Tag: Human rights

CINCY 4 PALESTINE EVENTS

Cincinnati Palestine Solidarity Coalition: Upcoming Events. Unfortunately there are no events to announce right now (30 January 2017).

cpsc.background

The Cincinnati Palestine Solidarity Coalition is a group worth following, now you can do that right here on billziegler1947. CPSC is speaking with a peaceful voice,  in solidarity with everyone who finds hope in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed in 1948: proclaimed in the same year as the Nakba.

A good starting point is the CPSC Facebook page, it’s worth visiting even if you are not anywhere near the southwest corner of Ohio. And here is a shout-out of appreciation to readers every continent: 53 countries in 2016 so far.  The idea is to make ideas available and not to impose them upon people.

(Already Happened) March 27 (Tuesday) to April 3 (Sunday) marks Israeli Apartheid Week in the U.S. Israeli Apartheid Week 2016

(Already Happened) March 16 (Wednesday) Poetry Night with Remi Kanazi takes place at the University of Dayton this Wednesday March 16 at 8:00 PM. Event link here.

pal.remi.kanazi
Remi Kanazi

(Already happened) March 20 (Sunday) Support Palestine: Protest AIPAC

A protest timed to coincide with a large AIPAC conference in Washington DC. CSPC is participating with a contingent. Timing is also critical since AIPAC can no longer depend on an automatic lockstep bipartisan support of Israel, dependable as clockwork.

Why Peter F. Cohen is Going to DC on March 20. On Mondoweiss.

(Already happened) March 29 (Tuesday) A teach-in on Rasmea Odeh takes place March 29. Details to follow. Here is a picture of Rasmea marching for another people who share her experience. In solidarity.

pal.rasmea.stop.killing.black

(Already happened) March 31 (Thursday) The fifth of five teach-ins is on March 31 at the Clifton Mosque.  The theme: economic and military ties between the U.S. and Israel.

A-boy-with-the-word-PALESTINE-written-on-his-face-takes-part-in-a-protest-against-the-Israeli-blockade-of-the-Gaza-Strip-in-Amman-December-5-2008-Reuters

(Already happened)  3 (SUNDAY) 1:30 to 4:00 at the Clifton Mosque. An event sponsored by CPSC and Black Lives Matter Cincinnati (BLM:C)

When I see THEM I see US

when.i.see.them.i.see.us

 

May 11 (WEDNESDAY) World Keffiyeh Day. Another creative way to celebrate Palestine. #KeffiyehDay

May 14 (SATURDAY) North America Nakba Tour.

CPSC Facebook Event Page has up-to-date information.

I also have a post on the NAKBA Tour on billziegler1947

This group is including Cincinnati on its itinerary. From their website:

“Mariam, now 85 years old and respectfully known as Umm Akram, has spent the last 68 years in crowded, makeshift refugee camps in Lebanon.  She has raised three generations in the same camps, all waiting to return to their home in Palestine. She has lived through five Israeli invasions of Lebanon, as well as the 1976 Tel al-Zaatar camp massacre that killed more than 2000 of the refugees there.”

pal.north.america.nakba.tour

May 18 (WEDNESDAY) Jeff Halper Presentation

Following are the latest Details from the Cincinnati Palestine Solidarity Coalition

 Taft Research Center, University of Cincinnati, Edwards One, 45-51 Cory Boulevard, Cincinnati, OH 45221
A Presentation by Dr. Jeff Halper about Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification. In the wake of the publication of his latest book, War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification (Pluto Press/University of Chicago, 2015), Jeff Halper is embarking on a five-week tour of the US. The tour is sponsored by The People Yes! Network (TPYN), a new initiative with which he is involved, which seeks to advance critical political analysis, combine campaigns across the range of global issues and generate effective political advocacy. Jeff continues to be a leading member of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). His talks address the situation in Israel/Palestine and the possibilities of a one-state solution. But as his new book indicates, Jeff is also moving on to what he calls “global Palestine,” a wide range of global issues including Israel and Palestine.
I am reading his latest book War against the People, just published in 2015. One very clear mark of genuine scholarship: the notes section at the back of the book is 44 pages long!

pal.jeff.halper.rachel.corey

Halper is well known internationally for his ardent work on the difficult but important task of stopping home demolitions in the occupied territories. Synchronicity is best enjoyed when unexpected, we both graduated from college in the same year: 1969.

 

Cincinnati Palestine Solidarity Coalition

Sounding out for solid solidarity in Cincinnati for Palestine. I have included a new category on billziegler1947: cincy4palestine. You can reference existing content on Palestinian independence and human rights by clicking it. CPSC  recognizes the need to act locally as we join in solidarity with a purpose.

CPSC is obtaining visibility in greater Cincinnati and the greater world. It began last year with a teach in at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, a second at the University of Cincinnati, a third at the Clifton Mosque, a fourth at Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church and we are working on a fifth teach-in.

We are raising our visibility and are joining other like-minded souls in supporting BDS.

At the same time we have sponsored film screenings at several locations to shine truth on a deferred dream and a half century of occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, funded by the monetary and military power of the United States.

We believe that many small voices speaking truth will bring down the Apartheid Wall and end the occupation.

The Oslo Accords of 1993 are dead. 500,000 stakes were driven through its heart by a half-million settlers. These settlers, many of them truculent and militant, live in modern super gateway communities subsidized by the United States. It’s a divide and conquer strategy.

The United States government transfers $10,000,000 per day to Israel ($0 per day for Palestine) as well as the highest tech military support systems. These preserve a lucrative status quo for Israel and for those corporations making a killing from it.

Meanwhile Palestinians’ birthright is reported throughout US media as “stones, knives and poorly guided mortar fire.” Informed readers have to go offshore for the headlines that are ignored in our corporate or corporate-sponsored media.

The Apartheid Wall looms above a complex of modern fenced highways leading to each former Palestinian village and renamed in Hebrew from the original Arabic. Fences and security stations are everywhere. The reason: humiliation and eventual ethnic cleansing for a “greater” Israel.

 

 

 

 

Palestine: 70 years of Misinformation

When the sun set on the British Empire, Palestine bordered the priceless Mediterranean Sea.

Today this beach has the very un-Arabic name "Gordon Beach" located at the very un-Arabic name Tel-Aviv. Turning the ancient city of Jaffa.
Today this beach, re-named Gordon Beach is just one of the brilliantly beautiful beaches seized in the Nakba. The following link provides poignant photographs from 1948: From eminence to ethnic cleansing.

Shaking off the yoke of empire is always the dream of the colonized.  The Arabic expression for shaking off a yoke is “انتفاضة intifada.” An obvious and overdue response to colonialism? Yes, of course, but, what if the land is stolen out from under you? As clever a crime as a Moriarty might craft:

Picture to yourself the pilot fish with the shark, the jackal with the lion—anything that is insignificant in companionship with what is formidable: not only formidable, Watson, but sinister—in the highest degree sinister. That is where he comes within my purview. ‘You have heard me speak of Professor Moriarty?’

‘The famous scientific criminal, as famous among crooks -‘

‘My blushes, Watson!’ Holmes murmured in a deprecating voice.

‘I was about to say, “as he is unknown to the public”.’

‘A touch! A distinct touch!’ cried Holmes. ‘You are developing a certain unexpected vein of pawky humour, Watson, against which I must learn to guard myself. But in calling Moriarty a criminal you are uttering libel in the eyes of the law…

— A. Conan Doyle, “The Valley of Fear.”

Speaking of uttering libel in the eyes of the law:

Two sleeves cut from the same cloth with the lie of "anti-semitism." Israel and America gently censor, gently bomb Palestine back to the stone age. By the way, throwing stones lands 12 year olds into prison.
Israel and America conjoin to bomb the Palestinians back to the stone age.

Cut to the Truth

Palestine (Philistina, Filistina) was paradise:

The sun set on the Mediterranean Sea (literally the Sea at the Middle of the Earth) on the day of Nakba.

Many brought their house keys with them. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights assures the right of return. So it’s prudent to bring the house keys when driven from your home. Don’t forget the keys.

1948: 700,000 unarmed Philistines were forced out of their homes and out of their homeland by well armed militants. They brought only what they could carry. 

What happens to a dream deferred?

The right to return is encapsulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The right to return is encapsulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

A land for me but not for thee.  In 1948 another tribe lived under the same Mandate for Palestine. Empire-speak: promise the same thing to the divided and conquered. Lord Balfour was a functionary of the conquerers write the history, but when they write about it, truth is strictly optional.

Arabic cities with long histories got a facelift by the new boss (same as the old boss). The cities were renamed in Hebrew.

What was destroyed? Palestinian culture, traditions, culture, family, livelihoods, fashions, ethnic recipes, hectic markets, crowded schools, incomparable coastlines. The Mediterranean Sea was at the middle of the known world conquered by earlier empires, but the Palestinians abide.

New keys on old doors for new “settlers.” Demolish some more, build some more, grow some more, have children, grandchildren. To the victor goes the spoils.

Pave Paradise, Occupy Palestine.

We can do whatever we want, whenever we want. Get used to it loser. Signed: just another hasbara troll. get used to it loser. Ever heard of survival of the fittest Loser? Huh, ever heard of it?
We can do whatever we want, whenever we want. Get used to it loser.
Signed: just another hasbara troll. get used to it loser. Ever heard of survival of the fittest Loser? Huh, ever heard of it? We won. You lost. Go back to Gaza and blank your mother.

Attending the World

Refugees ended up in an open-air prison (Gaza) or on the West Bank of the Jordan River — or all over the Earth.

The beautiful Mediterranean Coast out of sight but not out of mind after 1948. So they were shoved away in 1948, but at least they were not occupied. 1967 changed even that. There began a war of swift occupation with tanks, planes, assault rifles, white phosphorous, etc. Decades go by. An endless list of IDF “Operations” routinely bomb the open-air prison: GAZA. 

Birthright (aliyah) tours available if your mother is related to Isaac. Youth are sold on something called a once in a lifetime $10,000 Birthright Tour. The trip itinerary does not include a visit to the West Bank or Gaza. Who wants to visit a prison while on vacation? 

There are also opportunities called Hasbara Fellowships: something to sell the brand.

“There were Arabs selling rosaries and holy water. Why are they doing that? I don’t know. I just don’t trust them, you know.”

It’s getting a little crowded in the old promised land. I mean, who can afford to live with rents so high. And all that land on the West Bank is wasted on the Arabs. I mean, it’s all G-d gave us and it’s already too small.

No, there is no low to which they won't go. Arsonists among West Bank settlers use this wording on the outside walls of Palestinian homes they destroy. Humiliation does not have to take place as a class act.
No, there is no low to which many won’t go.

Demolish homes upon whim, build gated communities and connect them with modern highways, all fenced along each shoulder to keep things nice and safe. . 

West Bank settlers spray graffiti  on the outside walls of Palestinian homes they destroy. “Kill them All” is another.

Ironically 700,000 Palestinians were exiled in 1948. 70 years later 700,000 settlers live in the West Bank.

Ethnic cleansing is not a family value.

Thanks for reading.

BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) is Free Speech

Download the App buycott on your iPhone or iPad or on whatever app supports it to scan barcodes while shopping
Download the App buycott on your iPhone or on whatever app supports it to scan bar codes while shopping

BDS Movement Full List: here is an up-to-date and handy reference to the players: who they are, where they are and why they matter. Their game is gaining your participation through witting or unwitting complicity.

BDS Marin: here is one of the many local groups thinking global. The list above does not include Nestle among boycotted products but this Marin County movement does include them. So it’s good to cross compare.

BDS Movement on Twitter: here is another social media avenue for learning, teaching or contributing.  I’ve just received an article that delves into the HP security matrix. Life is an ongoing dystopia for Palestinians. HP has really earned it’s place on the BDS list. I’m looking into their other products but do not want to make it overly complex, or less focussed, at this moment.

Please feel free to contact me (ziegler.bill@gmail.com) or leave a comment on this post. Truth and accuracy are important, let me know if something isn’t correct. Participation is vital.

Methodist BDS Consultation
Methodist BDS Movement Consultation

Yesterday I attended a screening of Ghost Town – The Story of Hebron. A well attended event successfully delivered by the Cincinnati Palestine Solidarity Coalition. A fellow supporter of the Palestinian cause noted that I had a bottle of Tradewinds Tea in front of me. Nestle, a Swiss company of notable size, owns Tradewinds: they have plants in the West Bank.

We are presently working on a locally based BDS Movement for the Cincinnati area. Look for us at local businesses that unknowingly contribute to the massive human rights violations in territories occupied by Israel since 1967: the Naksa.

I was a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati at the time of the Six Day War, working on my B.A. in Geography: it was a subject topic in Human Geography that became the stuff of current events in the classroom. In 1971 I completed my M.A. in the same field at Kansas State University. I was born 8 months before the Nakba, so my personal hallmarks coincide in memory with the hallmarks of Palestine these 68 years now. A difference: I have never been a refugee but 6 million Palestinians from Palestine still are. BDS helps everyone.

https://boycottzionism.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/carlos-latuff-images-for-bds-activists/
Cultural boycotts are an integral part of BDS

No time is a good time to support an Apartheid state. I am personally complicit in supporting Apartheid by continuing my American citizenship. Rather than renouncing my home land I am at this moment exercising First Amendment rights, rights that are not available in the State of Israel. Lucas Koerner learned firsthand what may occur if you stand on a public square in Jerusalem. No one should feel discomfort at taking a stand, whether by #StandWithIsrael or #StandWithPalestine.

The First Amendment is one resilient set of words. I like its resonance. It’s available to the most marginalized people. Majority rule makes the world safe for the already comfortable. The Tyranny of the majority (dated 23 February) seeks to restrict basic human rights that already belong to the marginalized, on those less powerful. Just keep repeating this lie: “Majority Rules” from the playground to adulthood and you’ll think it’s truth.

Meanwhile, in this age of one dollar one vote you can still use the dollars at your discretion to cast a BDS vote.See you in the marketplace.

 

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.702383
Tyranny of the majority taking place in the Knesset. In this case Arab-Israelis, the one who “came out in droves” according to Binjamin N.