A week ago, on the night of Wednesday 23rd May, South Tel Aviv erupted, becoming the epicentre of an attack by an angry, violent mob against members of the city’s African migrant population, deliberately targeted because of no other reason than their ethnicity.
African-owned businesses and homes were destroyed and looted. There were no fatalities but many were injured. Social media was alive with images and information regarding the attacks, pointing out the absolute apathy, even complicity, of the authorities.
This attack on the African minority in Tel Aviv is not an isolated event. Wednesday night’s violence was the culmination of a series of racist attacks, including the firebombing of homes and a kindergarten in south Tel Aviv neighbourhoods. In fact, these attacks illustrate the prevalent high level of racial tension within theuilt on ethnically cleansed land, thus operates under the veil of a democracy in which the Jewish population is the exclusive beneficiary of the democratic process.
However, Israel’s Jewish population is itself stratified within an ethnic hierarchy, where the prosperous Ashkenazi (white Jews of European descent) dominate the economy, media and politics. In comparison, the Mizrahi and Sephardi (Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent) suffer socio-economic hardship.
Ethnic and religious minorities are uniformly oppressed, from Palestinian Muslims and Christians to African migrants. The disparity is well-documented. Human Rights Watch states that in Israel’s segregated school system ‘Palestinian Arab children get an education inferior to that of Jewish children, and their relatively poor performance in school reflects this.’
Discrimination continues into higher education, employment, healthcare and housing. If we consider the core principle of Zionism, the construction of a Jewish homeland in order to preserve Jewish identity and ensure Jewish security, this oppression is inevitable. However, it is the treatment of black Jews that reveals most about the racism ingrained in Israeli society.
Hanan Chehata writes, in the Race and Class journal, that ‘the Falasha, Ethiopian Jews … brought to Israel in mass transfer operations, have found themselves relegated to an underclass.’ Chehata argues that black Jews are not only racially discriminated against but are also used to bolster the populations of illegal settlements.
In 2010, the Israel lobby group FLAME (Facts and Logic About the Middle East) ran an advertisement in Jewish American newspapers in an attempt to refute claims that Israel is an apartheid state. The advertisement argued that ‘Israel has brought in about 70,000 black Ethiopian Jews, who despite their backwardness have become fully integrated citizens of Israel.’ The advertisement perpetuates the image of the uncivilised savage; we might expect to find such language in nineteenth century European colonial texts.
Jonathan Cook wrote an extensive piece for The National, an English language newspaper, published daily in Abu Dhabi, that examines Israel’s treatment of Ethiopians. Cook writes that ‘Health officials in Israel are subjecting many female Ethiopian immigrants to a controversial long-term birth control drug.’ He further states that ’57 per cent of Depo Provera users in Israel are Ethiopian, even though the community accounts for less than two per cent of the total population.’
The drug has a wide range of damaging side effects and was used by the South African apartheid government to limit the fertility of black women. Yali Hashash, a researcher at Haifa University said similar practices were used against Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews in the 1950s and 1960s because ‘Israel’s leading gynaecologists regarded Arab Jews as ‘primitive’ and incapable of acting ‘responsibly’.’ The evidence is difficult to refute and presents a compelling conclusion: the preservation of Jewish identity in the eyes of the state appears only to encompass white Europeans.
Although oppression takes on many guises, the language of oppression is universal. From the top down, prominent Israeli parliamentarians have fanned the flames of racial hatred and undoubtedly incited violence. In a cabinet meeting last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described African migrants in Israel as ‘illegal infiltrators flooding the country … threatening our existence as a Jewish and democratic state … our national security and our national identity.’
A familiar tune: in 1915, the CUP described the Armenian minority in Ottoman Turkey as a threat to Turkish security and identity. The Ottomans’ chief propagandist, Ziya Gokalp, insisted Turkey could only be revitalised if it rid itself of its non-Muslim minorities, arguing that Armenians were ‘a foreign body in the national Turkish state.’ A few years later, Nazi propagandists Goebbels and Rosenberg propounded the central notion that Germany needed to be Judenfrei (free of Jewish presence) in order to revitalise itself. In both instances, these fabrications created the cultural space for racial hatred and were the pretext for genocide.
Why am I immediately reminded of Der Kristalnacht?
The Vietnamese National Liberation Front (NLF) and Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge at one time fought together against the U.S. invaders. With weapons and logistical support from the Soviet Union and China, they eventually drove the Pentagon out of Cambodia and handed U.S. imperialism its first military defeat.
On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge rebels toppled Lon Nol and declared a people’s republic. They inherited a ruined country devastated by years of war. Fearing renewed U.S. bombing and with millions facing starvation, the new government hastily evacuated overcrowded Phnom Penh. Most of the population went to work in agricultural communes as the country struggled to rebuild.
In 1977, the Khmer Rouge began a border war against their neighbor, socialist Vietnam. Divisions grew within the movement as well. These developments had roots in the USSR/China conflict that split the world communist moents and human rights groups claim more than one million people died while the Khmer Rouge held power from 1975-1979. Whatever the accuracy of these accounts, many sources verify that most died of malnutrition, disease and exhaustion rather than execution—conditions originating in the U.S. war against Cambodia.
Monsanto Shareholder Meeting Infiltrated by Activist (Video)
In an exciting act of grassroots resistance to Monsanto and their GMOs that are ravaging the planet, activist Adam Eidinger has infiltrated a Monsanto shareholder meeting and posted the video up on Youtube. Eidinger discusses the negative impact of GMO crops, Roundup, and other Monsanto creations on human health and the environment. As a result, a shocked Monsanto spokesman (identified as CEO Hugh Grant by Eidinger) does his best to brush off the concerns and assure the activist that the company — the same company that has been found to be running slave rings on their GMO crop fields — cares very much about the concerns of their shareholders.
One of the major concerns highlighted by activist Adam Eidinger, who identifies himself as an ‘occupy activist’, is the increased usage of pesticides on crops as a result of Monsanto’s failing Bt-infused GMO crops. Bt is a toxin incorporated into genetically modified crops in order to kill different insects, though recently it was exposed that Bt usage has subsequently spawned insect populations which are resistant to the biopesticide. At least 8 populations of insects have developed resistance, with 2 populations resistant to Bt sprays and at least 6 species resistant to Bt crops as a whole.
What is the result? Farmers are being forced to spray substantially more pesticides as a result, leading to further pesticide-laden genetically modified foods being unknowingly consumed by a large number of individuals.
This is also further demonstrated by the EPA, which has also found Monsanto’s GMO corn to be ineffective. It even found that the crops were creating resistant rootworms. The EPA found that the resistant rootworms, which are evolving to resist the insecticide, are currently found Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska.
In a follow-up video, Adam Eidinger asks just how much Monsanto spends to squelch GMO labeling campaigns. Of course you may remember that Monsanto had admitted to influencing the outcome of the Colorado labeling initiative which ended in failure. With a number of phony pro-GMO protests and farmers likely paid off by Monsanto, the company managed to alter the result. The actions bring into question why Monsanto would deny consumers the right to know if their foods contain genetically modified ingredients.
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that sales would decrease substantially, as consumers are catching on to the dangers of GMO foods. Monsanto managed to rake in $11.8 billion in sales during the 2011 fiscal year that ended Aug 31, and they have no intention of slowing down their hazardous production — even if it means destroying your health along with the genetic integrity of the planet.
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Explore More:
- France Asks EU to Halt Monsanto GMO Corn Approval
- World Bank Nominee Tied to Monsanto Shareholder Bill Gates, Soros
- USDA Steps Back and Gives Monsanto More Power Over GMO Seeds
- Scientists Warn EPA Over Monsanto’s GMO Crop Failures, Dangers
- Monsanto’s Roundup Spawns Superweeds Consuming Over 120 Million Hectares
- Monsanto Investor Bill Gates Says GMO Crops Needed to Fight Starvation
The United Kingdom
The police’s counter-terrorism powers cannot be used to stop people legitimately taking photographs or filming.
It is not an offence for a member of the public or a journalist to take photographs or film public buildings. They do not need a permit to photograph or film in a public space, and the police have no power to stop the photographing or filming of incidents or police personnel (that, of course, does not mean that photographers can obstruct an officer or breach a cordon).
Additionally, police officers do not have powers to delete pictures or destroy film. Under counter-terrorism legislation, cameras, film and memory cards may only be seized when an officer suspects they may constitute evidence that a person is a terrorist.
Photographers are encouraged to engage in positive dialogue with police officers to build trust and develop mutual understanding.
Wording approved by the Home Office.
The United States:
In the United States, it is part of your First Amendment rights to film and/or take photos of police officers in the public, cf. Glik v Cunniffe. In this case, it was noted that:
“Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting “the free discussion of governmental affairs”.and that:
“A citizen’s right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment.”Sweden:
In Sweden you’re always allowed to take photos of or film police officers as well as members of the public in public spaces. You may not sell the photos or use them for monetary gain if the people in your photos can be identified, but you may use them for newspaper articles. You may not take photos of a person if they feel threatened or offended by your actions. This rule is however rendered invalid if the purpose is to collect evidence of a crime being committed.
Furthermore, a police officer may not seize your camera or delete your photos lest ordered to do so by a prosecutor.
From Occupy Frankfurt. May 19, 2012.
The German police took off their helmets and marched with the protest clearing the way for them.
The police coming over to serve and protect the people… Blockupy Frankfurt. Police are escorting, not participating. Reports of an estimated 20,000+ protesters. Nice to see their faces…. and their humanity coming through…
WATCH THIS VIDEO: #blockupy. Frankfurt
German police officers escort an anti-capitalism protest march with some 20,000 people in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, May 19, 2012. Protesters peacefully filled the city center of continental Europe’s biggest financial hub in their protest against the dominance of banks and what they perceive to be untamed capitalism, Frankfurt police spokesman Ruediger Regis said. The protest group calling itself Blockupy has called for blocking the access to the European Central Bank, which is located in Frankfurt’s business district.(AP Photo/Michael Probst) - source
English translation below
Dokter Co van Melle (74) gearresteerd in Ter Apel.
Tijdens het uitvoeren van zijn werkzaamheden als arts is dokter Co van Melle gisteren in een ME bus geduwd en overgebracht naar detentiecentrum Groningen.
Omdat gedurende de dag de spanningen van de bewoners hoog opliepen en het erg warm was besloot de dokter op het terrein te blijven nadat was aangekondigd dat het kamp ontruimd zou worden.
Hij stond onder andere een oudere Somalische vrouw bij die in elkaar zakte tijdens de ontruiming waardoor er behoorlijke paniek uitbrak onder de andere Somalische vrouwen die vreesden voor haar leven.
De dokter werd tijdens het uitvoeren van zijn taken waarvoor hij een eed heeft afgelegd als arts gesommeerd te vertrekken waarbij hij vertelde arts te zijn en zijn taken te moeten uitvoeren, daarna werd hij hardhandig vastgepakt meegetrokken en bij de ME bus gefouilleerd en in de bus gezet.
Meerdere mensen waaronder ik zijn hier ooggetuige van geweest.
Ik heb de agenten aangesproken op het feit dat er een dokter in de ME bus was gezet en dat het m.i een onrechtmatige daad is een arts op te pakken die medische bijstand verleent; dit mag zelfs in oorlogstijd niet.
De agenten trokken zich niets aan van mijn relaas en beweerden dat hun mandaat boven dat van de arts ging en dat hij gewoon het terrein had moeten verlaten, terwijl hij dit vanuit zijn medische verplichting niet kon en wilde doen.
Er kan dus niet gezegd worden dat ze niet wisten dat het een arts was, hij maakte dit zelf bekend.
Hij werd overgebracht naar het detentiecentrum in Groningen waar wij lang hebben moeten wachten voordat hij losgelaten is. In eerste instantie is hij daar in een soort verzamelkooi met de andere arrestanten vastgezet en vervolgens verhoord waarbij de apparatuur niet werkte waardoor het onnodig lang duurde.
Op aandringen van ons zijn wel verschillende agenten behulpzaam geweest bij het proberen de procedure te bespoedigen.
Een andere arts aanwezig op het kamp was bij aanvang van de ontruiming de spullen uit de medische tent over aan het brengen naar de auto. Dit kon niet eerder omdat er nog mensen geholpen werden en hij tevens nog op zoek was naar een asielzoeker die dringend diabetes medicatie moest hebben. Tijdens het inladen is hij hard in zijn rug geslagen door een ME’er die hem toeschreeuwde dat hij moest opschieten.
Dokter Co van Melle gaf gisteravond op de terugweg aan dat hij niet het middelpunt wil worden van de ontruiming omdat het om de asielzoekers gaat en niet om hem, maar ik ben de mening toegedaan dat hier kamervragen over gesteld moeten worden.
Het lijkt mij dat er bij de politie bijvoorbeeld in hun opleiding beter uitgelegd moet worden dat je medici die hun taak aan het uitoefenen zijn niet mag arresteren (of slaan). Indien dergelijke praktijken worden toegestaan glijden we als land af naar een zeer bedenkelijk niveau.
English
Doctor Van Melle Co. (74) arrested in Ter Apel.
While performing his duties as a doctor, Dr. Co Van Melle was pushed in an ME bus and transferred to a detention center in Groningen.
During the day the tensions among the residents ran high and because it was also very hot the doctor decided to remain on the site after the announcement the camp would be evacuated.
He was attending an elderly Somali woman who collapsed during the evacuation, causing considerable panic among the other Somali women who feared for her life.
While performing the duties he was sworn in to do as a doctor, he was ordered to leave. When he said he was a doctor and had to perform his duties, he was brutally grabbed, pulled, searched and put in the ME bus.
Several people including me, have witnessed this happening.
I have called the police out on the fact that a doctor was put in the ME Bus and that is it unlawful to arrest or detain a doctor who is providing medical assistance; even in wartime this is not allowed.
The officers did not pay attention to my story and claimed that their mandate was above that of the doctor and that he should have left the area, something he could not and did not want to do due to his medical obligation.
It can not be said that they did not know he was a doctor, he made himself known.
He was transferred to the detention center in Groningen where we had to wait for his release for long time. At first he was in a kind of collective cage with other detainees, and subsequently interrogated which took unnecessary long because the equipment was not working properly.
Several officers tried to expedite the process at our urging.
Another doctor present at the camp was moving stuff from the medical tent to his car when the evacuation started. He could not have done this any earlier because there were still people that required his attention and he was also still looking for an asylum applicant who urgently needed to have diabetes medication. During the loading of the stuff he got his back beaten by a ME’er who shouted he had to hurry.
Doctor Co Melle asked last night not to become the center of media attention around the eviction, for it must be about the people and not about him, but I am of the opinion that some serious questions must be asked in parliament.
It seems to me that the police in their training must be better explained that doctors exercising their medical duties are not to be arrested (or beaten). If such practices are allowed as a country we’re going down a very slippery slope.
I’m not sure where I’m going with this today. Just sort of typing. So some violence this weekend at the NATO summit. Not as much as I expected but I didn’t see everything and any is too much really. Some of the things I’ve seen over the last week or so are putting a smile on my face. Things like Blockupy in Germany, which after initially arresting or detaining 400 or so protesters, apparently they relaxed a little and decided to escort some protesters during a march a couple days later. The picture I saw showed the police walking in front of the protesters with helmets off and smiles on some of the faces. This is truly a good sign to me. I wish it would happen here in America but we still have a few more people to wake up. This does however remind me and lift me when I remember that this is a global revolution not a local revolution. Those of us awakened to things know that fixing one government isn’t going to be enough. The power needs to shift and it needs to shift everywhere not just America or Germany, but everywhere. Also another thing I saw is Canada. And seriously, wow. I don’t do the wow lightly, it takes a lot to get a real non sarcastic wow out of me. Reports of 250 thousand plus taking the streets in Montreal to protest the anti-protest law they are attempting to pass. That is amazing, and we could all learn from that. I’ve been reblogging and reposting pics of Germany and Canada all day. These things give me hope. I don’t do much. I sit around reading news and trying to get it out to people to see. That isn’t fulfilling and I don’t feel like I’m doing all that I can in doing just that. I want, need to be out there supporting and helping this cause in a physical way. Currently with my kids still in school and me needing to be here when my youngest gets home everyday is keeping me from participating exactly how I’d like to. I am dedicated to helping in anyway I can, I just don’t know how much more I can do from a computer at home. If anyone who reads this can think of something I’m not thinking of please feel free to message me or contact me however you can and let me know some ideas. I know I can do more, I just don’t know exactly what it is I can do from here. I love this world, I love the chance we have to just exist and be. Some days I don’t love it so much but those are bad days. Whatever I’m feeling each day about the world. There is always something or someone around me or that I talk to that makes me remember what it is I am trying to fight for. I love my kids. I love my ex wife. I love my friends. I love my friends on the internet who I talk to everyday more so than anyone else I know off the net. Some people complain about my constant talk of changing the world. I can’t help it some days. I wouldn’t say it to them if I didn’t believe in their abilities to seriously help in the cause. I believe some of the people I know on the internet to be incredibly intelligent and creative. I think if we all joined together in some of this we could spread word more and become more active in this fight at least internet wise. I believe in my friends and family I just wish I could motivate them or inspire them or convince them that this cause is worth fighting for, that we can help change things, that spreading awareness and participating is not only helpful but necessary. You are important, your voice matters, we are legion. Expect us. Further attempts to…. Bye for now. Got voices.
| — | Joseph Ettor, IWW organizer (via anoncentral) |
From Occupy Frankfurt. May 19, 2012.
The German police took off their helmets and marched with the protest clearing the way for them.
The police coming over to serve and protect the people… Blockupy Frankfurt. Police are escorting, not participating. Reports of an estimated 20,000+ protesters. Nice to see their faces…. and their humanity coming through…
WATCH THIS VIDEO: #blockupy. Frankfurt
German police officers escort an anti-capitalism protest march with some 20,000 people in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, May 19, 2012. Protesters peacefully filled the city center of continental Europe’s biggest financial hub in their protest against the dominance of banks and what they perceive to be untamed capitalism, Frankfurt police spokesman Ruediger Regis said. The protest group calling itself Blockupy has called for blocking the access to the European Central Bank, which is located in Frankfurt’s business district.(AP Photo/Michael Probst) - source
May 22, 2012
US officials with firsthand knowledge of how the government determines who gets put on the CIA and Pentagon’s lists for ‘targeted killing’ have confessed concern over the implications and nature of the process. In conversations with the Associated Press, one official involved — who spoke with assurances of anonymity — said that some of those carrying out the policy have become leery of “how easy it has become to kill someone,” under the rules established under the Obama administration and orchestrated by Obama’s top counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan.
Brennan, who last month offered the first public admission by a White House official of the existence of the clandestine drone assassination program in places like Pakistan and Yemen, has amassed unique powers by consolidating the decision-making process to a select and tightly-controlled group of people, according to AP’s reporting.
“Under the new plan, Brennan’s staff compiles the potential target list and runs the names past agencies such as the State Department at a weekly White House meeting,” the report cites officials as describing. “Previously, targets were first discussed in meetings run by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen at the time, with Brennan being just one of the voices in the debate. Brennan ultimately would make the case to the president, but a larger number of officials would end up drawn into the discussion.”
Human rights and civil liberties groups have called for the White House to disclose to the public the legal process by which names end up on the targeting lists, but this report will likely give them little comfort.
[…]
Top Obama Officials, Secretive Process Create ‘Assassination List’ | Common Dreams
