Angry White Kid

Obama, Honduras and Hamas

In Russia on Tuesday, Obama stated that he supports the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya, the overthrown president of Honduras, based on the following rationale:

America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies...We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not.

Then why does Obama not respect the right of the Palestinians to choose their own leaders when they elected Hamas? (This of course is a policy critique and does not delve into the matter of whether leaders are necessary to begin with.)

The Obama administration's stance on the coup in Honduras has been disgraceful. Today, Clinton even refused to call for Zelaya's reinstatement:

While Secretary Clinton reiterated the United States' condemnation of Mr. Zelaya's ouster, she stopped short of calling for his reinstatement, a departure from statements by President Obama earlier Tuesday and from the position taken by much of the international community.

When asked whether the United States viewed Mr. Zelaya's return as central to the restoration of democratic order, she said that she did not want to "prejudge" the talks before they began.

I have been traveling but hope to translate more documents on Honduras in the coming days. In the meantime, I suggest NarcoNews.com, HablaHonduras.com, and Tlaxcala.es.

Obama gets a settlement

Obama's efforts to scold Israel into stopping its illegal settlements in the West Bank seems to be yielding fruit.  In the opposite direction of course.  Maan News reports that:

Israeli settlers established a new illegal West Bank outpost on Thursday, dedicating it partly to US President Barack Obama.

The settlers, calling themselves the "Land of Israel Loyalists," named the outpost Oz Yehonatan, near Binyamin, but were calling part of it the "Obama Hut," according to the Israeli news agency Ynet.

And according to a report from Israel's Arutz Sheva news agency, the outpost was named "in recognition of the president’s actions, which have led to a dramatic increase in the number of outposts being built throughout Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]."

Given Obama's speech yesterday where he merely called for current settlement construction to stop - saying nothing about the almost 500,000 Israeli colonists already living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem* - this is the type of progress we can expect from Barack "More of the Same" Obama.  Which itself is all that can be expected.

* Or apartheid, or the nakba, or Jim Crow laws inside Israel, or Israel's nuclear weapons, or international law, or the massacre in Gaza, or the continuing murders of non-violent anti-wall protesters etc., etc., etc.

Catastrophe: 61 years and counting

A scene from the nakba.

Today around the world Palestinians commemorate the nakba (catastrophe) of the 1948 establishment of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of 75% of the indigenous Palestinian population from their lands and homes.

Sixty-one years later the Palestinian population is dispersed around the globe, forbidden by Israel to return to their homes.  Millions live in the refugee camps of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.  Millions more live in camps or homes under occupation in the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank.  And more than a million live as third-class citizens under an openly racist, apartheid regime in the land they were born - now called Israel.

While Hamas and Fatah squabble over who gets to be the Palestinian facilitator of Israel's occupation, dictatorial Arab regimes count their U.S. dollars, and Israel continues the nakba backed by the U.S. and Europe.

Civil society, the only place where power truly resides, must continue to act.  BOYCOTT. DIVESTMENT. SANCTIONS.

U.S. activist shot in head by Israelis in West Bank

3/16 UPDATE: Tristan's family has released a statement with some hopeful news, reading in part:

Tristan's girlfriend, Gaby, who has been tirelessly by his side, reports that he is doing much better. When the doctor asked him to put up two fingers he did so. Tristan recognizes Gaby and can squeeze her fingers in answer to different questions. He's started his moving toes and his torso around a bit. This is welcome and wonderful news! We understand things can go up and down, however we are deeply hopeful that Tristan will recover. We are looking forward to when he is stable enough that he can return home to the care and comfort of his family and community.

The video is very graphic:

Tristan Anderson, a 37-year-old from Oakland, CA, was shot in the head today with a high-velocity tear gas canister by an Israeli soldier while observing a protest against Israel's Apartheid Wall in the West Bank village of Ni'lin.  Fellow ISM activist Ulrika Jenson says that, "Tristan was hit and fell to the ground. He had a large hole in the front of his head, and his brain was visible."

Note in the video that after he is hit the Israelis continue firing tear gas as the medics begin to assist him. Emergency personnel are then forced to transfer him from a Palestinian ambulance to an Israeli one at a checkpoint. Prior to that transfer, Teah Lunqvist, who was there, said that, "When an ambulance came, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulance through the checkpoint just outside the village. After 5 minutes of arguing with the soldiers, the ambulance passed."

It goes without saying that he is receiving this attention and Israeli treatment because he is a U.S. citizen. Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during these protests don't get treatment in Israeli hospitals or make the news. Four residents of Ni'lin have been killed by Israelis while protesting against the wall and the confiscation of their land in less than a year.  Yet such an event hits home for many of us, myself included, as it is easy to imagine myself or many of my friends in his very situation as an international solidarity activist.

My thoughts are with Tristan, his family, friends, and comrades.

Tear down apartheid. Free Palestine.

Civilians as target practice

Support NYU occupation students

Rally for student occupiers and their demands
Tuesday, February 14
7 PM
South side of Washington Square Park
Manhattan, NYC

Sign the petition expressing your support for the students.

My note to the NYU Vice President of Public Affairs John Beckman, in response to an email similar to this statement:

Dear Mr. Beckman,

The NYU administration handled itself in a disgraceful manner in trying to resolve the occupation. This was epitomized by the administration agreeing to negotiations then detaining and suspending the student negotiators when they arrived.  That was nothing but thuggish and cowardly behavior.  It was certainly not respectful of the "free exchange of ideas" to which you say NYU is committed.  I also saw video this evening of a security guard physically assaulting Farah Khimji while dragging her off the balcony.  Is that a "measured response"?  This is my first semester at NYU and based on the administration's behavior during this occupation I have learned that NYU does not keep its word and it will use physical force against those who disagree with it.  This is deeply disturbing to me, as it is to my friends, colleagues and family.

As Take Back NYU! has emphasized, for many months they have been attempting to engage the administration regarding their concerns.  NYU showed then, as it shows now, a complete disregard for the valid concerns of its students.  That is the other lesson I learned this past week.  NYU has no respect nor tolerance for the grievances of its student body when those grievances may affect NYU's business model.  That truly shows where its priorities are.

Sincerely,
Scott Campbell
Draper Program

NYU administration thuggishly breaks occupation

Continuous updates on Twitter.

Today New York University has shown its true face more than ever. Claiming to be a "private university in the public service," it is clearly not even in the service of those students whose tuitions allow it to exist.

Earlier today, NYU cut power to all outlets in the occupied space and turned off the wireless internet.  Obviously this was an attempt to silence and intimidate the occupiers who have broad-based support.

Then, NYU said it would negotiate and instead detained and suspended the student negotiators when they showed up.  Security has now broken through the barricade and people are being detained and suspended.

Instead of dialog and negotiation, the NYU administration has shown they prefer the authoritarian, dissent-quashing, dictator route. It is a true reflection of how they run their university. Nothing but thugs with suits on, interested in getting rich under the guise of "education."

Be prepared to defend any individual or group that is targeted academically or legally for their role in the occupation. Widespread support for the occupation and its demands will not be extinguished by NYU's hypocritical, tyrannical behavior.

Come out to 60 Washington Square South if you can.

Email NYU Administrators. Demand amnesty and no suspensions:

NYU President John Sexton: [email protected]

John Beckman, NYU Spokesperson: [email protected]

Office of the Provost: [email protected]

Office of the Vice President: [email protected]

Protest outside occupied NYU building attacked

As the administration threatened to declare the students occupying the Kimmel Center at New York University as trespassers and subject to expulsion or arrest as of 1 AM Friday morning, a crowd of 500 people gathered outside to support the occupation.

Around midnight the crowd took the street in front of Kimmel. The police responded by firing pepper spray. A few injuries have been reported but no arrests.

Please continue to spread the word. Contact NYU. They state they will not grant amnesty. Amnesty for those taking part of the occupation is non-negotiable.

NYU refuses to negotiate

And they're also not letting security eat.

The only offer NYU has come up with in the face of the Kimmel Center occupation was that they'd agree to negotiations at 5PM today, but only if students left Kimmel by 4PM. Since it's after 4PM and the occupation is still going, you can guess what the students' response was.

At 5PM there will be a press conference in front of Kimmel Center. Come out and/or spread the word.

There's also now a sample letter and adminstration email addresses for people to use to express their support for the occupation and its demands.

NYU Occupied!

Demonstration in support of the NYU occupation:

Thursday, 12:15 PM
In front of Kimmel Student Center
60 Washington Square South, Manhattan, NYC

Since 10pm Wednesday night the third floor of the Kimmel Student Center at New York University has been occupied by more than 70 NYU and non-NYU students. Originally present for the first few hours of the occupation I had to leave for personal reasons, but it is still going strong and spirits are very high.  It was recently announced the head of NYU university relations has cut his vacation short and is flying back home.  They're clearly worried.

This is in direct solidarity with the many occupations occurring recently across the globe, from Greece to Britain to the New School and the University of Rochester.

There are 13 demands relating to NYU investments in war profiteers and occupation, the cost of tuition, the lack of transparency and the lack of respect for NYU workers.

See the full list of demands here. See live streaming video from the occupation here.

Help out and spread the word by:

• Come support the occupation!
• Send a letter to the administration in solidarity
• Send an e-mail to your professors, peers, listservs, facebook groups you name it! Tell the world.
• Have your parent write a letter or e-mail to the university
• Print the following demands and distribute them far and wide!