above two peace offers were crude, Israel devised an "apartheid peace" as a more elaborate proposal to the Palestinians, hoping they would finally reciprocate. Physical separation between Jews and Arab Palestinians was the basis for an "apartheid peace." Its logic was that the Palestinians would be given limited autonomy to manage their internal affairs and build their own institutions but their demands would have to eventually fall short of full sovereignty. Some Palestinians were co-opted in signing the Oslo accords in 1993, accepting apartheid as the basis for "peace."
During the following years, Israel consolidated its vision for an "apartheid peace," generously referred to as a "two-state solution." More land was taken from the Palestinians for building of Jewish-only colonies and Jewish-only roads, fragmenting the territories. House demolitions cleared unwanted Palestinians from certain areas and a wall was built to encircle the ghettos. Israel's "peace" offensive divided the Palestinians into those who accepted Israel's apartheid, namely the Palestinian Collaborationist Authority in Ramallah, and those who refuse to subordinate their most basic rights to Israel's racism.
Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10466.shtml
De Israelische Terreur 829
April 17 is Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, which for years has been marked with sit-in tents, protests and solidarity actions both here and around the world in support of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.
This year will be no different, especially for mothers who have waited year after year for their sons to come home. At present, there are close to 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. Many have been sentenced, some serving consecutive life sentences, some years and some months. Others are in administrative detention, which allows Palestinians to be held without charge in accordance to a ‘secret file’ for any length of time, usually for renewable six month stretches. According to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, as of February, 2009 there were 560 Palestinians in Israeli administrative detention facilities, two people who have served over four years without ever being charged. As for children, classified as those under the age of 18, also according to B’Tselem, there were 346 as of February, 54 of them under the age of 16.
The statistics can go on, of course. There are over 100 incarcerated women, men in solitary confinement, those still undergoing grueling interrogations by Israel’s intelligence agency, the Shin Bet. There are those who are in dire need of medical attention and are instead given an aspirin for their ailments. And there are those unfortunate souls who have perished behind Israeli bars after years of isolation from their loved ones. Close to 200 Palestinian prisoners have died inside Israeli jails since the latter’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in 1967.
There is ample information on Palestinian prisoners but unfortunately not enough emphasis is put on their plight or efforts for their release. Recently, the prisoner issue was back in the headlines because of a single Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Shalit, in the hands of Hamas and Hamas affiliated groups in Gaza since his capture in 2006, has been the center of a prisoner exchange debate for several months now. Hamas, who is negotiating with Israel, albeit indirectly through Egypt, has demanded the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier, including hundreds of prisoners Israel refuses to release because of their alleged involvement in Israeli deaths. As a result, the exchange has not yet taken place and seems to have been relegated once again to the back burner now that Israel’s new government is being led by none other than Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lees verder: http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=19360&CategoryID=3
Christen Fundamentalisten
Religious Right Group Claims Same Sex Marriage Leads to Mass Murder
By David Corn, Mother Jones.
Recent acts of gun violence, they claim, are the poisoned fruit of the push
for gay marriage.
Is there a connection between same-sex marriage and mass murder?
That's what one religious right outfit is suggesting. This week, Morality
in Media disseminated a statement noting that the Iowa Supreme Court had
legalized gay marriage on the same day that a gunman murdered 13 people in
Binghamton, New York. The headline on the release: "Connecting the Dots:
The Line Between Gay Marriage and Mass Murders." The group's president, Bob
Peters, notes that the "underlying problem is that increasingly we live in
a 'post-Christian' society, where Judeo-Christian faith and values have
less and less influence." And, he continues, this "secular value system is
also reflected in the 'sexual revolution,' which is the driving force
behind the push for 'gay marriage.'"
Here's the punch line:
It most certainly is not my intention to blame the epidemic of mass
murders on the gay rights movement! It is my intention to point out that
the success of the sexual revolution is inversely proportional to the
decline in morality; and it is the decline of morality (and the faith that
so often under girds it) that is the underlying cause of our modern day
epidemic of mass murders.
That is, he's not saying that gay rights activists are directly responsible
for the murderous actions of gun-toting madmen. But Peters maintains that
those who champion gay rights are undermining the moral fiber of society
and that this assault on traditional values creates an environment in which
killing sprees can more easily occur. These acts of gun violence, he
insists, are the poisoned fruit of the push for gay marriage.
Talk about exploiting tragedy to advance an agenda. It might be tempting to
dismiss Peters and Morality in Media as marginal, but this group did
receive federal funding from 2005 through 2007. The money supported a
Morality in Media project, ObscenityCrimes.org, which paid two retired law
enforcement officers to review citizen complaints about obscenity on the
Internet and to forward the best leads to the US Justice Department for
possible prosecution. A total of $300,000 was provided to Morality in Media
through two earmarks Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) placed into spending bills,
according to Peters. And a portion of that money went to cover Peters'
salary. As The New York Times reported in 2007, no obscenity prosecutions
had resulted from the Morality in Media's obscenity-tracking work.
Lees verder: http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/135997/
religious_right_group_claims_same_sex_marriage_leads_to_mass_murder/
donderdag 16 april 2009
Louise O. Fresco van de NRC 3
Afgelopen dinsdag schreef de agrarisch sociologe Louise O. Fresco in haar NRC-column dat de Palestijnse bevolking in het door Israel bezette en belegerde gebied gebukt gaat onder het gebrek aan 'middelen van bestaan, met een door en door corrupte klasse van verdeelde leiders wier belang het slechts is gewapenderwijs hun eigen machtsaandeel uit te breiden. Ontwikkelingsgeld pompen in een dergelijke situatie heeft uitsluitend als effect het versterken van de corruptie en vergroten van de hoeveelheid wapens.' Welnu, mevrouw Fresco,
Dit is de visie van iemand die met onjuiste veronderstellingen tot verstrekkende conclusies komt en ik kan me voorstellen dat soortgelijke ongenuanceerde denkbeelden uw positie bij de FAO dusdanig hebben verzwakt dat u niet anders kon dan uw ontslag nemen. Laat ik proberen een aantal genuanceerde feiten te geven zodat u in de toekomst een gedocumenteerde column kunt schrijven over deze zaak. Allereerst dit: het is een feit dat de Palestijnse bevolking tijdens -- volgens onpartijdige waarnemers -- democratisch verlopen verkiezingen tegen Fatah heeft gestemd vooral omdat deze partij tot in de kern corrupt is en dat de bevolking op Hamas stemde omdat deze partij nu juist niet 'door en door' corrupt is. Dat is geen belemmering geweest voor het zogeheten democratische Westen en voor Israel om de corrupte Fatah beweging financieel, politiek, economisch en zelfs militair te blijven steunen en om tegelijkertijd Hamas te boycotten. Dat verzwijgt u in uw column. Sterker nog, u stelt dat wat corruptie en wapens betreft er geen verschil bestaat tussen Hamas en Fatah. Onjuist dus, Fatah-troepen worden op grote schaal getraind en bewapend door de VS in samenwerking met Israel. Hamas krijgt op kleinere schaal wapens van Iran via smokkelroutes. Overigens wordt een gewapende strijd tegen een bezetter geaccepteerd door het internationaal recht, want anders zou men zich nooit kunnen verdedigen tegen de agressie van een andere natie. Ook dat verzwijgt u. Met andere woorden: het Westen en Israel hebben een situatie geschapen waarbij een gewelddadig conflict tussen Fatah en Hamas niet kon uitblijven. Ook dat verzwijgt u.
Maar misschien veel belangrijker nog is het volgende feit dat u verzwijgt. Leest u dit eens:
'Geen geld voor Gaza
Aflevering ZEMBLA, 8 maart 2009
In Gaza filmde ZEMBLA de verwoestingen van de oorlog en zag dat de anjers van het door Nederland betaalde bloemenproject gevoerd worden aan de schapen. Door de blokkade kan er niks in en niks uit Gaza. De bevolking leeft in armoede en scholen en ziekenhuizen worden keer op keer vernield. Afgelopen week beloofde de wereld 3,5 miljard euro aan de Palestijnen. In Zembla de vraag of al die hulp aan de Palestijnen wel helpt. Houdt het niet juist de erbarmelijke situatie van de Palestijnen in stand?
Meer informatie op de website van ZEMBLA. http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=9219683
http://zembla.vara.nl/Afleveringen.1972.0.html#
Het huidige paradepaardje van de Nederlandse ontwikkelingshulp aan de Palestijnen, het bloemenproject in Gaza, boekt weinig succes. Met jaarlijks drie miljoen euro helpt Nederland de Palestijnse anjerkwekers. De anjers bloeien en groeien weelderig in de Palestijnse kassen maar bereiken helaas niet de Europese vaas.
Premier Kok zette samen met Yassar Arafat de eerste spade in het zand. Toen was er nog hoop. Tot een jaar later de bouwplaats door het Israëlische leger met bulldozers werd weggevaagd. Daar gingen miljoenen euro’s aan Nederlands ontwikkelingsgeld.
Al die miljarden die nu weer aan de Palestijnen zijn beloofd, hebben geen zin zolang Israël een twee-staten-oplossing blijft tegenhouden. Met Netanyahu als nieuwe premier komt daar geen verandering in.
Nederland is van oudsher tegen het uitoefenen van druk op Israël. Robert Serry, de speciaal VN-gezant voor het vredesproces in Midden-Oosten is het daar niet mee eens. In Zembla zegt hij: "Er moet soms wel eens wat meer druk op Israël komen. Als partijen de wil niet tonen om er uit te komen zou de internationale gemeenschap misschien wat meer verantwoordelijkheid moeten nemen. We zouden als internationale gemeenschap wat minder vrijblijvend moeten zijn."
Niet de verwoestingen maar de grensblokkades zijn er de belangrijkste oorzaak van dat de economie van Gaza zo goed als vernietigd is en dat negentig procent van de Palestijnen moet bedelen om voedselhulp. UNRWA-directeur John Ging: "De grensblokkades zijn een schandalige vergissing, en ieder land dat niet actief meewerkt aan het beëindigen daarvan is medeschuldig aan de mensenrechtenschending die daardoor plaatsvindt". "Gaza wordt vaak vergeleken met een gevangenis. Maar Gaza is erger, in een gevangenis krijg je tenminste drie keer per dag een maaltijd.”
Research: Simone Tangelder
Eindredactie: Kees Driehuis
Zie: http://zembla.vara.nl/Afleveringen.1973.0.html?&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=11985&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1972&cHash=585b6a76ceMevrouw Fresco, deze feiten spelen geen enkele rol in uw betoog. Waaom gaat u niet zorgvuldiger om met de lezers van de 'slijpsteen voor de geest'? Niet iedereen gelooft de eerste de beste praatjesmaker. Sterker nog: als u zich verdiept in de materie dan zult u snel ontdekken dat de politieke cliche's die de zelfbenoemde opiniemakers verspreiden allang niet meer klakkeloos worden geaccepteerd door de burgerij. Uw bijeen gegoogelde stukje is ver beneden de maat. Wat is toch de reden geweest dat u een column wilde schrijven over deze zaak en niet over iets waar u verstand van heeft?
Palestina 19
Aid Rots Outside Gaza
By Erin Cunningham
Inter Press Service
April 15, 2009
Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of aid intended for the Gaza Strip is
piling up in cities across Egypt's North Sinai region, despite recent calls
from the United Nations to ease aid flow restrictions to the embattled
territory in the wake of Operation Cast Lead.
Food, medicine, blankets, infant food and other supplies for Gaza's 1.5
million people, coming from governments and non-governmental agencies
around the world, are being stored in warehouses, parking lots, stadiums
and on airport runways across Egypt's North Sinai governorate.
Egypt shares a 14-kilometre border with Gaza that has been closed more or
less permanently since the Islamist movement Hamas took control of the
territory in June 2007.
Flour, pasta, sugar, coffee, chocolate, tomato sauce, lentils, date bars,
juice, chickpeas, blankets, hospital beds, catheter tubes and other
humanitarian- based items are all sitting in at least eight storage points
in and around Al- Arish, a city in North Sinai approximately 50 kilometres
from Gaza's border.
Three months after the end of the war, much of the aid has either rotted or
been irreparably damaged as a result of both rain and sunshine, and Egypt's
refusal to open the Rafah crossing.
Lees verder: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=71128014498&h=s1tjp&u=l71kn&ref=mf
The Empire 437
Fake Teabaggers Are Anti-Spend, Anti-Government: Real Populists Want to
Stop Banks from Plundering America
By Mark Ames and Yasha Levine and Alexander Zaitchik,
AlterNet. Posted
April 15, 2009.
The tea parties are AstroTurf -- fake grassroots. But there is a real
movement growing against corporate greed and government malfeasance.
This afternoon, groups of angry conservatives will gather on street corners
and in parks across the country to protest.
They will carry signs and deliver speeches expressing outrage over the
Democrats' stimulus bill, over entitlements, over budget pork, over taxes.
They will dump boxes of tea on the ground and wear three-cornered hats. The
leading lights of the Republican Party will be on hand to cheer them on.
But as with so much on the right, these apparent displays of populist rage
are not what they will seem.
Six weeks ago, two of us (Mark Ames and Yasha Levine) published an
investigation exposing the nascent "Tea Party" protest movement for what it
really is: a carefully planned AstroTurf (or "fake grassroots") lobby
campaign hatched and orchestrated by the conservative advocacy organization
FreedomWorks. Within days, pieces of the scam had crumbled, exposing a
small group of right-wing think tanks and shady nonprofits at its core.
The Tea Party movement was born on Feb. 19 with a now-famous rant by
second-string CNBC correspondent Rick Santelli, who called for a "Chicago
Tea Party" in protest of President Barack Obama's plans to help distressed
American homeowners. Santelli’s call blazed through the blogosphere,
greased along by a number of FreedomWorks-funded blogs, propelling him to
the status of a 21st century Samuel Adams — a leader and symbol of
disenfranchised Americans suffering under big-government oppression and
mismanagement of the economy.
That same day, a nationwide "Tea Party" protest movement mysteriously
materialized on the Internet. A whole ring of Web sites came online within
hours of Santelli's rant, like sleeper-cell blogs waiting for the trigger
to act, all claiming to have been inspired by Santelli's allegedly
impromptu outburst.
The Empire 436
The Real Boston Tea Party was an Anti-Corporate Revolt
by Thom Hartmann
CNBC Correspondent Rick Santelli called for a "Chicago Tea Party" on Feb
19th in protesting President Obama's plan to help homeowners in trouble.
Santelli's call was answered by the right-wing group FreedomWorks, which
funds campaigns promoting big business interests, and is the opposite of
what the real Boston Tea Party was. FreedomWorks was funded in 2004 by Dick
Armey (former Republican House Majority leader & lobbyist); consolidated
Citizens for a Sound Economy, funded by the Koch family; and Empower
America, a lobbying firm, that had fought against healthcare and
minimum-wage efforts while hailing deregulation.
Anti-tax "tea party" organizers are delivering one million tea bags to a
Washington, D.C., park Wednesday morning - to promote protests across the
country by people they say are fed up with high taxes and excess spending.
The real Boston Tea Party was a protest against huge corporate tax cuts for
the British East India Company, the largest trans-national corporation then
in existence. This corporate tax cut threatened to decimate small Colonial
businesses by helping the BEIC pull a Wal-Mart against small
entrepreneurial tea shops, and individuals began a revolt that kicked-off a
series of events that ended in the creation of The United States of
America.
They covered their faces, massed in the streets, and destroyed the property
of a giant global corporation. Declaring an end to global trade run by the
East India Company that was destroying local economies, this small, masked
minority started a revolution with an act of rebellion later called the
Boston Tea Party.
Lees verder: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/15-10
by Thom Hartmann
CNBC Correspondent Rick Santelli called for a "Chicago Tea Party" on Feb
19th in protesting President Obama's plan to help homeowners in trouble.
Santelli's call was answered by the right-wing group FreedomWorks, which
funds campaigns promoting big business interests, and is the opposite of
what the real Boston Tea Party was. FreedomWorks was funded in 2004 by Dick
Armey (former Republican House Majority leader & lobbyist); consolidated
Citizens for a Sound Economy, funded by the Koch family; and Empower
America, a lobbying firm, that had fought against healthcare and
minimum-wage efforts while hailing deregulation.
Anti-tax "tea party" organizers are delivering one million tea bags to a
Washington, D.C., park Wednesday morning - to promote protests across the
country by people they say are fed up with high taxes and excess spending.
The real Boston Tea Party was a protest against huge corporate tax cuts for
the British East India Company, the largest trans-national corporation then
in existence. This corporate tax cut threatened to decimate small Colonial
businesses by helping the BEIC pull a Wal-Mart against small
entrepreneurial tea shops, and individuals began a revolt that kicked-off a
series of events that ended in the creation of The United States of
America.
They covered their faces, massed in the streets, and destroyed the property
of a giant global corporation. Declaring an end to global trade run by the
East India Company that was destroying local economies, this small, masked
minority started a revolution with an act of rebellion later called the
Boston Tea Party.
Lees verder: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/15-10
Het Neoliberale Geloof 429
Geithner and Summers Want More Debt Bubbles: The Result Could Be Catastrophic
By Thom Hartmann, Smirking Chimp. Posted April 16, 2009.
"Everything predicted by the enemies of banks, in the beginning, is now coming to pass. We are to be ruined now by the deluge of bank paper. It is cruel that such revolutions in private fortunes should be at the mercy of avaricious adventurers, who, instead of employing their capital, if any they have, in manufactures, commerce, and other useful pursuits, make it an instrument to burden all the interchanges of property with their swindling profits, profits which are the price of no useful industry of theirs."
--Thomas Jefferson letter to Thomas Cooper, 1814.
Are we standing at the edge of a Great Inflation (like Weimar Germany), a second Republican Great Depression, or a return to the middle class prosperity of the Roosevelt/Eisenhower New Deal era? Until Americans understand the difference between "money" and "debt," odds are its going to be one of the first two, at least over the next few years.
Money
"Money" is a convenient replacement for barter in an economy. Instead of my giving you five pounds of carrots, so you wash my car, then you trade the carrots for a new shirt, and the clothing store then trades the carrots to a trucker that brings them their inventory, we all just agree to use a ten-dollar bill. Because a nation's money supply represents that nation's "wealth" -- the sum total of goods, services, and resources available in an economy/nation -- it needs to have a fixed value relative to the number/amount of goods, services, and resources within the nation.
As an economy grows -- more factories, more goods, more services -- the money supply grows so one dollar always represents the same number of carrots. (And with a fractional reserve banking system like we have, that growth is created mostly by banks lending money and creating it out of thin air in the process.)
If the money supply contracts, or grows slower than the economy, then we experience deflation -- the value of money increases, goods and services become less expensive (fewer dollars to buy the carrots), but because the value of money has increased it becomes harder to get. When this happens quickly, because of its economically destabilizing influence (businesses and people can't get current money -- cash -- or future money -- credit -- because money is more valuable), it's called a Depression.
On the other hand, if the money supply expands or grows faster than the economy, there are more dollars than there are goods and services so the number needed to buy a pound of carrots increases. This is inflation, and when it happens suddenly and on a large scale, it's called hyperinflation.
Therefore, one of the most important jobs overseen by Congress and executed by a Central Bank (or the Treasury Department if we were to go with the system envisioned by the Founders and Framers of the Constitution) is to "regulate the value" of our money (to quote Article I, Section 8.5 of our Constitution) by making sure the number of dollars in circulation always steadily tracks the size of the overall economy. If the economy grows 2%, then that year there should be 2% more dollars put into circulation. More than that will create inflation; fewer will create deflation.
Lees verder: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/136835/geithner_and_summers_want_more_debt_bubbles%3A_the_result_could_be_catastrophic_/
By Thom Hartmann, Smirking Chimp. Posted April 16, 2009.
"Everything predicted by the enemies of banks, in the beginning, is now coming to pass. We are to be ruined now by the deluge of bank paper. It is cruel that such revolutions in private fortunes should be at the mercy of avaricious adventurers, who, instead of employing their capital, if any they have, in manufactures, commerce, and other useful pursuits, make it an instrument to burden all the interchanges of property with their swindling profits, profits which are the price of no useful industry of theirs."
--Thomas Jefferson letter to Thomas Cooper, 1814.
Are we standing at the edge of a Great Inflation (like Weimar Germany), a second Republican Great Depression, or a return to the middle class prosperity of the Roosevelt/Eisenhower New Deal era? Until Americans understand the difference between "money" and "debt," odds are its going to be one of the first two, at least over the next few years.
Money
"Money" is a convenient replacement for barter in an economy. Instead of my giving you five pounds of carrots, so you wash my car, then you trade the carrots for a new shirt, and the clothing store then trades the carrots to a trucker that brings them their inventory, we all just agree to use a ten-dollar bill. Because a nation's money supply represents that nation's "wealth" -- the sum total of goods, services, and resources available in an economy/nation -- it needs to have a fixed value relative to the number/amount of goods, services, and resources within the nation.
As an economy grows -- more factories, more goods, more services -- the money supply grows so one dollar always represents the same number of carrots. (And with a fractional reserve banking system like we have, that growth is created mostly by banks lending money and creating it out of thin air in the process.)
If the money supply contracts, or grows slower than the economy, then we experience deflation -- the value of money increases, goods and services become less expensive (fewer dollars to buy the carrots), but because the value of money has increased it becomes harder to get. When this happens quickly, because of its economically destabilizing influence (businesses and people can't get current money -- cash -- or future money -- credit -- because money is more valuable), it's called a Depression.
On the other hand, if the money supply expands or grows faster than the economy, there are more dollars than there are goods and services so the number needed to buy a pound of carrots increases. This is inflation, and when it happens suddenly and on a large scale, it's called hyperinflation.
Therefore, one of the most important jobs overseen by Congress and executed by a Central Bank (or the Treasury Department if we were to go with the system envisioned by the Founders and Framers of the Constitution) is to "regulate the value" of our money (to quote Article I, Section 8.5 of our Constitution) by making sure the number of dollars in circulation always steadily tracks the size of the overall economy. If the economy grows 2%, then that year there should be 2% more dollars put into circulation. More than that will create inflation; fewer will create deflation.
Lees verder: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/136835/geithner_and_summers_want_more_debt_bubbles%3A_the_result_could_be_catastrophic_/
De Israelische Terreur 828
Gaza needs more aid
Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - John Ging, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, has urged Israel to ease aid flow restrictions that are having a devastating effect on the 1.5 million inhabitants.
Ging says the amount of aid being allowed into Gaza at present is "wholly and totally inadequate. It's having a very devastating impact on the physical circumstances and also the mindset of people on the ground," Ging told IPS.
According to a report released last month by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on average 127 aid trucks a day are entering Gaza.
OCHA stated that this was insufficient and way below the 475 that entered daily one month prior to Hamas's takeover of Gaza in June 2007.
"We need access," Ging said. "It's the number one issue. It's the number two issue. It's the number three issue, and so on. Until we get it, there's nothing as important as solving the access issue."
The UNRWA head said that all the crossings into Gaza should be opened and that the few open only on a limited basis and to certain individuals should be opened permanently to all. Israel says there is a security issue involved in opening all the crossings permanently.
OCHA says the crossings are opened on a seemingly arbitrary basis. Ging added that it was uncertain why crossings were opened at certain times and not at others.
Human rights organizations have argued that the sealing of the coastal territory is a form of collective punishment by Israel against Gaza's Hamas leadership, and that the civilian population is bearing the brunt.
Gabriela Shalev, Israel's UN ambassador, stated last month that only after the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas fighters in 2006, was released, would expansion of border openings be discussed.
At present Israel is only allowing what it considers essential humanitarian aid into Gaza. "Luxury items" such as chocolate, jam, fruit juice, toilet paper, soap, pasta, lentils and cigarettes have been barred.
"Eighty percent of the goods that are allowed in comprise food," Mike Bailey, an Oxfam spokesman told IPS. "The rest is medical and other relief supplies. However, agricultural products such as seedlings, water pipes and fertilizer essential for reviving the agricultural sector have either been denied or delayed."
Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10459.shtml
Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - John Ging, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, has urged Israel to ease aid flow restrictions that are having a devastating effect on the 1.5 million inhabitants.
Ging says the amount of aid being allowed into Gaza at present is "wholly and totally inadequate. It's having a very devastating impact on the physical circumstances and also the mindset of people on the ground," Ging told IPS.
According to a report released last month by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on average 127 aid trucks a day are entering Gaza.
OCHA stated that this was insufficient and way below the 475 that entered daily one month prior to Hamas's takeover of Gaza in June 2007.
"We need access," Ging said. "It's the number one issue. It's the number two issue. It's the number three issue, and so on. Until we get it, there's nothing as important as solving the access issue."
The UNRWA head said that all the crossings into Gaza should be opened and that the few open only on a limited basis and to certain individuals should be opened permanently to all. Israel says there is a security issue involved in opening all the crossings permanently.
OCHA says the crossings are opened on a seemingly arbitrary basis. Ging added that it was uncertain why crossings were opened at certain times and not at others.
Human rights organizations have argued that the sealing of the coastal territory is a form of collective punishment by Israel against Gaza's Hamas leadership, and that the civilian population is bearing the brunt.
Gabriela Shalev, Israel's UN ambassador, stated last month that only after the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas fighters in 2006, was released, would expansion of border openings be discussed.
At present Israel is only allowing what it considers essential humanitarian aid into Gaza. "Luxury items" such as chocolate, jam, fruit juice, toilet paper, soap, pasta, lentils and cigarettes have been barred.
"Eighty percent of the goods that are allowed in comprise food," Mike Bailey, an Oxfam spokesman told IPS. "The rest is medical and other relief supplies. However, agricultural products such as seedlings, water pipes and fertilizer essential for reviving the agricultural sector have either been denied or delayed."
Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10459.shtml
The Empire 435
Empire and agency: "A World of Trouble: America in the Middle East"
Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, The Electronic Intifada
United States Middle East policy has been defined since World War II by the tension between two competing concerns: the strategic interests which require good relations with Arab-Muslim states, and domestic political imperatives which demand unquestioning allegiance to Israel. That the US interest in the region's energy resources has remained consistent, as well as its support for Israel, leads some to conclude that somehow the two are complementary. They aren't. US President Harry S. Truman recognized the state of Israel the day of its founding over the strenuous objections of his State Department in order to court the Jewish vote and, more significantly, Jewish money for his re-election campaign. Every president since -- with the exception of Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush, who saw no cause to feign balance -- has sought to address this tension with attempts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. All these efforts have so far failed. A study of US policy in the region over the decades, then, is inevitably a study of the causes of these failures. While nowhere in his invaluable diplomatic history of eight presidencies, A World of Trouble: America in the Middle East, does Patrick E. Tyler use the phrase "the Israel lobby," it nevertheless looms largest among the reasons why all these efforts have foundered. With the US Congress long since claimed by the lobby, the executive branch is where most of these battles have played out.
The coherence and continuity imputed to US policy in the region by analysts owes more to broad-brush theorizing than to a careful appraisal of the contingent realities that have shaped it. The structural determinism of these accounts overlooks the ad hoc nature of the policies and brushes over the discernible personal stamps of key individuals. Tyler's indispensable corrective begins with Dwight D. Eisenhower, among whose priorities the Middle East never ranked high until the Suez crisis in 1956. Like Truman he resented Zionist influence on the US government, but whereas the former had opted for a politically expedient accommodation, Eisenhower refused to compromise. Both Eisenhower and his CIA Director Allan Dulles liked Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who they saw as an anti-communist modernizer. They aided his consolidation of power. The Israeli government resented this and even resorted to terrorism at one point to wean away the US.
Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10460.shtml
Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, The Electronic Intifada
United States Middle East policy has been defined since World War II by the tension between two competing concerns: the strategic interests which require good relations with Arab-Muslim states, and domestic political imperatives which demand unquestioning allegiance to Israel. That the US interest in the region's energy resources has remained consistent, as well as its support for Israel, leads some to conclude that somehow the two are complementary. They aren't. US President Harry S. Truman recognized the state of Israel the day of its founding over the strenuous objections of his State Department in order to court the Jewish vote and, more significantly, Jewish money for his re-election campaign. Every president since -- with the exception of Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush, who saw no cause to feign balance -- has sought to address this tension with attempts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. All these efforts have so far failed. A study of US policy in the region over the decades, then, is inevitably a study of the causes of these failures. While nowhere in his invaluable diplomatic history of eight presidencies, A World of Trouble: America in the Middle East, does Patrick E. Tyler use the phrase "the Israel lobby," it nevertheless looms largest among the reasons why all these efforts have foundered. With the US Congress long since claimed by the lobby, the executive branch is where most of these battles have played out.
The coherence and continuity imputed to US policy in the region by analysts owes more to broad-brush theorizing than to a careful appraisal of the contingent realities that have shaped it. The structural determinism of these accounts overlooks the ad hoc nature of the policies and brushes over the discernible personal stamps of key individuals. Tyler's indispensable corrective begins with Dwight D. Eisenhower, among whose priorities the Middle East never ranked high until the Suez crisis in 1956. Like Truman he resented Zionist influence on the US government, but whereas the former had opted for a politically expedient accommodation, Eisenhower refused to compromise. Both Eisenhower and his CIA Director Allan Dulles liked Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who they saw as an anti-communist modernizer. They aided his consolidation of power. The Israeli government resented this and even resorted to terrorism at one point to wean away the US.
Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10460.shtml
De Israelische Terreur 827
Should Palestinian citizens vote in Israel's parliamentary elections?
Nimer Sultany, The Electronic Intifada
The recent Israeli elections witnessed a revival of the debate among the Palestinian citizens of Israel concerning the meaning of their participation, or the lack thereof, in the electoral process. The disqualification of Arab parties by the Knesset's Central Elections Committee and the subsequent reversal of the decision by Israel's high court led to two paradoxical results: on the one hand, it strengthened the doubts of some Palestinians vis-a-vis the fairness and effectiveness of the parliamentary presence of Palestinian representatives; on the other hand, it seems that these events mobilized more Palestinians to vote in order to defend their representation. Nevertheless, the steady decline of the Palestinian turnout in the national elections in recent years maintained its momentum: only 53 percent of the eligible Palestinian voters voted in the February elections. On the backdrop of the falling percentage of turnout and the rise of the Zionist far right wing, explicating and assessing the main positions in this debate -- in particular the voices calling for a Palestinian boycott of the Israeli elections -- becomes vital.
Obviously, broaching the question of boycotting the parliamentary elections requires one to touch on a range of issues that are difficult to cover adequately in a brief article. Nonetheless, I believe that viewing the elections as a crutch that cannot be dispensed with in any circumstances (i.e. as a necessity), as some seem to think, is shortsighted. Nor do I believe, as others do, that boycotting the elections is a simple, magical cure for the multitude of difficulties that the Palestinian citizens face inside Israel. These are the two prevailing approaches within the Palestinian community inside Israel.
The proponents of the first approach have used in recent years many slogans to articulate their position. These slogans include: "There is no neutrality in hell," "Not voting is self-marginalization," "I vote so I have a say," and "I vote ... therefore I am." The second approach is a sort of seasonal slogan for groups that are active primarily during the elections.
Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10461.shtml
Nimer Sultany, The Electronic Intifada
The recent Israeli elections witnessed a revival of the debate among the Palestinian citizens of Israel concerning the meaning of their participation, or the lack thereof, in the electoral process. The disqualification of Arab parties by the Knesset's Central Elections Committee and the subsequent reversal of the decision by Israel's high court led to two paradoxical results: on the one hand, it strengthened the doubts of some Palestinians vis-a-vis the fairness and effectiveness of the parliamentary presence of Palestinian representatives; on the other hand, it seems that these events mobilized more Palestinians to vote in order to defend their representation. Nevertheless, the steady decline of the Palestinian turnout in the national elections in recent years maintained its momentum: only 53 percent of the eligible Palestinian voters voted in the February elections. On the backdrop of the falling percentage of turnout and the rise of the Zionist far right wing, explicating and assessing the main positions in this debate -- in particular the voices calling for a Palestinian boycott of the Israeli elections -- becomes vital.
Obviously, broaching the question of boycotting the parliamentary elections requires one to touch on a range of issues that are difficult to cover adequately in a brief article. Nonetheless, I believe that viewing the elections as a crutch that cannot be dispensed with in any circumstances (i.e. as a necessity), as some seem to think, is shortsighted. Nor do I believe, as others do, that boycotting the elections is a simple, magical cure for the multitude of difficulties that the Palestinian citizens face inside Israel. These are the two prevailing approaches within the Palestinian community inside Israel.
The proponents of the first approach have used in recent years many slogans to articulate their position. These slogans include: "There is no neutrality in hell," "Not voting is self-marginalization," "I vote so I have a say," and "I vote ... therefore I am." The second approach is a sort of seasonal slogan for groups that are active primarily during the elections.
Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10461.shtml
woensdag 15 april 2009
Salomon Bouman 31
Salomon Bouman schreef me het volgende:'Geloof me ik heb meer pijn van wat Israel doet dan jij je kan inbeelden. Het joodse land demoniseren : nee. Er wonen ook mensen die jou de citaten leveren om Don Quicotte te spelen. Je loopt in de valkuil van haat onder het mom van rechtvaardigheid.
Dat ik je schrijf komt voort uit een gevoel van diep medelijden met een op een dwaalspoor geraakt goed mens. DE GROETEN UIT MEKNES. SALOMON'
Beste Salomon,
Ik kan me wel degelijk verplaatsen in jouw pijn. Alleen een totaal gestoord mens zou dat niet kunnen. Verraad is het ergste wat een mens kan overkomen. En je bent verraden, niet door een of twee mensen, maar door een groot deel van de Nederlanders, je landgenoten, die op het moment dat het erop aan kwam de andere kant opkeken. Het gruwelijke van verraad is dat het niet alleen het heden kleurt, maar ook de toekomst en, erger nog, zelfs het verleden. Niets is meer wat het eens leek. Waar kan een fatsoenlijk mens nog in geloven na Auschwitz? Want dat is eigenlijk de enige centrale vraag voor een burger die opgroeide met de Verlichtingsidealen.
Salomon, ik kan me wel degelijk verplaatsen in jouw pijn. Alleen een totaal gestoord mens zou dat niet kunnen. De joods-Israelische historica Idith Zertal schrijft over de joodse overlevenden dat ze 'een soort levenslange schuld met zich meedragen, een schuld zowel door zichzelf als anderen opgelegd, juist omdat ze hebben overleefd, juist het kenmerk van het overleven is hun overtreding, het delict te hebben overleefd op een plaats en in een tijd waarin zij geacht werden dood te zijn. Alleen door te sterven – dat wil zeggen zich aan te sluiten bij alle andere doden hoe laat dan ook – kan hen van die schuld ontheffen. Sommigen worden gemarteld door het schuldgevoel niet genoeg te hebben gedaan om de anderen te redden, of om de stervenden te troosten en hun laatste uren draaglijker te maken. ''[Realistischer] is zelfverwijt, of de beschuldiging te hebben gefaald in termen van menselijke solidariteit,” schreef de Auschwitz overlevende en zijn mythische getuige Primo Levi.'
En de joodse filosoof Jean Améry, die net als Levi, enkele decennia na zijn bevrijding uit Auschwitz zelfmoord pleegde, schreef: “Een ieder die gefolterd is blijft gefolterd. Een ieder die geleden heeft onder martelingen zal nooit meer in staat zijn om in vrede met de wereld te leven; het walgelijke van de vernietiging wordt nooit teniet gedaan. Het geloof in de mensheid dat al aangetast wordt bij de eerste klap in het gezicht, en vervolgens te gronde gericht wordt door foltering, wordt nooit meer hersteld.” En Jorge Semprun die Buchenwald overleefde beschreef zijn ervaringen aldus: “De dood was niet iets waar we langs glipten, waar we als het ware rakelings langs schoven, iets waarvan we gered werden… We leefden het. Wij zijn geen overlevenden maar geesten… Het is een ongelooflijk feit, dat je niet kunt delen en onvoorstelbaar is… en toch hadden we deze ervaring van de dood.” Of zoals de lijdzaam op de dood wachtende joden van Auschwitz lieten weten: “Wij, die hier aan het sterven zijn in het aangezicht van de onverschilligheid in de wereld, een onverschilligheid zo koud als het ijs van de Noord Pool, wij die vergeten zijn door de levenden, voelen de behoefte om iets na te laten voor de komende generaties – en als dat geen volledige verslagen zijn dan tenminste fragmenten en overblijfselen; wat we voelden, wij de levende doden, wat we dachten en wat we wilden.”
Hoe overleeft men de herinnering aan verraad, aan de onverschilligheid, de zinloosheid, het ontzielde? De Mexicaanse dichter Octavio Paz schreef in De boog en de lier: 'De wereld van de mens is de wereld van de betekenis. Deze gedoogt de dubbelzinnigheid, de tegenstrijdigheid, de waanzin of de verwarring, maar niet een gebrek aan betekenis. Zelfs de stilte is bevolkt met tekens.' Hoe overleeft men de zinloosheid van Auschwitz? Hoe bouwt een overlevende eigenhandig een leven op dat niet gedicteerd wordt door 'een gebrek aan betekenis'? Wat was Israel anders dan een tegelijkertijd moedige als wanhopige poging om na 'de waanzin' en 'de verwarring' het leven weer betekenis te geven? Het probleem is alleen dat recht niet kan worden gefundeerd op een basis van onrecht. Bovendien kan men zich in het moderne leven niet verschuilen in een zelf gebouwd getto. Dat was de tweede fout. Een begrijpelijke fout. Welk gekrenkt en verraden mens had niet hetzelfde gedaan? Het tragische is alleen dat een getraumatiseerde groep mensen de afgelopen 60 jaar een andere groep mensen traumatiseert, waardoor we daadwerkelijk kunnen spreken van een oneindige oorlog. Op de een of andere manier zal die vicieuze cirkel moeten worden doorbroken en ik denk dat dit alleen kan door de voormalige slachtoffers die nu daders zijn geworden te confronteren met de werkelijkheid van hun eigen misdaden.
Naar aanleiding van de uitspraak van de Israelische minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Zipi Livni dat 'ik zou verwachten dat wanneer Israelische burgers letsel wordt toegebracht door doelbewust Palestijns terrorisme men geen vergelijking zal maken tussenen en Palestijnse burgers die letsel wordt toegebracht tijdens Israel’s defensie operaties,' zei de joods-Israelische hoogleraar Nurit Peled over het bewust vermoorden van Palestijnse kinderen door Israelische soldaten: “En de moordenaars? Hoe zit het met hen? Weten zij dat ze een misdaad hebben gepleegd? Liggen zij ‘s nachts onrustig te woelen in hun bedden? Worden zij gekweld door de beelden van de kleine lichamen die stuiptrekkend sterven door hun geweervuur, bommen en granaten? Waarschijnlijk niet. Wij kennen geen enkel voorbeeld van een Israelische of welke andere soldaat dan ook die zichzelf heeft aangegeven en berouw heeft getoond voor zijn daden. Dit is het grootste succes van het Israëlisch onderwijs: het onderscheid in bloed en bloed, tussen een joods dood kind en een Arabisch dood kind, en het erin hameren van de overtuiging dat de moord op Palestijnen en hun kinderen geen misdaad is. Iedereen die in het Israelische leger dienst neemt weet dat en wordt tijdens 12 jaar onderwijs daarvoor voorbereid. De jongemannen die de Al-Maatak familie vermoorden (bij een Israelische militaire aanslag svh) werden niet slecht geboren, ze waren net als degenen die het Centrum voor Remedial Onderwijs in Gaza met de grond gelijk maakten, en degenen die bij de controleposten mensen martelen en oude vrouwen bevelen onder bedreiging van de loop van een geweer zich uit te kleden, die treiteren en vernietigen en iedereen terroriseren. Zij allen zijn het product van onderwijs. De wreedheid die niet in woorden kan worden uitgedrukt, de methodische, vernuftige mishandeling, waarvoor de beste joodse hersenen worden ingezet om het te plannen en te perfectioneren, kwam niet uit een leegte voort. Het is het resultaat van een systematisch, diep, totalitair onderwijs. Israel’s kinderen worden opgevoed binnen een compromisloos racistisch discours. Een racistische lezing die niet stopt bij de controleposten, maar alle menselijke relaties in dit land beheerst. Israel’s kinderen zijn opgeleid om het kwaad dat ze onmiddellijk na hun scholing geacht zijn toe te passen, te zien als een noodzakelijke realiteit waarin ze hun rol moeten vervullen. Al zestig jaar lang hebben racisme, angst voor de ander en grootheidswaan onze levens gedicteerd. Zestig jaar waarin Israelische kinderen opgevoed worden met racisme van het type dat in de beschaafde wereld decennialang niet heeft bestaan. Zestig jaar waarin zij hebben geleerd hun buren te haten louter en alleen omdat ze buren zijn, hen te vrezen zonder hen te kennen, om hen te vergelijken met nazi’s, om bijna een kwart van de staatsburgers te beschouwen als een demografisch gevaar en een interne vijand, en om de inwoners van de getto’s die door de bezettingspolitiek zijn gecreëerd te zien als een probleem dat ‘opgelost’ moet worden. Slechts zestig jaar geleden waren joden de inwoners van getto’s en werden in de ogen van de onderdrukkers gezien als een probleem dat ‘opgelost’ diende te worden. Slechts zestig jaar geleden waren de joden ingesloten achter lelijke betonnen muren met elektrisch draad en wachttorens bemand met gewapende figuren, en waren ze beroofd van de mogelijkheid in hun levensonderhoud te voorzien of hun kinderen in waardigheid op te voeden. Slechts zestig jaar geleden eiste het racisme een prijs van het joodse volk. Vandaag de dag heerst het racisme in de joodse staat, vertrapt de menselijke waardigheid en ontneemt anderen de vrijheid, veroordeelt ons allen tot een leven in de hel. Veertig jaar lang heeft het joodse hoofd nu onophoudelijk gebogen voor de aanbidding van het racisme terwijl de joodse geest de meest creatieve manieren ontwerpt om het heilige land dat een onbewoonbaar gebied is geworden te verwoesten en te vernietigen. Dat is wat er is overgebleven van het joodse genie, zodra het eenmaal Israëlisch wordt. Joods medeleven, joodse barmhartigheid, de joodse kosmopolitische vitaliteit, liefde voor de mensheid en respect voor de ander zijn al lang vergeten. Hun plaats werd opgeëist door haat en achterdocht en racisme. Het was alleen maar racisme dat de soldaten motiveerden om in Gaza onschuldige kinderen en hun ouders te vermoorden. Het is alleen maar racisme dat bestuurders van bulldozers motiveert om huizen te verwoesten met de bewoners er nog in, om wijngaarden en akkers te vernietigen en eeuwenoude olijfbomen uit de grond te rukken. Alleen maar racisme kan wegen bedenken waarvan het gebruik is toegestaan op basis van ras, en het is alleen maar racisme dat onze kinderen drijft om vrouwen te vernederen die hun moeders zouden kunnen zijn en om oude mensen te beschimpen bij die vreselijke controleposten, om jonge mensen van hun eigen leeftijd te slaan die net zoals zij met hun families een dagje naar zee zouden willen, en om onbewogen toe te kijken terwijl vrouwen op straat bevallen. Het is alleen maar puur racisme dat onze beste piloten motiveert om bommen van 1000 kilo te werpen op flatgebouwen in Gaza en het is alleen maar racisme dat deze criminelen in staat stelt om ’s nachts onbekommerd te slapen. Dit racisme heeft voor zichzelf een monument naar zijn eigen gelijkenis opgericht – het monument van een lelijke, onbuigzame, bedreigende en inbreuk makende betonnen muur. Een monument dat de hele wereld laat weten dat schaamte en compassie uit het heilige land zijn verbannen. En wel omdat racisme schaamte elimineert. Deze muur is onze muur van schaamte, het is een getuigenis van het feit dat we van een licht onder de naties ‘een voorwerp van schande zijn geworden voor de naties en een aanfluiting voor alle landen’,” aldus Nurit Peled-Elhanan die een jonge dochter verloor bij een terroristische aanslag. Het racisme doordrenkt de Israelische samenleving en richt zich ook tegen de joodse Arabieren, de Mizrahi, die naar Israel werden gelokt, vaak onder valse voorwendselen. Een van hen, een oude joodse vrouw die in Tunesië werd geboren en daar wel weer naar terug wil, verklaart in de indringende documentaireserie van Michel Khleifi en Eyal Sivan: “Israel heeft alles, het is een prachtig land. Het is niet zo dat we hier iets materieels te kort komen. Maar er is geen ‘joie de vivre’. Niemand geniet van het leven. We kunnen in vrede leven, net als in Tunesië, joden en Arabieren samen, in Marokko, in andere Arabische landen leefden we samen. Onze buren waren Arabieren. We dronken samen thee, het was een eenvoudig, vreedzaam leven. Hier, zelfs als je alles hebt, heb je niets. Hier geniet niemand van het leven. Het is helemaal geen leven. Het Joodse Agentschap was een vergissing. Wij waren jong, als ik weer jong zou zijn zou ik naar Canada gaan of terug naar Tunesië. De Duitsers wilden ons vermoorden en in greppels begraven, maar de Arabieren gaven ons onderdak. Ze hebben de joden gered.”
Het kenmerk bij uitstek van slachtoffers is dat ze mateloos kunnen worden, zeker als hun slachtofferisme om politieke redenen wordt gecultiveerd. In Israel is het slachtofferisme tot een cultus van de dood gemaakt, de psychische dood van Joden en de fysieke dood van de Palestijnen. Het lijkt zo alsof Hitler alsnog de oorlog heeft gewonnen. Bewust en onbewust dragen de zionisten hun angsten, woede en rancune over op hun kinderen met alle onvermijdelijke individuele zowel als collectieve consequenties van dien, van het lijden van de Palestijnen tot aan de drang Auschwitz te bezoeken omdat zoals één van hen in 2002 schreef: “Ik ervan overtuigd [ben] dat een deel van mijn anorexia door de Tweede Wereldoorlog komt. Altijd werd er in mijn omgeving over gepraat, vanaf mijn geboorte al.” Vandaar haar reis naar een vernietigingskamp in de hoop en de verwachting daar “een kijkje” te “nemen in het verleden'' om op die manier ''een heldere toekomst te creëren.'' En zo sleept men de oorlog met zich mee en breekt de vrede nooit aan. Salomon, ik vrees dat niet ik en/of mijn joods-Iraelische gesprekspartners 'op een dwaalspoor' zijn geraakt. Ik denk dat juist de Israelische samenleving op 'een dwaalspoor' is geraakt die ertoe heeft geleid dat nu een politicus met fascistische gedachten vice-premier van 'de Joodse staat' is geworden. Het is hoogste tijd om in te zien dat dit op een catastrofe kan gaan uitlopen. Daarom zal men nu allereerst de oorzaken van die onvermijdelijke ontsporing serieus moeten analyseren. Je schrijft: 'Het joodse land demoniseren : nee.' Maar dat verwacht ik ook niet van je. Kritiek: ja. Demoniseren: nee. Het is Israel zelf dat zich demoniseert door zijn barbaarse optreden, het negeren van het internationaal recht, het stelen van Palestijns land, het bedreigen van zijn buren, het vermoorden van Palestijnse burgers, het gevangen houden van Palestijnse kinderen, het bezetten dan wel belegeren van andermans land.
PS. Salomon, je weet hoe het met Don Quichot afloopt, Alonso Quixano herwint zijn volle verstand en sterft dan diep melancholisch als een gebroken man. Cervantes was een diepzinnig mens.
Boycot Israel 48
Another huge loss for Veolia; another attempt to present this failure as a "business decision" that is unconnected to the growing success of the BDS campaign to raise critical awareness -- in Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and the Basque Country, and elsewhere -- about Veolia's involvement in the illegal Jerusalem Light Rail project.This $1B loss is not peanuts, even for a company of the size of Veolia, a huge French conglomerate, operating in over 50 countries in many service provision businesses from garbage collection to public transportation.
BDS is most effective when it really hurts complicit corporations' profits. Ultimately, we cannot, and do not really care to, prove 100% correlation between Veolia's losses in Stockholm, West Midlands (UK) and now Bordeaux and the mounting reach and sophistication of the global BDS movement. What matters, at the end of the day, is that, since the BDS campaign against Veolia -- now titled Derail Veolia -- started by activists in the UK and the Netherlands and cemented at Bilbao in 2008 in full coordination with the Palestinian BDS leadership, Veolia has lost contracts that are worth more than $7.5 Billion. Either Veolia has suddenly been taken over by a criminally negligent, incompetent management that is causing all these catastrophic "business decisions" against it all over Europe, or BDS is working!
Omar Barghouti
VEOLIA, ONE LESS CONTRACT, NOW THE NEXT ONE !!
The transportation branch of the French multinational corporation Veolia just lost a contract worth 750 millions euros in Bordeaux.
This contract was about the management of the biggest urban network in France. It went to Keolis, a subsidiary of SNCF.
The Greater Bordeaux local government said that its decision was based on commercial factors, but the implication of Veolia in a controversial tramway project in Jerusalem (the "Jerusalem light railway") provoked intense debates everywhere.
Indeed French corporations Veolia and Alstom have been called into question for several years because of their participation in a project to build a tramway in Jerusalem, designed to link West Jerusalem (Israel) with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. This contract has caused great controversy on the political ethics of Veolia.
The General Manager for France of Veolia Transport, Francis Grass, said that Veolia has "very important questions [...], the feeling that things are not done fairly" ... In fact, Veolia's involvement in the situation of apartheid has already lead to the loss of several contracts, and this is just the beginning.
BDS group Bordeaux
(The BDS campaign – it stands for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions- aims at isolating the state of Israel as long as it does not obey international law)
bdsbordeaux@gmail.com
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VEOLIA, UN CONTRAT DE MOINS, AU SUIVANT !!
La filiale transport de la multinationale française Veolia vient de perdre un contrat d’une valeur de 750 millions d’euros à Bordeaux. Ce contrat représentait la gestion du plus important réseau urbain de France. Le marché a été attribué à Keolis, filiale de la Sncf.
La Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux a indiqué que sa décision était basée sur des facteurs commerciaux, mais le questionnement sur l’implication de Veolia dans le projet controversé de tramway à Jérusalem (le « Jerusalem light railway ») a partout suscité un débat intense.
En effet, les entreprises françaises Veolia et Alstom sont mises en cause depuis plusieurs années en raison de leur participation à un projet de construction d’un tramway à Jérusalem, destiné à relier Jérusalem-ouest (Israël) avec des colonies israéliennes illégales dans les territoires palestiniens occupés. Ce contrat a suscité de vives polémiques sur la politique éthique de Veolia.
Le directeur général France Voyageurs de Veolia Transport, Francis Grass, estime que Veolia a «des interrogations très importantes [...], le sentiment que les choses ne sont pas faites de façon équitable»... En réalité, l'implication de Veolia dans la situation d'apartheid lui a déjà fait perdre
plusieurs contrats, et ce n'est que le début.
La plateforme BDS Bordeaux
(la campagne BDS – pour Boycott, Désinvestissement, Sanctions- vise à isoler l'État israélien tant qu'il ne respectera pas le droit international)
bdsbordeaux@gmail.com
Het Neoliberale Geloof 428
Als u wilt weten hoe burgers geflest worden door de congsi van politici en bankiers kijk dan hier naar: Bill Moyers With William K. Black
Bill Black accused then-house speaker Jim Wright and five US Senators, including John Glenn and John McCain, of doing favors for the S&L's in exchange for contributions and other perks. Now Black is focused on an even greater scandal, and he spares no one — not even the President he worked hard to elect, Barack Obama. But his main targets are the Wall Street barons, heirs of an earlier generation whose scandalous rip-offs of wealth back in the 1930s earned them comparison to Al Capone and the mob, and the nickname "banksters."
Zie: http://www.truthout.org/video/040909A
Het Neoliberale Geloof 427
The Abuse of the Desire for Money or Capitalism's Addictsby: François Flahault | Visit article original @ Le Monde
Are politicians thinking about the common good when they talk about "moralizing capitalism?" Undoubtedly, they are primarily thinking that they must calm discontent to maintain their credibility: a democratic state is supposed to fulfill the function of third party between the powerful and the weak. Yet now, even in the United States, which, through skillful electoral marketing, had long succeeded in making the poor vote for the rich (a success that has created imitators), the crisis has just reminded everyone that a gap exists between those two groups.
Must the search for the common good translate itself into a "moralization of capitalism?" All things considered, that would be a rather advantageous compromise for economic actors. Since everyone is painting themselves over in green (as ecology makes compulsory), why not also "communicate" the ethical character of companies, as long as a few concessions are being made anyway?
To the extent that it underestimates the balance of power, moral discourse plays its role, however involuntarily, in concealing those power relationships, that is, in the staging of rationality. The big economic and financial groups are powers, forces. We need to extend Montesquieu's great idea about the limitation of powers to the relations between politics and the economy. Since every power naturally tends to exert and extend itself, none self-limits of its own volition. Only one force can limit another force. In these last few months many economists have said what must be done to reform capitalism. Now, it remains to gather together the forces that would allow it to be done: a thing all the more difficult to do, given that one of the great victories of economic power has been to convert politicians to a doctrine which facilitates the supremacy of economic power.
Economic science generally and the free market doctrine in particular can be seen as a staging of rationality. Justifiable and convincing in many respects, that staging only makes it all the easier to forget power relations and the desire for power.
As we have seen, the faith in self-regulation applied to financial markets is altogether illusory. But if the role attributed to it in economic theory is questionable, there's another role it plays that the theory does not discuss, but which it fulfills particularly well: convincing economic actors (especially the most powerful ones), and, where possible, politicians, that it is useless to concern themselves with the common good, useless to worry about the long term. One need only leave it to the invisible hand: natural providence which all by itself achieves the common good. Under the appearance of rationality, the lack of accountability that is encouraged this way leaves the field wide open to the strongest.
Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/040909G
De Pro Israel Lobby 115
Hard Questions on the Israel Lobbyby: HDS Greenway | Visit article original @ GlobalPost.com
Does the pro-Israel establishment in America have too much sway over foreign policy? That's like asking is there too much milk in your coffee. It depends on how you like your coffee.
But, unlike coffee, any discussion of Israel's influence is fraught with emotion that can, sadly, limit a free exchange of views in the United States.
The issue came up again recently when Charles Freeman, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, withdrew from a top intelligence post to which he had been named by the Obama administration. In a March 10 personal statement after his decision not to serve as National Intelligence Council Chairman, Freeman said he was the victim of a campaign by the "Israel lobby." The headline in the New York Times was: "Israel Stance Was Undoing Of Nominee."
No doubt Freeman had been critical for many years of Israel's policies, which he thought were self-defeating. After he withdrew from the council, Freeman said it was "irresponsible not to question Israeli policy and to decide what is best for the American people." He could have gotten away with that if he had substituted Turkish, or British policy, but not Israeli.
Freeman's defenders said his views on Israel were extreme, the Times wrote, only "when seen through the lens of American political life, and they asked whether it was possible to question American support for Israel without being either muzzled or marginalized."
Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/040909B
Boycot Israel 47
Cultural solidarity in Quebec: An interview with filmmaker Malcolm Guy
Stefan Christoff, The Electronic Intifada.
An important development in the growing international campaign for a cultural boycott of Israel has recently taken place in Quebec, Canada.
Documentary filmmaker Malcolm Guy made media headlines last year for withdrawing from a jury for a key award for Tolerance in Cinema at the Rendez-vous du cinema quebecois (RVCQ) film festival in 2008, given that the award was funded by pro-Israel organizations. In response, this year the festival cancelled the major cinematic prize for the 2009 edition of the main festival celebrating filmmaking in Quebec.
The prize for recognizing "tolerance" in cinema was established as a joint initiative from the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) and the Alex and Ruth Dworkin Foundation, was launched at the RVCQ festival in 2002. Although the festival award was cloaked as a celebration of progressive cinematic works from Quebec, celebrating the promotion of "tolerance" in cinema, in fact the award was intimately intertwined with the pro-Israel lobby in Quebec.
The award was established as a cultural initiative after major protests AT Concordia University in Montreal against a visit from the recently elected right-wing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2002. The festival award, although publicly celebrating "tolerance," was initiated and funded by organizations such as the CJC which maintains a fundamentally intolerant position toward the Palestinian people and openly defends the ongoing Israeli military occupation of Palestinian lands.
Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10444.shtml
Stefan Christoff, The Electronic Intifada.
An important development in the growing international campaign for a cultural boycott of Israel has recently taken place in Quebec, Canada.
Documentary filmmaker Malcolm Guy made media headlines last year for withdrawing from a jury for a key award for Tolerance in Cinema at the Rendez-vous du cinema quebecois (RVCQ) film festival in 2008, given that the award was funded by pro-Israel organizations. In response, this year the festival cancelled the major cinematic prize for the 2009 edition of the main festival celebrating filmmaking in Quebec.
The prize for recognizing "tolerance" in cinema was established as a joint initiative from the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) and the Alex and Ruth Dworkin Foundation, was launched at the RVCQ festival in 2002. Although the festival award was cloaked as a celebration of progressive cinematic works from Quebec, celebrating the promotion of "tolerance" in cinema, in fact the award was intimately intertwined with the pro-Israel lobby in Quebec.
The award was established as a cultural initiative after major protests AT Concordia University in Montreal against a visit from the recently elected right-wing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2002. The festival award, although publicly celebrating "tolerance," was initiated and funded by organizations such as the CJC which maintains a fundamentally intolerant position toward the Palestinian people and openly defends the ongoing Israeli military occupation of Palestinian lands.
Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10444.shtml
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