On May 15, 2012, around 1,000 demonstrators gathered outside Israel's Ofer military prison near Ramallah, Occupied Palestine, to mark the 64th anniversary of the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Palestinians during the establishment of the state of Israel. At least 63 protesters were injured as Israeli forces deployed tear gas, plastic-coated steel bullets, "Exact Impact" rounds, skunk water and concussion grenades.
Posts categorized "Palestine"
May 31, 2012
March 31, 2012
March 25, 2012
March 16, 2012
February 29, 2012
February 17, 2012
February 02, 2012
From Occupy Oakland to Occupied Palestine
Check out the full article at the Occupied Oakland Tribune.
An abridged version of the following article appeared in the print edition (issue 3) of the Occupied Oakland Tribune.
Sitting in solitary in Glenn Dyre jail after being arrested during the first raid on the Occupy Oakland camp at Oscar Grant Plaza, I had no idea what was playing out on the streets just blocks away. Not until getting out the following day did I see footage of the massive police violence that was unleashed on the evening of October 25.
As someone who has worked in solidarity with Palestinians for years, that footage reminded me of scenes that play out frequently in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Villages there whose land is being taken for the construction of Israel’s illegal separation wall hold weekly nonviolent protests against their continued dispossession. As happened on October 25 in Oakland, these peaceful rallies are met with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets from Israeli forces. Often live ammunition is deployed and since 2004, 22 Palestinians, almost half children, have been killed by Israeli forces while protesting against the usurpation of their lands and livelihoods.
August 11, 2011
June 24, 2011
U.S. to Israel: Go ahead and kill our citizens
In a few days time, ten ships with hundreds of civilians from 22 countries on board will be setting sail for the Gaza Strip. The Freedom Flotilla 2 - Stay Human will be challenging Israel's four year siege and blockade of the Gaza Strip, as well as its 44 year occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Unarmed and committed to nonviolence, members of the flotilla include members of parliament, writers, artists, clerics, activists and journalists.
On May 31, 2010, Israeli forces violently boarded the ships comprising the first Freedom Flotilla while they were in international waters (a violation of international law). On the Mavi Marmara, commandos killed nine individuals, including U.S. citizen Furkan Dogan, who the UN found was killed "execution-style," as were five other victims. This time around, the Israeli military has announced its plan to deploy attack dogs and snipers against the flotilla and stated, “We will do anything we have to do to prevent a boat from breaking the blockade...If there is the same violence against our forces on board, there is a pretty good chance there will be injuries.”
One of the boats in this flotilla will be a U.S.-flagged vessel, "The Audacity of Hope." On board will be around forty U.S. citizens and ten members of the media. The passengers include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker and Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein. Twenty-five percent of the passengers are Jewish.
Given Israel's exceedingly violent response to the first flotilla, in flagrant violation of international law, one would expect the U.S. government to caution Israel against using force against U.S. citizens. Yes, we are all aware what super good friends Israel and the U.S. are, but when your friend says, "I'm ready to kill your people," you'd expect the U.S. to at least suggest Israel show a tiny bit of restraint. After all, it is the State Department's role to protect and assist U.S. citizens traveling abroad. Well, those running the show at State must have forgotten that part of the job description, as instead of cautioning Israel, in recent days the State Department has unleashed at all-out diplomatic offensive against its own citizens, essentially giving Israel the green light to kill them while washing their hands of any responsibility. Consider the following:
Continue reading "U.S. to Israel: Go ahead and kill our citizens" »
January 22, 2011
Remembering John Ross - a true rebel journalist
As many of you may know, John Ross passed away on Monday, January 17 at the age of 73, from liver cancer. I won’t try to replicate the many kind obituaries which have appeared in the U.S. and Mexican media in recent days. In fact, I didn’t know John well, but our encounters over the years, by chance or intentional, as well as his constant production of books, poetry and articles, leave me wanting to say something.
I first met John about eleven years ago, when he was doing a national tour and I organized his visit to Vassar College. He hopped in my car at the train station in Poughkeepsie and some of his first words were, “Mind if I smoke?” Assuming he meant a cigarette I said sure, and he promptly sparked a tiny joint. After settling in at my place, he gave a talk to a packed audience, interspersing political discussion about the Zapatistas and neoliberalism with beat poetry read with the aid of his much-commented-upon monocle. Later, he stayed up late with us 18 and 19-year-old kids, regaling us with stories of how Jack Kerouac chased him around a bar in Greenwich Village with a broken bottle (he had hooked up with Kerouac’s girlfriend) or his thoughts on the Saint Patrick’s Battalion (they weren’t political, it was all about Catholicism).
That encounter, along with running into him at various events over the years, such as a memorial for Rachel Corrie or a protest against the war on Iraq, as well as his books and columns from Mexico Bárbaro to Blindman’s Buff, made a lasting impression on me and nourished a deep respect for this singular individual. John was a person who knew his values, knew what mattered and was willing to face the consequences of what may come in his fight to uphold them - be they spending time in jail as the first conscientious objector to the Vietnam War; being deported by Saddam Hussein while trying to serve as a human shield against the second U.S. invasion; losing a eye to a San Francisco police beating; or a permanently injured back as a result of a beating from Israeli settlers. Lest we leave Mexico out, he was also beaten by the federal police after berating Octavio Paz in the Mexico City airport.
But it was not only physical coercion at the hands of state oppressors that John was willing to face. While he was quick with a smile, a great conversationalist, and truly generous and genuine with his time and attention, he called things as he saw them and if that resulted in a shot across your bow, so be it. Perhaps the most notable manifestation of this in recent years was his criticism of the Zapatistas, the Other Campaign, and Subcomandante Marcos. John was one of the first, if not the first, journalists to bring the Zapatista struggle to the attention of English-speakers in the U.S. and elsewhere. Solidarity was John’s mantra, and he saw it as his task to help bring the U.S. left’s attention to social movements south of the border. He traversed thousands of miles and spilled hundreds of pages of ink doing just that with the Zapatistas. But when he saw the Other Campaign go astray, in his eyes, of its intent and the values of the Zapatistas, he did not hesitate to voice his concerns. He did what is still considered heretical on the left: criticize the EZLN. This certainly cost him in terms of friendships, distribution and readership, but John had always struck out on his own course, why would he stop in 2006 at the age of 69?
The last time I saw John was in April of last year, where I put together another event in the Lower East Side, to discuss the situation in Oaxaca, the case of assassinated journalist Brad Will, and the Mérida Initiative. John was technically on a U.S. tour to promote his latest, and ultimately last, book, El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City, but that evening he didn’t even discuss it, in fact only bringing two copies to sell. At that point his liver cancer was in remission and he seemed as feisty and energetic as he was when I first met him, maybe even more so, as he noted he was pleasantly surprised to still be alive.
As we all know, his cancer returned and ultimately took his life. In one of his last emails to me, he apologized for not writing his annual article about the murder of Brad Will, stating, “i’m gravely ill with liver cancer and just putting together a coherent article is not such an easy job these days - but i'll work on one for publication next week perhaps on the day of the dead (if i’m still among the living).” In fact, he did write that article and lived to fight a couple of months more, his dedication and fire never failing.
Though he would likely scoff at the tributes, the truth is there are few people like John, and those people should be celebrated and remembered. Thank you for all that you have given us, shown us and inspired in us, John. We will pick up the torch that you have passed to us.
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