Month: June 2010

by SONJA KARKAR

Today our media saw fit to publish two excellent articles by Diaspora Palestinians in response to the outrage so many people are feeling around the world about the atrocities Israel committed against a flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza. Please take the time to write letters to the newspapers as well as online supporting their stance. To save you time, we have reproduced both articles below and provided the emails and links. For more articles and news on the latest, please visit our website Australians for Palestine

The Australian email address: news@theaustralian.com.au

The Age email address: newsdesk@theage.com.au

World must take a stand against Israel

by Bassam Dally

Israel’s murder of the human rights activists on the MV Samoud on Monday brings into focus its policy of disregard for human lives and disrespect for international laws and conventions. This policy has been a product of world apathy to the plight of the Palestinians and US blanket support for Israeli actions.

The Australian for more

A deadly act of state-sponsored terrorism

by MOAMMAR MASHNI

Dov Weisglass, an adviser to a former Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, once compared the approach to Palestinians as like putting them on a diet. Israel needed to make the Palestinians lose weight, but not starve to death.

He wasn’t wrong. Successive Israeli governments have done their best to ensure the Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, continue to suffer immeasurably.

The Age for more

(Submitted by Ingrid B. Mork)

by PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Many Christian evangelicals, brainwashed by their pastors that it is God’s will for Americans to protect Israel, will believe the Israeli story, especially when it is unlikely they will ever hear any other. Conservative Americans, especially on Memorial Day when they are celebrating feats of American arms, will admire Israel for its toughness. Here in north Georgia where I am at the moment, I have heard several say, admiringly, “Them, Israelis, they don’t put up with nuthin.”

Conservative Americans want the US to be like Israel. They do not understand why the US doesn’t stop pissing around after nine years and just go ahead and defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. They don’t understand why the US didn’t defeat whoever was opposing American forces in Iraq. Conservatives are incensed that America had to “win” the war by buying off the Iraqis and putting them on the US payroll. Israel murders people and then blames its victims. This appeals to American conservatives, who want the US to do the same.

Counterpunch for more

by STEPHEN LENDMAN

The Israeli Navy raided a flotilla carrying thousands of tons of supplies for Gaza in international waters on Monday morning….The incident drew widespread international condemnation, with Israeli envoys summoned to explain their country’s actions in several European countries….The killings also coincided with preparations for a planned visit to Washington on Tuesday (June 1) by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Late word is it’s postponed.

The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times carried similar reports, trying, but hardly able to downplay a major crime.

Counter Currents for more

by OMID MEMARIAN

During Friday Prayers at Tehran University on May 21, Ayatollah Jannati, an influential member of Iran’s Guardian Council, suggested just that, demanding that a strict version of the Hijab Islamic covering be a requirement for female students.

“The university and students are both under your control and you can select the students based on this condition,” he told officials. “If not, let the Disciplinary Committee enter the action. A student needs his [sic] grade, he has no choice, he will do as you order him.”

Hijab – covering the whole body except the face with a scarf or veil – is mandatory for all Iranian women. But in a country in which almost 70 percent of the population is under 30 years old, and where women have outnumbered men in university attendance two-to-one over the past several years, more and more young women are adopting a sort of stylish Hijab that is coming under growing fire from conservatives.

Inter Press Services for more

by GHULAM ALI

In the post-9/11 period, China also openly sought Pakistan’s support on the issue of Muslim separatism in Xinjiang. Beginning in December 2001, the then Chief Executive of Pakistan, General Musharraf, visited the Grand Mosque of Xi’an at China’s request and asked the Muslims to be loyal to the Chinese government. This was the first time a Pakistani leader went public to endorse China’s polices on Xinjiang. Pakistan has since backed Beijing on this issue. The most significant display of this support came during the July 2009 riots in Xinjiang in which almost 200 people were killed. Pakistan not only endorsed China’s measures to quell the riots but used its clout to prevent certain Islamic countries to take the issue to the Organization of Islamic Conference, thus saving Beijing from embarrassment.

Central Asia-Caucasus Institute for more

by TISARANEE GUNASEKARA

“President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Rajapaksas will rule this country for a long time…. The Rajapaksas will become beloved leaders of this country…. The next chapter in Sri Lanka is reserved for the Rajapaksas…”

(An Astrological prediction published in the state-owned Silumina – 7.6.2009)

There is good governance; there is bad governance; and there is Rajapaksa governance.

The Sunday Leader for more

MS.

The United Kingdom’s first television ad for abortion services ran earlier this week. The ad (see 0video) is sponsored by Marie Stopes International (MSI), one of the world’s leading family planning organizations, and advertises MSI’s 24-hour hotline. The ad will not air in Northern Ireland, as abortion continues to be illegal there. The ad will run approximately 25 times throughout the next month, reported the New Zealand Herald.

Ms. for more

by MARIE TRIGONA

PHOTO/Francisco Ciavaglia/Upside Down World

200 years after the supposed end to colonial rule, indigenous territory continues to be invaded by foreign economic interests. One of the largest landholders in the Patagonia, includes the Italian company Benetton which owns 2.2 million acres of land. Benetton has lead a campaign to evict families from the land which their families lived centuries ago. “Our demands include that they recognize our people, territory and our rights to natural resources,” says Newen. He adds, ““The provincial governments carries out policies that allow natural resources to be bought and sold, for lands that Mapuches have occupied for decades to be sold with the communities on the lands, and that our people along with the people from the province are being polluted from the extraction of natural resources such as petrol and mining.”

Upside Down World for more

by ALEXANDER COCKBURN

“In recent years, I have offered my [US prisoners of war in Vietnam or] POW stories to a long list of editors of leading newspapers, magazines, and significant websites that do original reporting. And when they decline my offerings, I have urged them to do their own POW investigation with their own staff under their own supervision. The list of these news organizations includes the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, New York magazine, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, Salon, Slate, Talking Points Memo, ProPublica, Politico, and others. To my knowledge, none have attempted or produced a piece. Their explanations for avoiding the story have never rung true. … Some said they didn’t have enough staff to do the story. Others said the story was ‘old’ —even though we have never found out what happened to the missing prisoners.

Counterpunch for more

by NAMRATA JOSHI

“Katrina [Kaif] claims to have modeled herself on Priyanka Gandhi in Rajneeti.” PHOTO/Outlook

It’s not just publicists and producers, the stars themselves are turning marketing gurus, with Aamir Khan—more hard-nosed, calculating and canny than any publicist—leading the pack. His forte lies in effectively projecting his films as being at the cutting edge of modern-day debates and “causes”—middle-class activism with Rang De Basanti, dyslexia with Tare Zameen Par and education with Three Idiots. He is the master of the photo-op, popping up in different disguises in unlikely places such as Varanasi and Palanpur, and even Sourav Ganguly’s house in Calcutta. For Ghajini, he used a new hairstyle as a marketing tool, and even gave his fans a free cut in Delhi’s Bengali market. No wonder the marketing of Ghajini became a case study at IIM Ahmedabad. So what will he do next with his production Peepli Live? “These days it’s not just the Aamir film that people look forward to, he even creates anticipation about how he will market it,” says Chaudhary.

Outlook for more