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Slow Death in Gaza
"The Europeans seem to be quite satisfied acting as
America's puppet states."
By Margaret
Kimberley
How would the
civilized world react if 1.6 million people were kept
imprisoned, denied access to food, clean water,
sanitation facilities, and electricity? If those people
were also prevented from fleeing their oppression, would
Americans and Europeans speak out in protest?
If those aforesaid
people lived in Gaza, and were oppressed by Israel, then
the civilized world would say and do absolutely nothing.
Israel is the Untied States' number one client state,
and fear of American power has silenced everyone on
earth who has the power to stop this atrocity.
While Tibet and
Darfur are the subjects of selective cause celebre
condemnation, there are almost no voices raised publicly
on behalf of Palestinians, who live in danger of
indiscriminate shelling and gunfire, whose homes are
destroyed by Israeli tanks, and who are literally denied
an exit from their hellish existence. While they suffer,
Israel continues to build settlements on what is
rightfully Palestinian land.
It is not
surprising that Washington takes no action against
Israel, but silence from the rest of the world community
is the most shocking aspect of this continued violation
of human rights. Former president Jimmy Carter and Nobel
peace prize laureate Desmond Tutu are alone among world
leaders who openly
condemn the Israeli government and the complicit
silence from other nations.
Gaza's woes began
in 2006 when its people voted for a government headed by
Hamas, the Palestinian group that Israel and the U.S.
didn't like. The United States then demanded a blockade
of Gaza and the rest of the so-called Quartet (European
Union, Russia, the United Nations) went along. Carter
has revealed the ugly truth about this decision."The
Quartet's final document had been drafted in Washington
in advance, and not a line was changed."
"Former president
Jimmy Carter and Nobel peace prize laureate Desmond Tutu
are alone among world leaders who openly condemn the
Israeli government."
Carter called the
blockade that has imprisoned more than 1 million people
a "human rights crime." He has called on the other
Quartet members to break with the United States and end
the blockade and he has tried in vain to encourage the
Europeans to oppose American policy. "Why not? They're
not our vassals. They occupy an equal position with the
U.S." Apparently Carter has given Europeans more credit
than they give themselves. They seem to be quite
satisfied acting as America's puppet states.
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Archbishop Desmond
Tutu has joined Carter in calling for
international action to end Gaza's suffering. He
recently led a United Nations Human Rights Council
delegation to Gaza specifically to investigate the 2006
killings of 19 members of a Palestinian family whose
homes were destroyed by Israeli rocket fire in the town
of Beit Hanoun.
The Israeli
government made no pretense of showing Tutu the respect
that he receives everywhere else on earth. The
government refused to grant him and the other members of
his party entry into Israel, and they were forced to
enter Gaza through Egypt. Tutu's conclusions about the
situation in Gaza were inescapable and obvious. Yet the
words may seem odd to American ears, who never hear a
discouraging word about their government or Israel's.
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"This is not
something you want to wish on your worst enemy," said
Tutu. He called the situation in Gaza "abominable" and
condemned the "silent complicity" of the world
community. He called the killings at Beit Hanoun a "massacre"
and in a diplomatic understatement said that Israel's
explanations of the killings "fell short of
accountability."
"Gazans have
nothing to look forward to except more suffering."
The situation in
Gaza is of course a result of America's support of
Israel. In the past that support was at least tacitly
criticized by the world community, but now shows signs
of being accepted in much the same way that all of
America's aggression has become accepted.
America is feared
like a bully on the playground and European nations have
decided to be quiet and let Bush have his way. Jimmy
Carter said they should not be "supine" but they are,
and so they acquiesce, living in denial and inertia
while running out the clock until January 2009 in hopes
of getting a better deal.
They won't. The rot
in America goes beyond this administration, and so does
the rot in Israel. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may be
forced to resign because he has been caught taking
bribes from a rich American. United States foreign
policy will not change with a new administration. Only
Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu will have anything to say
about the crime being committed in Gaza, but neither of
them are in power, so their words won't matter at all.
Gazans have nothing to look forward to except more
suffering, more Beit Hanouns and more silence from the
rest of the world.
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Margaret
Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR.
Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached
via e-Mail at
Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com. Ms.
Kimberley maintains an edifying and frequently updated
blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com.
More of her work is also available at her Black Agenda
Report
archive page.
Source:
Black Agenda Report
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Pray the Devil Back to Hell
A film directed by Gini
Reticker
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
is a captivating new film by director Gini Reticker.
It exposes a different story angle for the largely
forgotten recent events of the women of Liberia
uniting to bring the end to their nation's civil
war. This film is amazing in the way it captivates
your attention from the earliest frames. It doesn't
shy away from showing footage of the violent events
that took place during the Liberian civil war. But
the main story of the film is that of
Leymah Gbowee
and the other women uniting, despite their religious
differences, to force action on the stalled peace
talks in their country. Using entirely nonviolent
methods, not only are the peace talks successful,
but Charles Taylor, the president of Liberia, is
forced into exile leading to the first election of a
female head of state in Africa. The women of this
film are truly an inspiration and no one can fail to
be moved by the message of hope that comes through
clearly in this film. These are heroes that deserve
to be remembered and with Pray the Devil we are able
to do that, gaining both a knowledge of the history
we are ignorant of through archival footage and an
understanding of the leaders of this movement
through close-up interviews with the many women who
lead it. The film also offers a great soundtrack &
inspirational song- "Djoyigbe" by Angelique Kidjo &
Blake Leyh.—Amazon
Reviewer |
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Mighty Be Our Powers
How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War
By Leymah Gbowee
As a young woman, Leymah Gbowee was broken by the Liberian civil war, a brutal conflict that tore apart her life and claimed the lives of countless relatives and friends. Years of fighting destroyed her country—and shattered Gbowee’s girlhood hopes and dreams. As a young mother trapped in a nightmare of domestic abuse, she found the courage to turn her bitterness into action, propelled by her realization that it is women who suffer most during conflicts—and that the power of women working together can create an unstoppable force. In 2003, the passionate and charismatic Gbowee helped organize and then led the Liberian Mass Action for Peace, a coalition of Christian and Muslim women who sat in public protest, confronting Liberia’s ruthless president and rebel warlords, and even held a sex strike. With an army of women, Gbowee helped lead her nation to peace—in the process emerging as an international leader who changed history. Mighty Be Our Powers is the gripping chronicle of a journey from hopelessness to empowerment that will touch all who dream of a better world.—Beast Books / Pray the Devil Back to Hell |
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By Nidaa Khoury
Khoury's poetry is fired by belief in
the human and the spiritual at a time
when many of us feel unreal and often
spiritually hollow.—Yair
Huri, Ben-Gurion University
Written in water and ink, in between the
shed blood. Nidaa Khoury's poems take us
to the bosom of an ancient woman . . .
an archetype revived. The secret she
whispers is 'smaller than words.'—Karin
Karakasli, author, Turkey
Nidaa Khoury was born in Fassouta, Upper
Galilee, in 1959. Khoury is the author
of seven books published in Arabic and
several other languages, including The
Barefoot River, which appeared in Arabic
and Hebrew and The Bitter Crown,
censored in Jordan. The Palestinian poet
is studied in Israeli universities and
widely reviewed by the Arab press. The
founder of the Association of Survival,
an NGO for minorities in Israel, Khoury
has participated in over 30
international literary and human rights
conferences and festivals. Khoury is the
subject of the award-winning film, Nidaa
Through Silence. Currently a senior
lecturer at Ben-Gurion University,
Khoury's poem Portal to the Orient is
being produced by Sarab for Dance for
performance in Palestine. Book of Sins
introduces this important Middle Eastern
poet to the Caribbean and the Americas. |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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update 6 October 2011
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