URGENT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE WORLD

The Egyptian people who were peacefully protesting the Military Coup of 3 July 2013, have been attacked by the Egyptian army in the night of 27 July 2013 local time, which turned into a bloody massacre. Part of the millions of civilians gathered at the Rabia-Al Adawiyya square have been attacked at the entrance of the square by Egyptian security forces including the use of real ammunition. It has been established that during the attack also discriminate shootings with the intention of killing took place. From what is reflected in the news 200 people are massacred while over 4500 people are injured. There is insufficient medical care for the injured. The number of deaths keeps raising by the hour. On the other side it is reported that also in Alexandria at least 11 civilians have lost their lives. A group of civilians, including women and children who fled the attack took shelter in the Al Kaid Ebrahim Mosque. This mosque is surrounded by the “Baltage” and the civilians who’s lives are in danger are waiting for help. Besides, it is reported that there is fear of an operation and bigger massacre on the civilians with large numbers of civilians, children, elder and disabled people gathered at the squares in Egypt including the Rabia-Al Adawiyya square under the command of the military coup regime. The main international treaties being in the first place, all legal norms, human rights and freedoms have been violated in front of the entire World by General Sisi and the military regime officials and they are committing crimes against humanity. IHH is calling upon the World with a deep concern on the developments in which the free will, the culture of elections and human rights are carelessly violated. Our call to the International Authorities, Governments, Non-Governmental Organizations, religious leaders, every conscience person as member of the family of humanity and the World public is: - urgent action has to be taken in order to stop the massacre in Egypt - a military operation on the squares, which is strongly presumed should be prevented
		F.Bülent Yıldırım
		President

Eric Burdon cancels gig in Israel "under increasing pressure"/ Sainsbury's BDS Day of Action across the UK

1..Eric Burdon performs in Scotland (Edinburgh) tonight in the only UK leg of a tour that was to have included a gig in Tel Aviv, Israel, on August 1^st.  Palestine solidarity activists welcome yesterday’s announcement that he has pulled out of the Tel Aviv engagement "under increasing pressure" to cancel, according to his Manager.

According to Israeli daily, Haaretz, "he was pressured not to perform in Israel and ultimately chose to cancel the concert, which was to take place August 1.  "We are under increasing pressure, including many threatening emails that we are receiving on a daily basis."

The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign was among many who wrote, and invited others to write, to Eric Burdon before he came to Edinburgh asking him to remain true to his long-term hostility to racism and Jim Crow in the US South.

Regarding alleged threats, the Independent notes that “the nature of the threats is unclear”. The extreme vagueness of alleged “threats” made to Burdon is certainly suspicious, and SPSC is unaware of any being made during the weeks that public, legitimate political and moral pressure was brought to bear on Burdon in support of the Palestinian call for boycott of Israel.  

We restricted our campaigning to positive exhortation to Eric Burdon to stay true to anti-racist principles.  We urge Burdon’s manager, Marianne Burdon, to specify the nature of the “threats”, to make them public, and report them to the police since threatening behaviour is a crime in the UK. Otherwise, doubts will remain since similar unfounded and anonymous accusations have been levelled in the past against pro-Palestine campaigners. 

We welcome Eric Burdon’s decision to follow in the tracks of Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, Carlos Santana, Gil Scott-Heron, Annie Lennox, the Pixies, Massive Attack and many others in refusing to perform in apartheid Israel.   This is another small crack in the wall that imprisons the Palestinian people.

He will now be unreservedly welcome in Edinburgh tonight.

Appeal from many Scots and others to Eric Burdon to boycott Israel.
http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php/solidarity/boycott/cultural/music/1586-eric-burdon-don-t-play-in-tel-aviv-on-august-1st

There is currently a wave of violent Israeli state-enforced ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and ongoing brutal military repression.

2..Palestine activity at your local Sainsbury’s on the first Saturday of every month
Stop Trade with Occupation Profiteers
Israel is accelerating its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, both Palestinian citizens of Israel and others living under Israel’s illegal military occupation. ‘Peace talks’ will generate illusory hopes while Israel continues to drive Palestinians from their homes and build more Jewish-only settlements.

Last year the Co-op UK adopted a policy of refusing to do business with any company, Israeli or otherwise, complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation.  This policy, much broader in scope than banning produce from Israel’s settlements, was secured by grass-roots cooperation and campaigning across all seven Co-op regions. 

This campaign aims to mobilise public pressure on Sainsbury’s across the UK to follow the Co-op and to refuse to trade with companies complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestine. On the first Saturday of every month there will be activities at Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.  An up-to-date record of stores in Scotland being covered on August 3^rd is maintained on a map here.  For information on actions taking place in the rest of the UK visit www.sainsburyscampaign.orgFind attached final versions of materials for use at Sainsbury’s to gather signatures:

o   leaflet

o   postcard

o   placard

o   banner

STOP = Stop (Sainsbury’s) Trade with Occupation Profiteers (in Palestine) is the interim name for the Scottish campaign.  We aim to build a coalition in Scotland for everyone to cooperate in this modest but sustained effort to support the Palestinian people. Ask trade unions, churches, campaign groups and other bodies to get involved and support the monthly Sainsbury’s events.

What you can do:

·        Let us know if you can organise around your local Sainsbury’s for this long-term, all-UK campaign.  Order some of the attached materials, £2 per 100 leaflets and postcards.

·        In Scotland, order an 8ft x 3ft full colour banner for this and future Sainsbury’s events (£32 – collect from Edinburgh or postage extra).

·        Take and share photos of each store activity.

·        If you live in the UK, ask your friends, family and contacts to sign the postcards to Sainsbury’s. Send them to your local SPSC group if you live in Scotland, and contact http://www.sainsburyscampaign.orgelsewhere in the UK.

·        Wherever you live, share the link to the online letter to Sainsbury’s at www.coordin8.org.uk with friends, family and contacts.

3..From SPSC website

Ethnic Cleansing of the Naqab in 2013: Is the Wood Group powering the ‘Prawer Plan?
Church of Scotland General Assembly slams Israeli apartheid and land theft - suggests BDS needed
UN condemns Israel's widespread use of torture
Scotland: 'little or no antisemitism' is coupled with 'rise of anti-Zionist political activity'
Settler Colonialism in Palestine.
Speaking tour by author of 'Gaza: when the sky rained white fire'
Divestment workshop 19 & 20 October, Edinburgh

Select the campaign you wish to support:

Mick Napier

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
c/o Peace & Justice Centre
Edinburgh EH2 4BJ

www.scottishpsc.org.uk
00 44 131 620 0052
00 44 795 800 2591
Skype: michaelnapier

Пленникът Абдуллах ал-Баргути е изпратил писмо до съпругата, децата и сестра си, в което пише, че той упорито продължава гладната си стачка и ще се откаже и от приемането на вода!
Към съпругата си той се обръща така:"На теб, моята съпруга и любима на душата ми...поднасям всичките си извинения...единият от нас стачкува с глада си, а другият - и това си ти - не може да сложи залък хляб в устата си и след много усилия го усеща горчив, жлъчен."
Абдуллах Ал-Баргути се намира в болницата Афуля, откъдето заявява, че гладната му стачка е по ирландския метод (приемане на вода със сол) и няма връщане назад от тази негова стъпка, но предстои следваща, която ще бъде предприета, ако продължи неотстъпчивостта на израелското правителство - отказ и от приема на вода! "И нека спрат ударите на сърцата ни, и се подпечати с клеймото на срама окупаторът и помощниците на тиранията!"
Към дъщеря си Таля: "Скъпа Таля, ангел мой, не тъжи заради глупавото ми сърце, чиито удари са полудели, не тъжи, защото това сърце ме подтиква да се противипоставям на трудностите и то ме накара да се боря срещу всеки угнетител. Мозъкът мисли, планира, изпълнява, но сърцето е онзи малък орган, който ако е добродетелен, такова ще е и цялото тяло."

източник Жени за Палестина

Where the Z Stands for Zionism

Ever since George Romero popularised zombies in his landmark 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead, the undead have been a durable symbol in the cinematic imagination. As many critics have observed since the movie's initial shock subsided, he had much more on his mind than brain-eating ghouls.

Romero's ultra-low budget vision of the dead rising from their graves to feas

photo: mwcnews.net

t on the living played on America's still unfolding nightmare in Vietnam, and the traumatic violence of domestic racial and social unrest. In his subsequent films, the zombie apocalypse was a means for social commentary (on consumerism in Dawn of the Dead, militarism in Day of the Dead and Bush-era economic injustice in Land of the Dead.) The zombies increasingly represented the growing ranks of the dispossessed. Human society was revealed to be the true monster.

World War Z, produced by star Brad Pitt and directed by Mark Forster, is the latest entry in zombie cinema and it's a far cry from Romero's subversive social commentary. Instead, this overstuffed opus is haunted by the events of 9/11, and its prescriptions are depressingly familiar. The film's bloated budget, reactionary politics and scattered narrative logic are an uncanny mirror of our own expensive and irrational War on Terror.

Based on the popular novel by Max Brooks, World War Z is about a sudden zombie pandemic that threatens human civilisation. It follows Brad Pitt's character Gerry, a weary UN investigator, on a global hunt to discover the cause of the zombie epidemic and find a cure.

Where Romero used the perceived brainlessness of the zombie genre to stage a left wing critique of society, the zombies in World War Z are deployed to stoke our worst fears of global terrorism. This is made explicit in two of the film's set pieces, a harrowing early scene in Philadelphia that evokes the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre (as Spielberg's War of the Worlds did before it) and a later sequence on an airplane which references the doomed Flight 93.

However, it is the film's lengthy detour to Israel which is its most overtly allegoric and problematic sequence. In the course of his investigation, Gerry learns that the Mossad had advance knowledge of the zombie threat and kept it a secret from the world. This is an oblique reference to some of the more controversial 9/11 conspiracies about Israel's supposed foreknowledge of the attacks, and it briefly opens the film up to charges of anti-Semitism.

Gerry then flies to Jerusalem (identified in the film's titles as "Jerusalem, Israel") to meet a Mossad chief, Jurgen Warmbrunn (Ludi Boeken). He initially mistrusts Gerry, a UN investigator who has written critical things about Israel in a book. Warmbrunn then gives a speech about the historical need for Jewish vigilance in the face of existential threats. He references the Holocaust, Munich and the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, all of which are connected, in this fairly obvious dialogue, to the current zombie threat.

What happens next is jaw dropping in is audacity. Warmbrunn reveals that the walls around Israel (which in real life are apartheid walls), were actually re-designed to create a fortress to protect humanity from the coming zombie threat. Not just a fortress for Israelis, but for everyone. He shows Gerry an open checkpoint where the benevolent Israelis are allowing Arabs to immigrate into Israel for safety. We see Arabs passing through an open border, warmly greeted in brotherhood by Israelis. Israeli flags and Palestinian flags fly in harmony. This is pure liberal fantasy, and one that erases the Palestinian struggle. In this film, real-life walls of apartheid are shown to be not only necessary, but an act of tremendous benevolence, enabling racial harmony.

But the utopia is short-lived. This easing of borders becomes Jerusalem's downfall. At the crossing, the noise of an Arab woman's celebratory song attracts a zombie horde. The undead form a pyramid to climb over the apartheid wall as the valiant IDF tries to kill them. This is a very disturbing image. It is impossible not to see this scene as an apocalyptic evocation of Israeli fears of Arab invasion, whether through literal acts of violence or "demographic threat". The city is overtaken by zombies, as Jerusalem's residents are quickly overpowered, bitten, infected and turned. Zombies have long embodied white fears of miscegenation, making this a particularly fraught scene. Ultimately, in compromising security for brotherhood, Israel's worst fears are realised.

In the final escape from Jerusalem, an IDF soldier sacrifices himself with a grenade to help Gerry get away (ironically, a suicide bombing). Gerry and a wounded female IDF soldier (Daniella Kertesz) are the only survivors and become the film's central heroes - the United States and sister Israel (with a benevolent assist from the UN) working together to save civilisation from an incomprehensible, unstoppable terror.

Popular films rarely announce their politics with the clarity that World War Z does in its defense of the Israeli security state and its apartheid wall. Unsurprisingly, global reaction to the film has been sharply divided. The Times of Israel approvingly declared World War Z "the greatest piece of cinematic propaganda for Israel since 'Exodus.'" Meanwhile in Turkey, censors removed references to "Israel" and replaced them with "Middle East," fooling no one.

Most telling was the response of many in the Western media, who gestured to the controversy surrounding the film, without unpacking it. "Curious wall draws speculation as to movie's message" was the bland headline from the Associated Press.  Asawin Suebsaeng, writing for the liberal website Mother Jones, acknowledged World War Z's improbable Israel sequence but then avoided its implications, simply suggesting, "If you would like to infer any bizarre or cynical political allegory in any of that, please be my guest".

Here, as in the larger discussion about Israel's treatment of Palestinians, there's an assertion of phony even-handedness and a failure to confront the stark injustice of the occupation. It's as though these critics, like their counterparts in political punditry, want to cover their eyes and ears from the real life horrors of occupation.

In his defense of the radical underpinnings of Romero's cinema, the late film critic Robin Wood observed that zombies symbolise "the return of the repressed" other in monstrous form. This could also serve as an explanation for the West's unending War on Terror, where no wall is high enough. World War Z's truncated finale leaves viewers hanging for a sequel, as Gerry grimly informs us that the war is only just beginning.

Matt Cornell is a writer, artist and film festival programmer in Los Angeles. 

source mwcnews.net

ACTION: 75 days of hunger strike - Abdullah Barghouthi in health crisis. Implement the demands of Jordanian hunger strikers!

samidoun.ca + @samidounPP

Take Action: 75 days of strike. Abdullah Barghouthi in health crisis. Implement the demands of Jordanian hunger strikers! Five Palestinian political prisoners with Jordanian nationality being held in Israeli prisons are entering their 75th day of hunger strike, and facing a severe health crisis. Take action today to join in their demands for justice. Click to Tweet Now: ACT NOW: Abdullah Barghouthi and Jordanian hunger strikers in health crisis on 75th day of strike. Demand justice: http://wp.me/p2cx3f-Hu  Abdullah Barghouthi, Mohammad Rimawi, Muneer Mar’i, Alaa Hammad, and Hamza Othman al-Dabbas launched their hunger strike on May 2, 2013. All carry Jordanian citizenship, and together issued three demands: 1. That they be released from Israeli prisons and serve their sentences in Jordanian prisons according to the Wadi Araba Agreement between Jordan and Israel. This agreement was previously applied to the case of prisoner Sultan Al-Ajouli, who was transferred to Jordanian custody in accordance with the agreement. 2. That the Occupation disclose the whereabouts of missing Jordanian prisoners, of which there are 20. 3. That the Occupation remove martyrs from the ‘numbered graves’, where prisoners who died in custody are currently kept in nameless graves.  Their health has worsened progressively. Abdullah Barghouthi is currently held in Afula hospital, while Rimawi, Mar’i, Hammad and Othman al-Dabbas are held in the Ramle prison clinic. All are shackled, hand and foot, to their hospital beds. Abdullah Barghouthi has been physically assaulted on multiple occasions by his jailers, and is now in a severe health crisis. He is no longer able to receive injections in his arms due to inflammation, and is taking only water. He is suffering from kidney, liver and other diseases, reported lawyer Jawad Boulos on July 13. These reports followed updates on July 10 that Barghouthi was suffering severe inflammations throughout his body. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society also released a statement in which Barghouthi said “his hunger strike would end only on or under the Jordanian soil.” Barghouthi has been consistently suffering severe headaches and shivering throughout his body. Hunger striking prisoners Muneer Mar’i, Mohammad Rimawi, and Ala’a Hammad were transferred to the Ramle prison clinic from Soroka Hospital on July 14. Hamza Othman al-Dabbas remained at Ramle clinic. Each of the prisoners have lost over 18 kilograms of weight and must use wheelchairs to move. Rimawi is being denied critical medicine for his heart disease because he refuses to end his hunger strike. The families of the hunger strikers have called for action. Protests have taken place in London, throughout all areas of occupied Palestine, including ’48 Palestine, Ramallah, Gaza, and Nablus; and over 70 protests in Jordan. Take action today: TAKE ACTION! 1. Sign a letter demanding the Israeli state immediately implement the demands of the Jordanian hunger strikers. Tell the Israeli Prison Services that the world is watching! Click here to sign.. 2. Join a protest or demonstration outside an Israeli consulate for Palestinian prisoners. Join one or announce your own. Organizing an event, action or forum on Palestinian prisoners on your city or campus? Use this form to contact us and we will post the event widely. If you need suggestions, materials or speakers for your event, please contact us at samidoun@samidoun.ca.  3. Contact your government officials and demand an end to international silence and complicity with the repression of Palestinian political prisoners. In Canada, Call the office of John Baird, Foreign Minister, and demand an end to Canadian support for Israel and justice for Palestinian prisoners, at : 613-990-7720; Email: bairdj@parl.gc.ca. In the US, call the office of Elizabeth Jones, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs (1.202.647.7209). Demand that Elizabeth Jones bring this issue urgently to his counterparts in Israel. Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Other News Samer al-Barq enters fourth year in administrative detention without charge or trial Former political prisoner Khader Adnan expresses solidarity with California hunger strikers Thaer Halahleh moved to Ramle prison clinic following health crisis Totah and Abu Arafah barred from Jerusalem, sentenced to 30 months in Israeli prison Former prisoner al-Taj to go to Austria for medical treatment Israel lifts publication ban on the kidnapping of Wael abu Rida from Egypt

Make this project happen!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/freedom-stitchers/x/382000

Announcing the launch of the “Freedom Stitchers” project to help create self-sufficiency for marginalized and jobless women in Gaza.

The “Freedom Stitchers” project begins in Gaza, late summer/early autumn 2013

ABOUT

“Freedom Stitchers” will be a sustainable project to assist the women of Gaza in creating handcrafted items that can then be exported and sold to generate a small income for the women who participate. This micro-business is based on the idea that Palestinian women possess their own unique artistic and design skills, but they need a process to sell their finished products to the world, (with a little help from their friends at “Freedom Stitchers.”)  We therefore intend to help set up this business for women in Gaza to market not only their exquisite embroidery, but to also enhance their artistic skills by teaching them how to knit, crochet, do silk ribbon embroidery, beadwork, felting, and other types of hand stitching for textile art which can then be sold.

The three of us organizers, Sinead MacLochlainn, Mary Hughes Thompson and Greta Berlin are long-time activists for justice in Palestine. You can read more about us on our bio page and on the website at www.freedomstitchers.org then donate what you can to make this project work. Indiegogo accepts credit cards and PayPal or you can send a donation to the bank in Ireland. It's listed in the website above.

You all stepped up and donated for the boats. No matter how big or small the donation, this project is also worthy of your support. Once Mary, Sinead and I set up the micro-business, we will step back and provide support as needed. 

Everyone says it is not possible to organize a micro business in Gaza. But they said the same thing about sending boats. The boats could not have happened without all of you. Make this project happen!

--
Greta Berlin, Co-Founder, the Free Gaza movement
Editor, Freedom Sailors
www.freedomsailors.com