Sahir J. Ahmed
In oppression breeds sedition,
Perfidy comes to fruition.
Crowds unite and organize,
Attacking those who slow their rise.
Soon the tyrant would have fallen,
And the masses will start searching,
Needing one to lead and guide,
But most will hide their faces shied
Till a brave will come forward
Lifting people upward onward
Now the leader has much power,
Given this supremacy,
The leader gains a legacy.
Crushing Anti Leader thoughts,
Once again a tyrant looms,
Once again the crowd suppressed.
In oppression breeds sedition
Perfidy comes to fruition.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Of 'White Trees', Black Boys and Jena, Louisiana
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Of 'White Trees', Black Boys and Jena, Louisiana
Of 'White Trees', Black Boys and Jena, Louisiana
[col. writ. 7/21/07] (c) '07 Mumia Abu-Jamal
If you asked me two weeks ago if I've ever heard the name of a little town in Louisiana called 'Jena', I would've drawn a blank.
Jena? Never heard of it.
It made me think of the ill-fated Palestinian village called Janin, that Israel crushed into oblivion several years ago.
I think the incumbent president's daughter has that name (with and additional 'n').
But, that's it.
When a friend sent me several internet articles about recent events there, I was, quite frankly, flabbergasted.
I was astonished to learn that today, in the first decade of the 21st century, in Jena High School, there is still a 'white tree', called that not because the leaves are white, but because it is a generous giver of shade, and only white students sit under it.
In Sept. 2006, a young student named Kenneth Purvis asked the school principal for permission to sit under the 'white tree.' The principal answered that he could sit where he liked.
So, they did.
The next day, the 'white tree' was festooned with three nooses, in school colors.
In the South (or the North, for that matter), nooses have one clear meaning -- they are threats of death.
People naturally got riled up, angry, or scared.
Jena's High School principal looked into the matter, found the three white students responsible, and recommended that they be expelled.
The school superintendent felt otherwise, rescinded the expulsion, and instead recommended a 3 - day suspension. Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, the superintendent said, " Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat against anybody."
(Perhaps he meant anybody important - or white)
For Jena's Black community, this was but the latest slap in the face.
Black students at the high school decided to resist by holding a sit-in under the 'white tree' to protest the light suspensions given to the 3 white noose-hangers.
When word got out about the pending sit-in, the local DA came to a Jena school assembly, with several cops to threaten the students who dared to think they could do what people did some 40 years ago throughout the South (before the so-called 'New South'). He told them if they didn't stop making a fuss about this 'prank' he could be "your worst enemy." To make the point plain, he told the teen gathering, " I can take away your lives with a stroke of a pen."
Several days later, a white Jena student, who reportedly made racist taunts, including calling Black students 'niggers', got knocked down, punched and kicked. The boy was taken to the hospital, treated and released. That very night, he was well enough to attend a public event.
Within days six Black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. All six were also immediately expelled.
The 6 teens were given bails set from $70,000 to $139,000.
Bail at these ranges could've just as easily been set at $1 million, for they were at rates that none of the local parents could afford. That meant, of course, that all of the accused were held in jail for months, awaiting trial.
And if money for bail was out of reach, what about money for attorneys?
Again -- out of the question.
That meant that public defenders were appointed by the court.
For one of the accused, Mychal Bell, this meant little better than no counsel at all, for his trial was soon decided by an all-white jury, who promptly convicted him of aggravated second degree assault, battery and conspiracy.
Bell now awaits sentencing which may put the teenager in prison for the next 22 years.
The public defender never challenged the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence, and didn't call a single defense witness.
The law of aggravated assault requires the use of a deadly weapon. What was the weapon?
Tennis shoes.
Families and friends of the Jena 6 are organizing against this case, and are also being threatened by the local establishment. One woman told Louisiana ACLU member, Tory Pegram, "We have to convince more people to come rally with us.....What's the worse that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe."
To contact the Jena 6 Defense Committee, write:
P.O. Box 2798
Jena, Louisiana 71342
Or on the web: jena6defense@gmail.com.
--(c) '07 maj
[Sources: Quigley, Bill, "Injustice in Jena: Black Nooses Hanging From the 'White' Tree", July 3, '07; Quigley@loyana.edu.; Mangold, Tom, " 'Stealth racism' stalks deep South", BBC News, 5/24/07 online]
*******
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political prisoner in the United States, with what could be the final decision on his legal appeals possibly coming down this summer. That decision could give Mumia his freedom, a new trial, life in prison, or execution. It is time to turn up the heat against this injustice.
Free Mumia!
For more on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal read:
Top Ten "Fry Mumia" Myths Debunked
(Myth #1) "Five eyewitnesses saw Mumia shoot officer Faulkner."
http://indybay.org/newsitems/2007/07/19/18436405.php
Of 'White Trees', Black Boys and Jena, Louisiana
[col. writ. 7/21/07] (c) '07 Mumia Abu-Jamal
If you asked me two weeks ago if I've ever heard the name of a little town in Louisiana called 'Jena', I would've drawn a blank.
Jena? Never heard of it.
It made me think of the ill-fated Palestinian village called Janin, that Israel crushed into oblivion several years ago.
I think the incumbent president's daughter has that name (with and additional 'n').
But, that's it.
When a friend sent me several internet articles about recent events there, I was, quite frankly, flabbergasted.
I was astonished to learn that today, in the first decade of the 21st century, in Jena High School, there is still a 'white tree', called that not because the leaves are white, but because it is a generous giver of shade, and only white students sit under it.
In Sept. 2006, a young student named Kenneth Purvis asked the school principal for permission to sit under the 'white tree.' The principal answered that he could sit where he liked.
So, they did.
The next day, the 'white tree' was festooned with three nooses, in school colors.
In the South (or the North, for that matter), nooses have one clear meaning -- they are threats of death.
People naturally got riled up, angry, or scared.
Jena's High School principal looked into the matter, found the three white students responsible, and recommended that they be expelled.
The school superintendent felt otherwise, rescinded the expulsion, and instead recommended a 3 - day suspension. Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, the superintendent said, " Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat against anybody."
(Perhaps he meant anybody important - or white)
For Jena's Black community, this was but the latest slap in the face.
Black students at the high school decided to resist by holding a sit-in under the 'white tree' to protest the light suspensions given to the 3 white noose-hangers.
When word got out about the pending sit-in, the local DA came to a Jena school assembly, with several cops to threaten the students who dared to think they could do what people did some 40 years ago throughout the South (before the so-called 'New South'). He told them if they didn't stop making a fuss about this 'prank' he could be "your worst enemy." To make the point plain, he told the teen gathering, " I can take away your lives with a stroke of a pen."
Several days later, a white Jena student, who reportedly made racist taunts, including calling Black students 'niggers', got knocked down, punched and kicked. The boy was taken to the hospital, treated and released. That very night, he was well enough to attend a public event.
Within days six Black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. All six were also immediately expelled.
The 6 teens were given bails set from $70,000 to $139,000.
Bail at these ranges could've just as easily been set at $1 million, for they were at rates that none of the local parents could afford. That meant, of course, that all of the accused were held in jail for months, awaiting trial.
And if money for bail was out of reach, what about money for attorneys?
Again -- out of the question.
That meant that public defenders were appointed by the court.
For one of the accused, Mychal Bell, this meant little better than no counsel at all, for his trial was soon decided by an all-white jury, who promptly convicted him of aggravated second degree assault, battery and conspiracy.
Bell now awaits sentencing which may put the teenager in prison for the next 22 years.
The public defender never challenged the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence, and didn't call a single defense witness.
The law of aggravated assault requires the use of a deadly weapon. What was the weapon?
Tennis shoes.
Families and friends of the Jena 6 are organizing against this case, and are also being threatened by the local establishment. One woman told Louisiana ACLU member, Tory Pegram, "We have to convince more people to come rally with us.....What's the worse that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe."
To contact the Jena 6 Defense Committee, write:
P.O. Box 2798
Jena, Louisiana 71342
Or on the web: jena6defense@gmail.com.
--(c) '07 maj
[Sources: Quigley, Bill, "Injustice in Jena: Black Nooses Hanging From the 'White' Tree", July 3, '07; Quigley@loyana.edu.; Mangold, Tom, " 'Stealth racism' stalks deep South", BBC News, 5/24/07 online]
*******
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political prisoner in the United States, with what could be the final decision on his legal appeals possibly coming down this summer. That decision could give Mumia his freedom, a new trial, life in prison, or execution. It is time to turn up the heat against this injustice.
Free Mumia!
For more on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal read:
Top Ten "Fry Mumia" Myths Debunked
(Myth #1) "Five eyewitnesses saw Mumia shoot officer Faulkner."
http://indybay.org/newsitems/2007/07/19/18436405.php
Of 'White Trees', Black Boys and Jena, Louisiana
[col. writ. 7/21/07] (c) '07 Mumia Abu-Jamal
If you asked me two weeks ago if I've ever heard the name of a little town in Louisiana called 'Jena', I would've drawn a blank.
Jena? Never heard of it.
It made me think of the ill-fated Palestinian village called Janin, that Israel crushed into oblivion several years ago.
I think the incumbent president's daughter has that name (with and additional 'n').
But, that's it.
When a friend sent me several internet articles about recent events there, I was, quite frankly, flabbergasted.
I was astonished to learn that today, in the first decade of the 21st century, in Jena High School, there is still a 'white tree', called that not because the leaves are white, but because it is a generous giver of shade, and only white students sit under it.
In Sept. 2006, a young student named Kenneth Purvis asked the school principal for permission to sit under the 'white tree.' The principal answered that he could sit where he liked.
So, they did.
The next day, the 'white tree' was festooned with three nooses, in school colors.
In the South (or the North, for that matter), nooses have one clear meaning -- they are threats of death.
People naturally got riled up, angry, or scared.
Jena's High School principal looked into the matter, found the three white students responsible, and recommended that they be expelled.
The school superintendent felt otherwise, rescinded the expulsion, and instead recommended a 3 - day suspension. Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, the superintendent said, " Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat against anybody."
(Perhaps he meant anybody important - or white)
For Jena's Black community, this was but the latest slap in the face.
Black students at the high school decided to resist by holding a sit-in under the 'white tree' to protest the light suspensions given to the 3 white noose-hangers.
When word got out about the pending sit-in, the local DA came to a Jena school assembly, with several cops to threaten the students who dared to think they could do what people did some 40 years ago throughout the South (before the so-called 'New South'). He told them if they didn't stop making a fuss about this 'prank' he could be "your worst enemy." To make the point plain, he told the teen gathering, " I can take away your lives with a stroke of a pen."
Several days later, a white Jena student, who reportedly made racist taunts, including calling Black students 'niggers', got knocked down, punched and kicked. The boy was taken to the hospital, treated and released. That very night, he was well enough to attend a public event.
Within days six Black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. All six were also immediately expelled.
The 6 teens were given bails set from $70,000 to $139,000.
Bail at these ranges could've just as easily been set at $1 million, for they were at rates that none of the local parents could afford. That meant, of course, that all of the accused were held in jail for months, awaiting trial.
And if money for bail was out of reach, what about money for attorneys?
Again -- out of the question.
That meant that public defenders were appointed by the court.
For one of the accused, Mychal Bell, this meant little better than no counsel at all, for his trial was soon decided by an all-white jury, who promptly convicted him of aggravated second degree assault, battery and conspiracy.
Bell now awaits sentencing which may put the teenager in prison for the next 22 years.
The public defender never challenged the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence, and didn't call a single defense witness.
The law of aggravated assault requires the use of a deadly weapon. What was the weapon?
Tennis shoes.
Families and friends of the Jena 6 are organizing against this case, and are also being threatened by the local establishment. One woman told Louisiana ACLU member, Tory Pegram, "We have to convince more people to come rally with us.....What's the worse that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe."
To contact the Jena 6 Defense Committee, write:
P.O. Box 2798
Jena, Louisiana 71342
Or on the web: jena6defense@gmail.com.
--(c) '07 maj
[Sources: Quigley, Bill, "Injustice in Jena: Black Nooses Hanging From the 'White' Tree", July 3, '07; Quigley@loyana.edu.; Mangold, Tom, " 'Stealth racism' stalks deep South", BBC News, 5/24/07 online]
*******
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political prisoner in the United States, with what could be the final decision on his legal appeals possibly coming down this summer. That decision could give Mumia his freedom, a new trial, life in prison, or execution. It is time to turn up the heat against this injustice.
Free Mumia!
For more on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal read:
Top Ten "Fry Mumia" Myths Debunked
(Myth #1) "Five eyewitnesses saw Mumia shoot officer Faulkner."
http://indybay.org/newsitems/2007/07/19/18436405.php
Of 'White Trees', Black Boys and Jena, Louisiana
[col. writ. 7/21/07] (c) '07 Mumia Abu-Jamal
If you asked me two weeks ago if I've ever heard the name of a little town in Louisiana called 'Jena', I would've drawn a blank.
Jena? Never heard of it.
It made me think of the ill-fated Palestinian village called Janin, that Israel crushed into oblivion several years ago.
I think the incumbent president's daughter has that name (with and additional 'n').
But, that's it.
When a friend sent me several internet articles about recent events there, I was, quite frankly, flabbergasted.
I was astonished to learn that today, in the first decade of the 21st century, in Jena High School, there is still a 'white tree', called that not because the leaves are white, but because it is a generous giver of shade, and only white students sit under it.
In Sept. 2006, a young student named Kenneth Purvis asked the school principal for permission to sit under the 'white tree.' The principal answered that he could sit where he liked.
So, they did.
The next day, the 'white tree' was festooned with three nooses, in school colors.
In the South (or the North, for that matter), nooses have one clear meaning -- they are threats of death.
People naturally got riled up, angry, or scared.
Jena's High School principal looked into the matter, found the three white students responsible, and recommended that they be expelled.
The school superintendent felt otherwise, rescinded the expulsion, and instead recommended a 3 - day suspension. Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, the superintendent said, " Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat against anybody."
(Perhaps he meant anybody important - or white)
For Jena's Black community, this was but the latest slap in the face.
Black students at the high school decided to resist by holding a sit-in under the 'white tree' to protest the light suspensions given to the 3 white noose-hangers.
When word got out about the pending sit-in, the local DA came to a Jena school assembly, with several cops to threaten the students who dared to think they could do what people did some 40 years ago throughout the South (before the so-called 'New South'). He told them if they didn't stop making a fuss about this 'prank' he could be "your worst enemy." To make the point plain, he told the teen gathering, " I can take away your lives with a stroke of a pen."
Several days later, a white Jena student, who reportedly made racist taunts, including calling Black students 'niggers', got knocked down, punched and kicked. The boy was taken to the hospital, treated and released. That very night, he was well enough to attend a public event.
Within days six Black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. All six were also immediately expelled.
The 6 teens were given bails set from $70,000 to $139,000.
Bail at these ranges could've just as easily been set at $1 million, for they were at rates that none of the local parents could afford. That meant, of course, that all of the accused were held in jail for months, awaiting trial.
And if money for bail was out of reach, what about money for attorneys?
Again -- out of the question.
That meant that public defenders were appointed by the court.
For one of the accused, Mychal Bell, this meant little better than no counsel at all, for his trial was soon decided by an all-white jury, who promptly convicted him of aggravated second degree assault, battery and conspiracy.
Bell now awaits sentencing which may put the teenager in prison for the next 22 years.
The public defender never challenged the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence, and didn't call a single defense witness.
The law of aggravated assault requires the use of a deadly weapon. What was the weapon?
Tennis shoes.
Families and friends of the Jena 6 are organizing against this case, and are also being threatened by the local establishment. One woman told Louisiana ACLU member, Tory Pegram, "We have to convince more people to come rally with us.....What's the worse that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe."
To contact the Jena 6 Defense Committee, write:
P.O. Box 2798
Jena, Louisiana 71342
Or on the web: jena6defense@gmail.com.
--(c) '07 maj
[Sources: Quigley, Bill, "Injustice in Jena: Black Nooses Hanging From the 'White' Tree", July 3, '07; Quigley@loyana.edu.; Mangold, Tom, " 'Stealth racism' stalks deep South", BBC News, 5/24/07 online]
*******
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political prisoner in the United States, with what could be the final decision on his legal appeals possibly coming down this summer. That decision could give Mumia his freedom, a new trial, life in prison, or execution. It is time to turn up the heat against this injustice.
Free Mumia!
For more on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal read:
Top Ten "Fry Mumia" Myths Debunked
(Myth #1) "Five eyewitnesses saw Mumia shoot officer Faulkner."
http://indybay.org/newsitems/2007/07/19/18436405.php
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Torture: The Bush Legacy
What is waterboarding?
This is one of the "interrogation" methods favored by the Bush administration for use on *suspected* terrorists.
Note the word "suspected."
It's possible for a person who is entirely innocent and has no information whatsoever to be subjected to this form of torture.
People can and do die in the course of waterboarding. The practice is essentially to bring the victim to the edge of drowning, over and over again.
Bush and his henchmen pointedly continue to refuse to ban this practice explicitly.
Theoretically, thanks to George Bush "the Decider", anyone, anywhere, any time, who is suspected of having information related to "terrorism" can be snatched off the street and tortured in this way.
This perhaps more than his lying the US into an illegal, immoral and pointless war and ruining the US economy (a work in progress) may be his ultimate legacy.
This is one of the "interrogation" methods favored by the Bush administration for use on *suspected* terrorists.
Note the word "suspected."
It's possible for a person who is entirely innocent and has no information whatsoever to be subjected to this form of torture.
People can and do die in the course of waterboarding. The practice is essentially to bring the victim to the edge of drowning, over and over again.
Bush and his henchmen pointedly continue to refuse to ban this practice explicitly.
Theoretically, thanks to George Bush "the Decider", anyone, anywhere, any time, who is suspected of having information related to "terrorism" can be snatched off the street and tortured in this way.
This perhaps more than his lying the US into an illegal, immoral and pointless war and ruining the US economy (a work in progress) may be his ultimate legacy.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Hamas' stand
Hamas' stand
An official of the movement describes its goals for all of Palestine.
By Mousa Abu Marzook, MOUSA ABU MARZOOK is the deputy of the political bureau of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement.
July 10, 2007
Damascus, Syria — HAMAS' RESCUE of a BBC journalist from his captors in Gaza last week was surely cause for rejoicing. But I want to be clear about one thing: We did not deliver up Alan Johnston as some obsequious boon to Western powers.
It was done as part of our effort to secure Gaza from the lawlessness of militias and violence, no matter what the source. Gaza will be calm and under the rule of law — a place where all journalists, foreigners and guests of the Palestinian people will be treated with dignity. Hamas has never supported attacks on Westerners, as even our harshest critics will concede; our struggle has always been focused on the occupier and our legal resistance to it — a right of occupied people that is explicitly supported by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Yet our movement is continually linked by President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to ideologies that they know full well we do not follow, such as the agenda of Al Qaeda and its adherents. But we are not part of a broader war. Our resistance struggle is no one's proxy, although we welcome the support of people everywhere for justice in Palestine.
The American efforts to negate the will of the Palestinian electorate by destroying our fledgling government have not succeeded — rather, the U.S.-assisted Fatah coup has only multiplied the problems of Washington's "two-state solution."
Mr. Bush has for the moment found a pliant friend in Abu Mazen, a "moderate" in the American view but one who cannot seriously expect to command confidence in the streets of Gaza or the West Bank after having taken American arms and Israeli support to depose the elected government by force. We deplore the current prognosticating over "Fatah-land" versus "Hamastan." In the end, there can be only one Palestinian state.
But what of the characterization by the West of our movement as beyond the pale of civilized discourse? Our "militant" stance cannot by itself be the disqualifying factor, as many armed struggles have historically resulted in a place at the table of nations. Nor can any deny the reasonableness of our fight against the occupation and the right of Palestinians to have dignity, justice and self-rule.
Yet in my many years of keeping an open mind to all sides of the Palestine question — including those I spent in an American prison, awaiting Israeli "justice" — I am forever asked to concede the recognition of Israel's putative "right to exist" as a necessary precondition to discussing grievances, and to renounce positions found in the Islamic Resistance Movement's charter of 1988, an essentially revolutionary document born of the intolerable conditions under occupation more than 20 years ago.
The sticking point of "recognition" has been used as a litmus test to judge Palestinians. Yet as I have said before, a state may have a right to exist, but not absolutely at the expense of other states, or more important, at the expense of millions of human individuals and their rights to justice. Why should anyone concede Israel's "right" to exist, when it has never even acknowledged the foundational crimes of murder and ethnic cleansing by means of which Israel took our towns and villages, our farms and orchards, and made us a nation of refugees?
Why should any Palestinian "recognize" the monstrous crime carried out by Israel's founders and continued by its deformed modern apartheid state, while he or she lives 10 to a room in a cinderblock, tin-roof United Nations hut? These are not abstract questions, and it is not rejectionist simply because we have refused to abandon the victims of 1948 and their descendants.
As for the 1988 charter, if every state or movement were to be judged solely by its foundational, revolutionary documents or the ideas of its progenitors, there would be a good deal to answer for on all sides. The American Declaration of Independence, with its self-evident truth of equality, simply did not countenance (at least, not in the minds of most of its illustrious signatories) any such status for the 700,000 African slaves at that time; nor did the Constitution avoid codifying slavery as an institution, counting "other persons" as three-fifths of a man. Israel, which has never formally adopted a constitution of its own but rather operates through the slow accretion of Basic Laws, declares itself explicitly to be a state for the Jews, conferring privileged status based on faith in a land where millions of occupants are Arabs, Muslims and Christians.
The writings of Israel's "founders" — from Herzl to Jabotinsky to Ben Gurion — make repeated calls for the destruction of Palestine's non-Jewish inhabitants: "We must expel the Arabs and take their places." A number of political parties today control blocs in the Israeli Knesset, while advocating for the expulsion of Arab citizens from Israel and the rest of Palestine, envisioning a single Jewish state from the Jordan to the sea. Yet I hear no clamor in the international community for Israel to repudiate these words as a necessary precondition for any discourse whatsoever. The double standard, as always, is in effect for Palestinians.
I, for one, do not trouble myself over "recognizing" Israel's right to exist — this is not, after all, an epistemological problem; Israel does exist, as any Rafah boy in a hospital bed, with IDF shrapnel in his torso, can tell you. This dance of mutual rejection is a mere distraction when so many are dying or have lived as prisoners for two generations in refugee camps. As I write these words, Israeli forays into Gaza have killed another 15 people, including a child. Who but a Jacobin dares to discuss the "rights" of nations in the face of such relentless state violence against an occupied population?
I look forward to the day when Israel can say to me, and millions of other Palestinians: "Here, here is your family's house by the sea, here are your lemon trees, the olive grove your father tended: Come home and be whole again." Then we can speak of a future together.
LATimes
An official of the movement describes its goals for all of Palestine.
By Mousa Abu Marzook, MOUSA ABU MARZOOK is the deputy of the political bureau of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement.
July 10, 2007
Damascus, Syria — HAMAS' RESCUE of a BBC journalist from his captors in Gaza last week was surely cause for rejoicing. But I want to be clear about one thing: We did not deliver up Alan Johnston as some obsequious boon to Western powers.
It was done as part of our effort to secure Gaza from the lawlessness of militias and violence, no matter what the source. Gaza will be calm and under the rule of law — a place where all journalists, foreigners and guests of the Palestinian people will be treated with dignity. Hamas has never supported attacks on Westerners, as even our harshest critics will concede; our struggle has always been focused on the occupier and our legal resistance to it — a right of occupied people that is explicitly supported by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Yet our movement is continually linked by President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to ideologies that they know full well we do not follow, such as the agenda of Al Qaeda and its adherents. But we are not part of a broader war. Our resistance struggle is no one's proxy, although we welcome the support of people everywhere for justice in Palestine.
The American efforts to negate the will of the Palestinian electorate by destroying our fledgling government have not succeeded — rather, the U.S.-assisted Fatah coup has only multiplied the problems of Washington's "two-state solution."
Mr. Bush has for the moment found a pliant friend in Abu Mazen, a "moderate" in the American view but one who cannot seriously expect to command confidence in the streets of Gaza or the West Bank after having taken American arms and Israeli support to depose the elected government by force. We deplore the current prognosticating over "Fatah-land" versus "Hamastan." In the end, there can be only one Palestinian state.
But what of the characterization by the West of our movement as beyond the pale of civilized discourse? Our "militant" stance cannot by itself be the disqualifying factor, as many armed struggles have historically resulted in a place at the table of nations. Nor can any deny the reasonableness of our fight against the occupation and the right of Palestinians to have dignity, justice and self-rule.
Yet in my many years of keeping an open mind to all sides of the Palestine question — including those I spent in an American prison, awaiting Israeli "justice" — I am forever asked to concede the recognition of Israel's putative "right to exist" as a necessary precondition to discussing grievances, and to renounce positions found in the Islamic Resistance Movement's charter of 1988, an essentially revolutionary document born of the intolerable conditions under occupation more than 20 years ago.
The sticking point of "recognition" has been used as a litmus test to judge Palestinians. Yet as I have said before, a state may have a right to exist, but not absolutely at the expense of other states, or more important, at the expense of millions of human individuals and their rights to justice. Why should anyone concede Israel's "right" to exist, when it has never even acknowledged the foundational crimes of murder and ethnic cleansing by means of which Israel took our towns and villages, our farms and orchards, and made us a nation of refugees?
Why should any Palestinian "recognize" the monstrous crime carried out by Israel's founders and continued by its deformed modern apartheid state, while he or she lives 10 to a room in a cinderblock, tin-roof United Nations hut? These are not abstract questions, and it is not rejectionist simply because we have refused to abandon the victims of 1948 and their descendants.
As for the 1988 charter, if every state or movement were to be judged solely by its foundational, revolutionary documents or the ideas of its progenitors, there would be a good deal to answer for on all sides. The American Declaration of Independence, with its self-evident truth of equality, simply did not countenance (at least, not in the minds of most of its illustrious signatories) any such status for the 700,000 African slaves at that time; nor did the Constitution avoid codifying slavery as an institution, counting "other persons" as three-fifths of a man. Israel, which has never formally adopted a constitution of its own but rather operates through the slow accretion of Basic Laws, declares itself explicitly to be a state for the Jews, conferring privileged status based on faith in a land where millions of occupants are Arabs, Muslims and Christians.
The writings of Israel's "founders" — from Herzl to Jabotinsky to Ben Gurion — make repeated calls for the destruction of Palestine's non-Jewish inhabitants: "We must expel the Arabs and take their places." A number of political parties today control blocs in the Israeli Knesset, while advocating for the expulsion of Arab citizens from Israel and the rest of Palestine, envisioning a single Jewish state from the Jordan to the sea. Yet I hear no clamor in the international community for Israel to repudiate these words as a necessary precondition for any discourse whatsoever. The double standard, as always, is in effect for Palestinians.
I, for one, do not trouble myself over "recognizing" Israel's right to exist — this is not, after all, an epistemological problem; Israel does exist, as any Rafah boy in a hospital bed, with IDF shrapnel in his torso, can tell you. This dance of mutual rejection is a mere distraction when so many are dying or have lived as prisoners for two generations in refugee camps. As I write these words, Israeli forays into Gaza have killed another 15 people, including a child. Who but a Jacobin dares to discuss the "rights" of nations in the face of such relentless state violence against an occupied population?
I look forward to the day when Israel can say to me, and millions of other Palestinians: "Here, here is your family's house by the sea, here are your lemon trees, the olive grove your father tended: Come home and be whole again." Then we can speak of a future together.
LATimes
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
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israeli gunman
palestinian in class at the check point
Israeli gunman
palestinian children
Musician!
My heart will go on
Urdu Bazaar, Lahore, Pakistan
LAHORE - March 24, 2006: No way-out to avoid a traffic jam near Urdu Bazaar. — Dawn
poor animal!
MULTAN - March 24, 2006: A camel performance at the spring festival organised by the City District Government to mark the Pakistan Day
beast of burden
LAHORE - March 20: BEAST OF BURDEN: A damaged vehicle being taken to a workshop.—APP
Communing with pigeons
KARACHI - March 20: A child enjoys the company of pigeons, whom he feeds, at Hyderi on Tuesday.—APP
Waiting for drinking water
HYDERABAD (India) - March 20: People stand in a line as they wait to fill containers with drinking water supplied by a mobile water vehicle in a slum area in the Saidabad colony here on Tuesday. More than 500 families living in this slum area depend on water supplied by a mobile vehicle and provided by the Metro water works once in three days. 'Coping with Water Scarcity' is the theme for the World Water Day 2007, which is celebrated each year on March 22.—AFP
Mud slide in Kashmir
BAGH - March 20: A man marooned in an area of Azad Kashmir affected by hill torrents following heavy downpour over the past few days is being rescued by local people on Tuesday.—AFP
Palestinians
BETHLEHEM - March 22: Palestinian students wear traditional clothing during a cultural event taking place at the Bethlehem University here on Thursday. The event, which included a mock wedding, is to promote the education of traditional ideals of Palestinian culture.�AFP
The World Water Day,
HYDERABAD - March 22: Peasant women make their way to a distant place in order to fetch water. The World Water Day, being observed on Friday, is intended to highlight the need for reducing wastage of this precious commodity. � Photo by Yousuf Nagori
