The effect of downing a bottle of homeopathic ‘pillules’ would be about the same as quaffing as many Pez, and that’s the point. While homeopathy has no proven ability to cure anything, the pills are offered for sale in Boots pharmacies with labels alleging to help with various physiological problems. A number of them have the boots brand. This is interesting since the company itself gave testimony to the Commons Science and Technology Committee that it doesn’t find homeopathic remedies to be effective.  So is the snake oil industry just to lucrative to give up on?

The 1023 Statement: “We call upon Boots to withdraw all homeopathic products from your shelves. You should not be involved in the sale of ineffective products, because your customers trust you to do what is right for their health. Surely you agree that your commitment to excellent patient care is better served by supplying only those products whose claims can be substantiated by rigorous scientific research? Or do you really believe that Boots should be in the business of selling placebos to the sick and the injured?”

Ian Tomlinson was not part of the Wednesday G20 demonstration in London in any way, and yet some Police earned their nickname, “the filth,” as it is shown here that one officer is directly responsible for his death. The Guardian has on its website a video clip of Tomlinson walking through the protest area, hands in pockets, from his job selling newspapers, shortly before he died. The clip shows Tomlinson being assaulted by a masked police officer brandishing a baton (from behind, as all cowards do). Tomlinson was doing nothing to provoke the attack as the video clearly shows and the attack came without warning as the officer who attacked him, or any around them, offered any sign of a warning. He later rose, walked a few paces and then collapsed and died.

Any public outing of the officer responsible is highly encouraged, including anonymously. Among other places, you can pass along infomation anonymously here.

If you run a website, consider adding a similar post soliciting information.

UPDATE: the story has now entered the shaping stage in which the Met’s spin takes over. They had been hoping that the lack of offical CCTV footage would work in their favor over the weekend. It also seems that the all-to-common police video crew were somehow absent from this instance, in another convenient turn of events. But suddenly new still images which the police claim to show that Tomlinson wasn’t walking home from work, but was both blocking police vehicles, part of the protest and drunk. None of the images actually indicate this.

In the Independent:

In this case the Independent Police Complaints Commission appeared to be steering the story to what they thought would be its obvious conclusion: that the newspaper vendor suffered an unprovoked heart attack as he made his way home. At the end of last week the IPCC was preparing to state it did not need to launch an inquiry into the death.

This is an independent commission that shows few signs of independence. A former member of the commission has stated that, “it is too late to start inquiries and they go on for too long”. Another is quoted as saying that it has too cosy a relationship with the police, in the same way the chairman of the BBC is not entirely sure whether his role is solely to hold the organisation to account or to become its spokesman.

With the IPCC proving to be a weak overseer and the vaguely defined responsibilities of the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Home Secretary, I have a lot of sympathy for senior police officers as they seek to please a range of rulers. The sympathy evaporates when they abuse the blurred lines of responsibility and do more or less whatever they want to on the assumption they will get away with it.

28th March – 2nd April

Remember when a million or so people marched against the war in Iraq? That sure fixed that.  We can say that we don’t condone the actions that are likely to take place during the week of the G20, but let’s face some hard facts. Interests in favor of the current method of doing things don’t pay much heed to nonviolent demonstration. In fact, they celebrate it, showing it to be a prime example of why their system works: “Look these people can express themselves freely in the caged pens we’ve set up for them way over there. Our way works.” So now and again, sort like the WTo in ’99, things tend to get out of hand as people with other views on how the world should operate don’t get a viable seat at the table where decisions are being made.

I’m a fan of art and graphic design that gets created during periods of transition and upheaval. They just have a lot more to say. With rare exception, I’ve mostly included in the following  events section samples of unaltered text about the demonstrations themselves. So much of it is throw-back jargon from the days of the luddites, the labor protests of the 20s and 30s, anti-fascist campaigsn of European history. We may be entering that period of time when people can no longer say “this generation has never had to go through a depression or world war,” as if it were a bad thing.

First off is a gallery of graphics made in anticipation of the G20 economic summit taking place here in London. Following the jump, a rundown of activities taking place here from my Delicious bookmarks.

Events, actions and demonstrations:

Protests against the G20 Summit in London: A meeting for the world’s leaders to discuss the economy, its markets and the global financial crisis.

Protests against the G20 Summit in London: A meeting for the world’s leaders to discuss the economy, its markets and the global financial crisis.

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – Home

Tell the G20: Peace – Yes We Can! g20-placards-2.jpgCentral London March and Rally 2pm, Wednesday 1st April US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London

Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Campaigning to build a mass anti-aparteid movement for Palestine. Not really doing any G20 actions, but I always try to sneak a reference in to my crew somehow.

stopwar.org.uk

Assemble US Embassy, Grosvenor Square at 2pm

We Won’t pay For Their Crisis

The revolution seems eternal at this one. And exhausting.

Manchesterg20’s Blog

Many people from all over the world will be mobilising to challenge the legitimacy of the G20 and physically oppose those policies which put the needs of profit before the needs of people. In the build up to the summit there’s a week of massive actions. Oxfam will be providing transport down to London on Saturday 28th for the huge march called by the TUC and major NGOs.

g-20meltdown.org

Lost your home? Lost your job? Lost your savings or your pension? This party is for you!

Frontpage – Fossil Fools Day 2009

There are lots of plans afoot for Fossil Fools Day all over the world, but we thought we’d upload some inspirational public actions you can get involved with on the April 1st, and some resources to help inspire you to take action in you local area. So, wherever you are in the world, whether you’ve been looking for a chance to dip a toe into the growing climate action movement, or have had your kick-ass action planned since last year, now is the time to do it – whatever it is. On April 1st, join the global day of resistance and pull a prank that packs a punch.

UK Indymedia – Bristol Dissent g20 Call Out

2 DAYS OF DIRECT ACTION are planned in the city: – Capitalism isn’t in crisis – Capitalism IS crisis; – Don’t bail-out the banks, SINK THEM!

As the financial crisis has spurred a global economic recession the reality of the situation is being faced by us all – price hikes and wage cuts, job losses, spiralling debt and repossessions. The institutions of government and global finance are making us pay for their mistakes, giving themselves hefty bonuses for the privilege. As big banks get billions of our money to bail them out, the Post Office is threatened with privatisation and mass redundancies to claw back the pension hole! Government and bosses, while protecting their own interests, are steadily losing their grip as the anger of the working class becomes more and more apparent after a decade of enforced ‘social peace’.

Climate Camp hits the City of London on April Fools Day!

By creating a brain-bending system of carbon pollution licenses, fossil fuel companies and trading firms have found a way to keep on churning out global warming gases and to reap huge windfall profits at the same time. Meanwhile, the UK government is justifying a third runway at Heathrow and a coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth by saying that these new “carbon trading” schemes will magically make all their emissions vanish.

G-20 Bank of England reclaim the streets Party

Capitalism has been heating up our world for years, melting the icecaps, burning up the rainforests, pushing the planet to tipping point. Now we’re going to put the heat on them. At the London Summit , the G20 ministers are trying to get away with the biggest April Fools trick of all time. Their tax-dodging, bonus-guzzling, pension-pinching, unregulated free market world in meltdown, and those fools think we’re going to bail them out. They’ve gotta be joking!

Days of Action: G20 London Summit

On 28th March thousands will march through London as part of a global campaign to challenge the G20. Marching for jobs, justice and climate action, a militant workers: direct action bloc has also been called by anarchists, using solidarity as a weapon in the steets whilst putting working class anger first. A Financial Fools Day Street Party (Reclaim The Streets) and a Climate Camp have been organised for Wednesday April 1st. For the G20 Meltdown initiative, four blocks against the war, climate chaos, financial crimes and land enclosures (borders) will march towards the Bank of England and the financial district, the square mile ‘protest exclusion zone’ in the City of London.

Whitechapel Anarchist Group

A friendly group of lads and lasses that’s forming a wellcoming committee for G20 summitteers.

Ian Bone’s blog

An anarchist’s blog that should keep you well up to date on G20 activities.

Put People First: March for jobs, justice and climate ahead of the London G20 Summit

On 28th March thousands will march through London as part of a global campaign to challenge the G20, ahead of their 2nd April summit on the global financial crisis.

ClimateCamp Website G20

First the city traders speculated with our homes, jobs and money – with disastrous results. Now they are speculating with our climate and the very future of life on earth – and once again our governments are cheering them on.

And Finally…

British police public order manual

Photo by Eleven Eight via Fickr

Hundreds of photographers gathered at  New Scotland Yard on Monday to snap shots of police in protest of a new law that can criminalize the simple act of taking a snap of police officers or military personnel in public. See the British Journal of Photography for the story.

Meanwhile, 1854 (the blog of the British Journal of Photography), has posted a list of links to different flickr galleries of the protest, many of which may now be violating UK anti-terrorism laws.

I’m constantly enthralled by the intersections between activism and technology. Mostly with the appropriate use of technology within activism. I’m also interested in the flip-side, the strange, sometimes horrifying decisions and their consequences made in the progressive movement. So I’m heading out right away to pick up a copy of Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody: The Power or Organizing Without Organizations (which also has its companion blog).

Shirky works on open source collaborative applications that you may already be using. People opposed to reflecting on the futility of a lot of tactics going on in a number of social, environmental and political movements out there (hello you anti-war crowd who have yet to stop a single war) should consider the actions used to bring about actual change, such as Shirky’s oft used example, the Passenger Bill of Rights.

At the website for Harvard’s Berkman Center, Clay discusses the themes in his book, focusing on protest culture and the difference between institutional (what Code Pink does) Vs. ad hoc modes (what the WTO protests in Seattle did which shut that meeting down), and the lack of strategies combining singular acts of protest with ongoing movements.

The lack of ongoing strategy or a focus on tangible, achievable goals continues to wound progressive movements. Shirky’s analysis is well worth hearing out by anyone involved in organizing.

This Post space has been donated to 5 years Too Many Dot Org:

In a little over a month, the U.S. will have been occupying Iraq for 5 years. It’s hard to believe.
Even when looking at the awful numbers — more than 1 million Iraqis and nearly 4,000 U.S. servicepeople killed, 2 million Iraqis living as refugees in other countries, with another 2.5 million displaced within Iraq, more than 1 trillion dollars spent — I find it difficult to grasp what 5 years really means. What is the full sum of the destruction and suffering that has taken place? And what does it mean for the future of our country and our world?

What I do know is that 5 years has also meant 5 years of vigils, 5 years of marching, 5 years of calling, writing and visiting members of Congress, 5 years of nonviolent civil disobedience — every single day, by local groups and individuals like you in every community in the country. The great majority of the people of this country are with us, yet policymakers in Washington have still not used their power to bring the troops home. Every day that war and occupation continues in Iraq and Afghanistan, it becomes ever clearer that we the people are the ones who must compel an end to the war.
That is why we are coming together to mark the 5th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in as powerful a way as possible. We believe that the activities United for Peace and Justice is organizing and supporting — the Winter Soldier hearings, mass nonviolent direct action in Washington DC, and local actions all around the country — have the potential to make a powerful statement … but only with your participation and support.

There are some who want to push Iraq off the table until after the elections
this fall. We can’t let that happen — there’s too much at stake.We must be as active, creative, visible and vocal as possible in order to keep Iraq and our demands prominent in the national discourse throughout the electoral season and beyond. Now is the time to stop funding the war and to bring all the troops home!

Lt. Ehren Watada’s Speech: “Soldiers Can Choose to Stop Fighting”
Veterans for Peace Convention – August 12, 2006. A Film by Sari Gelzer. In Seattle at the Veterans for Peace Convention, Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq, spoke about what he calls a “change of strategy” for the peace movement. Watada said: “Today, I speak with you about a radical idea … The idea is this: that to stop an illegal and unjust war, the soldiers can choose to stop fighting it.” He received overwhelming support from the crowd, and members of Iraq Veterans Against the War lined the stage in solidarity. His speech came five days before his August 17th pre-trial hearing for refusing deployment to Iraq.

Galloway: ‘The Violence Will Go On” (Can also be found here)
UK Parlimentary Representative George Galloway has spoken out in support of Lebanon, saying he believes Hezbollah is justified in attacking Israel. The Respect MP also lambasted media coverage of the war and said the UN resolution means nothing.

Seymour Hersh: “U.S. Helped Plan Israeli Attack”
The investigative reporter also claims that Cheney was “convinced” an assault on lebanon could serve as prelude for a preemptive attack on Iran.

Today’s news: Children die in convoy attack as Israel widens Lebanon assault

Are these people’s children less important than anyone else’s. Your answer will confirm whether your a racist or not. Good luck. Don’t look at your neighbor’s answer when responding. Bonus points for creativity.

Meanwhile, in Chicago…

In a racist defense of Israel’s recent attacks, the Jewish United Fund is holding a rally on Monday, July 17th at 12 noon at the Federal Plaza on Dearborn & Adams.

They are defending attacks on civilians in both Lebanon and Gaza, on the Beirut airport and bridges and highways in Gaza and Lebanon. Already 54 civilians have been killed in Lebanon alone, including 10 members from one family and 7 from another. 85 more are dead in Gaza and hundreds more have been wounded in the two places.

Endorsers: Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Hammerhard Media Works, Students for Justice in Palestine – DePaul, Students for Social Justice – UIC, International Solidarity Movement-Chicago chapter

Saturday, July 15 at noon.
At the overpass off of Exit 119 on I-5, just outside of Fort Lewis.

In Oly: Carpool from Olympia at 11:15 AM, at the old Rainy Day/Apollo’s parking lot, corner of Harrison and Division

We are calling for an HONORABLE DISCHARGE for Suzanne Swift and for the military to take accounts of sexual abuse seriously.

You can park in the small gravel lot just northwest of the overpass.

Press conference with Swift’s mother, Sara Rich, at 3:00 PM.

Suzanne Swift joined the military on a five-year term as an MP (instead of the usual four years) because the Army recruiter lied and said she wouldn’t have to go to Iraq that way. However, a month after she finished basic training, the Army shipped her to Iraq. There she faced continual sexual harrassment from two different sargeants, one of whom forced her into sexual relations in what is known in the military as “command rape.”

She attempted to seek redress through the appropriate military channels but was rebuffed. She was eventually diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Upon returning to Fort Lewis after her first tour in Iraq, she was the subject of sexual harrassment by a third sargeant. Again, she sought redress but was accused of being equally responsible for the harrassment. The Army also sped up her redeployment date by 7 months,
requiring her to return to Iraq in less than a year. Rather than return to the abuse that she had been subjected to, and which the military failed to address, Spc. Swift went AWOL.

On June 11, police in Eugene, Oregon apprehended her at her mother’s home, and she was sent back to Fort Lewis, where she has been confined. Initially when she returned to Fort Lewis, she was returned to the command of one of the sargeants who had sexually harrassed her. She
could still face charges for desertion.

This Saturday is Suzanne Swift’s birthday. She is turning 22.

Because she is not allowed to leave Fort Lewis, her mother will be coming to her, and she is inviting all of us to join her in supporting her daughter.

Let’s go and convey the following…

• Honorable discharge for Spc. Swift.
• Demand prosecution of sexual harrassment and sexual assault in the military. The military must take seriously reports of sexual abuse.
• Stand in solidarity with other victims of sexual abuse in the military.

If the military isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do in order to “support the troops” and the soldiers aren’t allowed to complain, then the rest of us need to step in.

• For more info, see this.
• Two interviews with Swift’s mother: Here and here.
• Sign the petition.

From Gush Shalom:

“Israel is required, both by international law and by Israeli law, to discern at all times between military and civilian targets, to avoid attacking obvious civilian targets such as power stations, and to participate actively in supplying the basic needs of the civilian population.”
“Even if the damage to the civilian population serves some legitimate purpose,” the petitioners wrote, “it doesn’t pass the proportionality test, and thus it is also illegal.”

With the Gaza drama daily destroying lives and dreams, and not to forget: livelihoods, meanwhile the routinely continuing strangling of the Palestinians in the West Bank doesn’t get any attention at all. Saturday July 15, we will try our best in one of the many threatened places.

Here follows the alert which we sent earlier in Hebrew to activists:

A call for Civil Disobedience in Izbet Tabib Qalqiliya region.
Izbet Tabib is a small village of 300 inhabitants near Qalqiliya. It was established in 1920 and in 1948 it received an influx of refugees from Tubsur, which stood where Ra’anana is now. The residents of the village are all recognized as refugees (by UNRWA) but the village is not recognized as a refugee camp. In fact, it is not recognized at all by the Israeli government which has issued demolition orders for most of the buildings in the village.

This small village has been assaulted by the Israeli occupation in ways which would have destroyed much larger communities. Much of its lands were taken by the wall, basic infrastructure such as a connection to the electric grid and permanent roofs for buildings is denied and most recently, the main exit from the village was blocked by an earth mound.

The mere existence of Izbet Tabib is a continuing act of resistance in the form of Tsumud. The village is now calling on Israelis to join it on Saturday July 15 th to demonstrate against the wall and the closure of the road and to continue the construction of the village’s kindergarten in defiance of the building restrictions.

Please save the date: Saturday, July 15

As we gather at the gates of Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, WA to mark Suzanne Swift’s 22nd birthday.

Suzanne Swift was arrested at her mother’s home in Eugene on June 11 for being AWOL from the U.S. Army. Though she’d already served tours of duty in Kuwait and Iraq, Specialist Swift could not return to Iraq for a second tour of duty because she was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to the sexual harassment and assault she faced at the hands of her commanding officers.

Swift, who has gone public with her charges against the perpetrators, has been forced back into active duty and back into her fatigues. She is confined to the Ft. Lewis base while her case is under investigation, and she may face court martial and prison time.

Please come Saturday, July 15 prepared to show your support for Suzanne!

Here’s one interesting part of the this morning’s interview that Sara Rich had with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman:

SARA RICH: ….On Sunday night, June the 11th, she — I guess she came over to the house — I was sleeping, and she and her sister were watching a movie — because she wasn’t staying with me. She had just come over to visit. And there was a knock on the door. And I was in my pajamas, and I came out. And it was the Eugene Police Department. And they told me — they asked me if Suzanne was here? And I said, “No.” And he told me that he had a warrant. I said, “Can I see your warrant?” And he said, “No, I don’t have to show you a copy of the warrant.”

AMY GOODMAN: This is Eugene police?

SARA RICH: Eugene police. And I said, “Well, you need to show me something.” And at that point, Suzanne and Sonia come into the room, and he looks at Sonia. He says, “Are you Suzanne?” She said, “No.” He said to Suzanne, “Are you Suzanne?” She said, “No.” And then he said, “Show me your left hand.” And she has a little tattoo on her left hand.

And he walked in the house, and I put my hand up. I said, “I didn’t invite you into my home.” And he took my hand and twisted it and pushed me out of the way and put the handcuffs on Suzanne. Well, she turned around and put — you know, he put the handcuffs on her. She knows the drill. She was a military police officer.

So I looked at her, and I said, “Here we go.” And she says, “Yep.” And I say, “Are you ready?” She says, “Yep.” And I said, “Okay, let’s do it, …”

There are a many larger issues at play in the whole thing, and is illustrates that even those in the U.S. military can often find themselves a victim of it as well. The whole horrible saga Suzanne suffered through is detailed in the interview. Read it and get ready to hate something. But this notion of city police aping the jackbooted thuggery of our miltary when it comes to dealing with anyone who seems to counter the U.S. occupation is increasing. For some reason, if cops are going after war activists or people who go AWOL for reasons sanity or morality, they think they have carte blanche to ignore relevent laws, much the way our military does with its war crimes.

By ISM Media Group

On the 2nd anniversary of the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Sunday July 9th, 2006, the Israeli Supreme court in Jerusalem will hear two petitions from the West Bank village of Bil’in. This ruling, from 2004 declared that the Israeli Annexation Wall is illegal under international law.

The petitions that will be discussed in the Israeli Supreme Court tomorrow concern the illegal construction of the Matityahu East colonial settlement on the lands of Bil’in, west of the Annexation Wall (HCJ 143/06); the second petition demands an annulment of the declaration which claims that the lands of Bil’in, in Matityahu East, are government property (HCJ 3998/06).

The route of the wall in Bil’in was designed to accommodate an unapproved plan for the expansion of the Matityahu East colonial settlement. The building of the settlement, according to the above-mentioned plan, was carried out illegally. The Bil’in petition challenges the legality of the settlement due to a suspicious transfer of land ownership from the Palestinian village to the Israeli realtors; a sale which involved the Israeli state declaring the territory state land only to later transfer it to private developers.

During the hearing of the petition challenging the route of the wall through Bil’in (HCJ 8414/05), the Israeli state revealed its involvement. An Israeli lawyer signed the sale papers instead of the head of Bil’in village. This was done without the village’s knowledge, and based on the false claim that any Israeli who entered Bil’in would be killed. In addition, it was falsely argued that it was illegal for Israelis to enter Bil’in. The Israeli state alleges that they declared in 1991 that the land, upon which the settlement is built, was to be state property in order to protect the Palestinian man who allegedly sold the land to the contractors.

Despite these claims by the Israeli state, through the process of the petition, the main reasons for these action have been exposed. Through the illegal cooperation with the state, the realtors managed to avoid the lengthy and expensive procedures associated with registering the land as their property. These procedures, which were circumvented, involve careful examinations of land transfer between the buyer and seller. These procedures are done publicly, so that each person from Bil’in who claims to have ownership on the lands, in whole or in part, has the right to object. These procedures often lead to the conclusion that the purchase deal was false, and to the result that the realtors are left without the lands which allegedly it has bought. Despite the history of transferring land in this way, in the case of this sale, the process was avoided.

The Bil’in petitions will be heard at the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem at 10:00am. Supporters and journalists are being encouraged to attend the court session.

This will be our third year demonstrating at NC Machinery for the National Day of Action coinciding with the annual Caterpillar shareholder meeting on June 14.

This meeting was postponed by Caterpillar from April to June due to the proximity of the anniversary of Rachel’s death and the censorship of the play, “My Name Is Rachel Corrie.” Caterpillar recently spent millions of dollars on a public relations campaign to clean up its image as a perpetrator of human rights abuses. We are already affecting Caterpillar Inc. through education, media and direct pressure.

A member of the Olympia community will traveling to Chicago to attend the shareholder meeting and to support a resolution challenging Caterpillar Inc. to abide by its own code of conduct which states, “as a company, we strive to contribute toward a global environment in which all people can work safely and live healthy, productive lives, now and in the future.” On this day, we need you to demonstrate your support of the resolution and hold CAT accountable.

Location:
NC Machinery
17035 W Valley Highway
Tukwila, Washington

Date & Time:
Wednesday, June 14th
4 pm

Carpools from Olympia:
Leave the corner of Harrison & Division at the Westside Plaza/old Rainy Day parking lot at 2:30 pm

For more information, directions or to volunteer visit www.olycatcampaign.org, email OBSCURED EMAIL ADDRESS or call (360)485-5745.

Sponsoring this event are Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project, Amnesty International – Olympia, Palestine Solidarity Committee – Seattle, Veterans for Peace – Rachel Corrie Chapter 109, the Green Party of South Puget Sound and many more.

“I saw blood gushing out of his head, and helped bandage it. As we were getting him into the ambulance an Israeli soldier grabbed his long hair and they all tried to stop him from leaving in the ambulance even though they knew he was injured”, said American eyewitness Zadie Susser who saw Phil from Austraila sitting in shock immediately after he was hit.

At today’s Bil’in demonstration, Israeli soldiers shot seven Palestinians with rubber bullets. One Australian and one Danish demonstrator were hospitalised after being shot in the head with rubber bullets at close range.

AFP Cameraman Jamal Al Aruri was shot in the hand with a rubber bullet while he was filming two of his fingers were broken. Adeba Yasin (65) was hit by a rubber coated bullet under her eye while she was sitting on the balcony of her home.

Phil Reess from Australia was shot as he was running away – he had been filming the demonstration. BJ Lund from Denmark was also shot as he was standing near army jeeps.

Both Phil and BJ are currently in Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel-Aviv. The bullet caused a hemorrhage to Phil’s brain, though he is now conscious. BJ required stitches to the head.

The video footage that Phil was filming when he was shot is available from the ISM Media office on request. In it you can see how close they were to the soldiers when they opened fire – the sound of the shots fired is clearly audible.

Abed Al Karim Khatib(60) was hit by a rubber coated bullet in his private parts, Abed Albased Abu Rahme (15) was hit on his thigh by a rubber coated bullet and Waleed Mahmoud Abu Rahme (20) was hit in his abdomen by a rubber coated bullet. Mohammad Ahmad Issa was hit in the leg with a rubber bullet. Wajdi shokut (18) was hit by a rubber coated bullet in the hand

Ashraf Muhammed Jamal (24)was hit by a tear gas canister aimed at his head.

Abdullah Abu-Rahme (35 and the Co-ordinatior of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall), Muhammad Al Katib (32, also from the Popular Committee) and Akram Al Katib (34) were beaten.

The demonstration of about 300 people had marched, singing, chanting and waving flags to the gate in the apartheid barrier.

This week, the gate had been locked open, so the Israeli soldiers relied on their jeeps and barbed wire to stop the people of Bil’in from walking into their land. After a while, some of the demonstrators started to open the barbed wire. The Israeli soldiers started hitting people with clubs. A few rocks were thrown from a small group of youth who were away from the main demonstration in front of the jeeps. The soldiers then started firing on the peaceful demonstrators at near point-blank range as they were running away – they were a maximum distance of 10 meters away when shot.

According to Israeli Human Rights group B’Tselem:

The Israeli security forces’ arsenal of means to disperse demonstrations in the Occupied Territories includes the use of “rubber” bullets. These bullets are a steel bullet with a thin rubber coat. Their use to disperse demonstrations is based on security officials’ belief that “rubber” bullets are less lethal than live ammunition, and are, therefore, an appropriate means where security forces or other persons are not in life-threatening situations.

However, the drafters of the Open-Fire Regulations were aware of the danger inherent in the use of “rubber bullets.” The Regulations emphasize that “The means for dispersing the riot may cause bodily injury and in certain circumstances also death.” Because rubber-coated steel bullets are intended for use where soldiers or other persons are not in life-threatening situations, the Regulations stipulate several restrictions concerning their use. According to the defense establishment, these provisions prevent the bullet from causing serious or fatal injury.

According to these rules, the minimum range for firing “rubber” bullets is forty meters, and use is limited to specially trained personnel. The Regulations emphasize that the bullets must be fired only at the individual’s legs, and are not to be fired at children or from a moving vehicle.

The permission to fire potentially lethal rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinians to disperse “violent riots” or demonstrations has led to the deaths of dozens of Palestinians. Viewing rubber-coated steel bullets as “less lethal” than live ammunition leads to a light trigger-finger. This phenomenon is only supported by the State Attorney’s Office’s view that these deaths are “unavoidable mistakes.”

The Israeli military usually uses rubber bullets during demonstrations when Israeli and international activists are present. When Palestinians demonstrate on their own the military uses live ammunition or rubber coated steel bullets.

Two of the demonstrators that were shot from close range were filming the demonstartion. British attorney general, Lord Goldsmith confirmed on the 6th of May he was considering whether to seek the extradition and prosecution of an Israeli soldier who shot dead British cameraman James Miller in Gaza, after a jury in a British inquest unanimously agreed that “Mr Miller was indeed murdered.”

This is what a colonial invasion looks like. ]]> http://drew3000.net/2006/03/07/photos-from-bilin/feed/ 0 http://drew3000.net/2006/03/07/real-security-for-all-not-a-security-state-for-a-few/ http://drew3000.net/2006/03/07/real-security-for-all-not-a-security-state-for-a-few/#comments Tue, 07 Mar 2006 09:12:00 +0000 yours truly http://drew3000.net/2006/03/07/real-security-for-all-not-a-security-state-for-a-few/ March and Rally to Promote Peace and Human Rights
Instead of Unjust Detention Policies and Militarism

Photo: The Northwest Detention Center was developed by Burgess Weaver in association with HOK, Inc. for Correctional Services Corporation, a private detention contractor for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). — burgessweaver

Join us as we call for an end to discriminatory immigration and deportation policies that target people of color and Muslims in particular. We will start at the Northwest Detention Center on the Tacoma Tideflats and then march to the Tacoma Sheraton, location of the Pacific Northwest National Security Forum, which is bringing together military commanders to chart the course of US foreign aggression “beyond Iraq and Afghanistan”. We will connect the dots between unjust domestic practices and the wars being waged against the countries of the Mideast. We will call for an end to war and the planning of war, and for the inalienable rights of all members of the human family to be recognized and respected.

Speakers and Musicians:

• Marion Ward, Veterans for Peace
• Ibrahim al-Husseini, Arab American Community Coalition
• Mark Jensen, United for Peace of Pierce County
• Erin Genia, Olympia Amnesty International
• Tim Smith, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Tacoma
• Seattle Raging Grannies
• Holly Gwinn Graham, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

Endorsed By:
United for Peace of Pierce County, the Arab American Community Coalition, Comite Pro Amnestia General y Justica Social, American Friends Service Committee, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, the Seattle Raging Grannies, the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, the Tacoma Catholic Worker, and Seattle and Olympia Amnesty International.

Schedule:

• 11:00 Rally at the Northwest Detention Center, 1623 East J Street
• 12:00 March to the Tacoma Sheraton, 1320 Broadway
• 1:00 Rally at the Sheraton

Shuttles will be available, starting at 10:30, in front of the main entrance of the Tacoma Sheraton, for those who wish to leave their cars downtown for the first rally and march.

This is a permitted event and the organizers are working with the Tacoma police and volunteer peacekeepers to ensure everyone’s safety.

— Learn about this privately run creepy
place built on a Northwest landfill here.

Photo: Seattle P.I.

The Church of England’s general synod – including the Archbishop of Canterbury – voted last night to disinvest church funds from companies profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.

The main target of the plan will be the US earth-moving equipment company Caterpillar which has supplied vehicles used by Israel to demolish Palestinian homes. When the worldwide Anglican communion called for such a move, at a meeting last summer, there followed protests from Israel and Jewish groups. The church currently invests about £2.5m of its £900m share portfolio in Caterpillar and had been engaged in negotiations with the company about its activities. Caterpillar insists it has not provided the earth movers directly to Israel but to the US military which sold them on.

The phrase “Manifest Destiny” was an ideology used to excuse westward colonization in what is now the United States. It allowed the expulsion and genocide of native populations by aligning the U.S. settler movement with a cultural belief that God intended the Americas for Europeans. Natives who survived were consigned to live on isolated reservations, their way of life forever destroyed.

Israeli expansionism reflects a similar sense of divine entitlement. When one sees the native population of Palestine being confined to live on ever-shrinking sections of their historical homeland in exchange for promises of peace, the destruction of Palestinian olive trees, the creation of ghettos in order to accommodate settlements and Jewish-only roads, and repeated broken agreements, the parallels should not be ignored.

Israeli historian Benny Morris made the connection with the plight of the Native Americans, albeit reaching the opposite moral conclusion, when he stated the following in a Ha’aretz interview:

Ari Shavit: “And morally speaking, you have no problem with that deed,” (the displacement of Palestinians in 1948, refered to by Palestinians as “Al-Nakba” — “The Disaster”).

Benny Morris: “That is correct. Even the great American democracy could not have been created without the annihilation of the Indians. There are cases in which the overall, final good justifies harsh and cruel acts that are committed in the course of history.”
The full article is available at Haaretz.

“Arbeit Meicht Frei” was written at the entrance of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. We did not mean to imply that Ramallah is Auschwitz. We did, however, wish to point out that there are many disturbing parallels between the tactics used by the occupation and those used by the Nazis. For example, the attempt to beautify dehumanizing institutions through empty phrases like “The Hope of Us All” and “Arbeit Macht Frei.”

Jews Against Genocide believes ethnic cleansing is unjustifiable, regardless of the perpetrator. We believe it is important to heed disturbing patterns in history as warning signals so that another Genocide never occurs, to any people.

Signed,

J.A.G.
Jews Against Genocide

Whilst police expected demonstrations on Friday what they didn’t expect was a quickly organised demonstration of 300 High School students the following day that took up the issue of slander. Jamjoum commented that the police built up there presence gradually.

Without provocation the police threw sound bombs as the demonstration and fired rubber bullets into the crowed. Increasingly more students joined those at Damascus gate. The rally ended after an hour and a half. Seven people were injured, including one person who was hit with a rubber bullet in the leg. About 20 people who were arrested.

“They attacked everyone,” a witness said of the Israeli police. “I saw a 60 year old man who was just trying to pass being struck by police. Not even street vendors were safe.”

The protesters argued as a defense that they were acting to prevent crimes against international law, that are also offences in the UK under the International Criminal Court Act. In the end, the activists were acquitted because British Land Registry documents showed Agrexco (UK) had built entrance and exit gates on other people’s land and had no legal right to ask them to leave.

Agrexco is Israel’s largest importer of agricultural produce into the European Union, and it is 50% Israeli state owned. Amos Orr, Agrexco UK’s general manager, said in court that Agrexco imports between 60-70% of all produce that is grown on illegal settlements in the occupied territories. At the same time Israeli forces have blocked Palestinian exports on grounds of ‘security.’ Israeli state sponsored settlements have appropriated land and water resources by military force from Palestinian farmers in a deliberate policy of colonial settlement.

In a well planned operation, using wire fences and bicycle D-Locks the protesters succeeded in blockading the Agrexco (UK) distribution centre, blocking all motor vehicle traffic in and out of the building before being arrested. Before taking part in this action many of the defendants had witnessed first hand the suffering of Palestinian communities under the brutal Israeli occupation, having served as volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), documenting human rights abuses by the Occupation Forces in the West Bank and Gaza, and taking part in non-violent civil resistance to the occupation organised by Palestinian civilian committees.

The international campaign to boycott Israeli goods is growing across Europe. In December 2005 a whole region of Norway voted to cut economic relations with Israel. The US administration has threatened ‘serious political consequences’ against Norway if the boycott should develop into a national policy.

There could be a storm brewing on campus.

Georgetown’s decision last month to permit the Palestine Solidarity Movement to hold its fifth annual conference on campus in February has been criticized by critics who charge that the group is tied to anti-Israeli and terrorist groups.

Representatives of the PSM have denied the charges and are moving ahead with plans to hold the conference from Feb. 17-19.

Questions have arisen over the group’s tactics and official position on the use of terrorism as a political tactic, as well as its relationship with other pro-Palestinian groups, specifically an organization known as the International Solidarity Movement that also advocates Palestinian self-determination.

PSM spokesperson Nadeem Muaddi said in an interview that the PSM and ISM are two separate organizations. He said that the confusion of the two groups may stem from the fact that “the ISM is a high-profile organization,” that pursues the same goals as the PSM.

David Staples, an official at the State Department, said that neither ISM or PSM are on the government’s list of terrorist groups.

“As for a [State Department] position on either organization,” Staples said, “I don’t believe there is one.”

Bill Levinson, a columnist for the pro-Israel Web site Israpundit, has sent repeated e-mails to administrators at Georgetown listing charges against PSM and detailing what he believes are the group’s true intentions for its conference.

“The PSM is [lying] to Georgetown’s administration and the Georgetown community about its true agenda, which is to destroy a country that is friendly to the United States,” he said, referring to Israel.

Students for Justice in Palestine, the student group at Georgetown that is hosting the event, supports Palestinian self-determination, according to the group’s Web site. Neither SJP nor PSM have official positions advocating the destruction of Israel.

“There is always going to be a place for these Jewish citizens,” Muaddi said. “Jews also have the right to self-determination.”

Muaddi added that the PSM does not seek “the end of Israel as a political entity in the Middle East.” He did, however, cite Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the barrier being constructed along the West Bank as “violations of international law” which he said must be rectified.

Another source of contention is the PSM’s support of divestment, or encouraging corporations and universities to withdraw their financial investments from Israel.

The strategy has gained increasing traction in the years since the PSM began its push for conscious boycotting of Israeli goods at its first conference in February 2002 at the University of California at Berkeley. Muaddi said that following a similar conference at the University of Michigan in October of that year, student governments at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan-Dearborn passed resolutions supporting the strategy. Other groups supporting the effort include the American Presbyterian Church, he said.

Muaddi said the PSM prefers working with universities and churches to gain support because the nonviolent nature of divestment is more compatible with such groups.

“We condemn violence in all its forms,” Muaddi said.

But Muaddi declined to condemn suicide bombings, saying that it would not be right “to criticize Palestinians for taking part in violence when the Israeli forces are taking part in violence.”

University President John J. DeGioia has voiced his opposition to divestment even after increasing pressure from area Jewish groups.

“Some people have asked me if Georgetown will consider the [Palestine Solidarity Movement’s] call for divestment from Israel,” DeGioia said in a university press release. “The answer to that question is no.”

Greg Goldberg (COL ’08), president of the Georgetown-Israel Alliance, said he feels that divestment prevents progress.

“We feel that to divest is against constructive dialogue and is an attempt to remove Israel from the debate,” he said.

In spite of the dispute over the legitimacy of divestment as strategy, several members of the campus community supported the right of PSM to speak out on the issue.

“Even extreme groups have a right to express their opinion,” GIA member Jonathan Aires (SFS ’06) said.

Attendance at the PSM’s last conference, held at Ohio State University, was estimated at 600 people, Muaddi said. Free housing has been offered to attendees of the Georgetown conference.

Several students living off campus, as well as people in the area who are “sympathetic to the cause” have offered room, Muaddi said.

Accusations about the PSM’s connection to terrorism or anti-Israel subversion have also spurred a re-examination of the university’s policy regarding freedom of speech on campus.

Georgetown’s policies “lead us to a bias for more speech, rather than less speech” said Todd Olson, vice president for student affairs.

“In our academic community, this will often mean that controversial ideas — even ideas offensive to some in our community — are part of the discourse,” Olson said.

And however they may feel about PSM, many campus groups have decided to fight back against the organization peacefully.

Pro-Israeli campus groups such as GIA are planning an event called “Mothers for Peace” to take place Feb. 8, Aires said. The event will feature two mothers — a Palestinian and Israeli — speaking about prospects for peace.

WarResistersDotOrg shows you how to keep your cash from sending more missiles around the world.

Note: There are no statute of limitations, however, if the IRS notices what you’re up to.

Be bold and good luck.