Jewish Voice for Peace, Rachel Corrie's Mother and Mamdouh Habib

According to ISM Palestine, "The Ramallah municipality dedicated a street to Rachel Corrie on 16 March 2010.".



Rachel Corrie

Cindy Corrie
I received the letter below in my inbox from Jewish Voice for Peace and the mother of Rachel Corrie, a former native of Seattle who was runover by a bulldozer, and killed, as it attempted to demolish a Palestinian house. Also, I think it is worth remembering Tom Hurdnall who was actually shot dead by Israeli soldiers as he rescued two Palestinian children who were in the line of their fire (warning shots or something - the soldiers are notorious for firing their rifles for little or no reason). He also died at age 23. Brave people. The big difference in Hurdnall's case, was that, as the website dedicated to him says, ". . .[justice was achieved for]Tom through the unprecedented conviction of [an Israeli] soldier for killing a civilian."

Tom Hurdnall
The letter is as below. The governments of the States and the U.K. it seems have not followed up much on the murders of their citizens. Though there are some interesting questions from Joe Biden here, and this newspaper article in the Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, entitled: Corrie’s sister to Haaretz: U.S. encouraged family to sue Israel. In the States a play was made of Rachel Corrie's emails, which are in my sidebar. There were, of course, many protests about the play. The letters are very eloquent, worth reading. Cindy Corrie's letter is as follows:

This month, a civil lawsuit in Israel in the case of our daughter Rachel Corrie will converge with the seven-year anniversary of her killing in Gaza. A human rights observer and activist, Rachel, 23, was crushed to death by an Israel Defense Force (IDF) Caterpillar D9R bulldozer as she tried nonviolently to offer protection for a Palestinian family whose home was threatened with demolition. This lawsuit is one piece of our family's seven-year effort to pursue accountability for Rachel while, also, challenging the Occupation that claimed her life.

On this day, when Rachel's presence is powerful for many of us, we're asking all of our friends to support Rachel's vision of freedom for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip by participating in what we are calling the International Day of Conscience. Please join her struggle by calling the White House today - this link has all the information you need.

Seven years later, Rachel's memory is still vibrant. I'm writing to you from Israel where we are plaintiffs in a civil case against the state of Israel for its responsibility in her death. In addition to seeking accountability through the Israeli court system, we're asking all of our friends to support Rachel's vision of freedom for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip by participating in a national call-in day to the White House.

I hope I can count on you to:

Call the White House at 202-456-1111
Urge Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell to visit Gaza and demand that the United States break the blockade of Gaza by providing immediate humanitarian aid and building materials.
Tell us about your call. Tracking your calls makes a difference.


You can also make the call tomorrow. Please forward this email to help spread the word.

Thank you,

Cindy Corrie

P.S. Click here to view the trial updates page on the Rachel Corrie Foundation website.

I am not in the States, but I urge anyone who is and who believes in human rights to at least think about complying with Cindy Corrie's requests.
______________________________________________________________

In other news, Mamdouh Habib, an Australian resident who was imprisoned in Guantanamo for five years, but never charged,has been granted permission to sue the Australian government, and also won a defamation case against the Daily Telegraph. Habib claims the Australian government were complicit with his arrest and consequential torture. I saw Habib speak in Perth in 2008 and I am glad that he has pushed to speak despite the government trying to silence him. His wife, dressed in the open faced abaya, also spoke and was possibly the more articulate of the two, but both were determined that justice be done. If that link above times-out, please leave me a comment. I have printed the article, and can provide the text.

David Hicks has been too scared to be sent back to Guantanamo, or imprisonment, I guess, and has complied with the order from the U.S. and the Australian government that he not talk about his experience in the prison, even though I think he is now free to. His American military attorney, Lieutenant colonel Michael Mori, is a great man, I feel, and did far more for David Hicks than any Australian government representative ever did.

On November 10, 2006 Mori attended the signing of the Fremantle Declaration by the attorneys-general of the states and territories of Australia. Federal Attorney General Philip Ruddock refused to attend. The declaration urges judicial fairness be applied in Hicks' case to protect the legal rights of Australians at home and abroad. Mori said "It's disheartening that federal ministers won't fight for an Australian citizen to have the same rights as an American."[5] (my emphasis).

Let's hope that Habib's attempts continue to come to something so that there might be some transparency and some accountability for the main players, in Australia, at least, during the Bush and Howard years where torture was promoted as a governmental right and a justified practice.

Howard Govt. Rudd Govt. Where's the Difference?

I know that I voted for Rudd because I wanted us to live up to our humanitarian obligations. We are a signatory to the United Nations Declaration that people have a right to seek asylum. I wanted asylum seekers not to be imprisoned, not to be treated as prisoners. I wanted us to stick up for Australian citizens imprisoned by other governments for political reasons, such as David Hicks was. I wanted us not to send back people who had spent all of their lives, bar a few years in Australia, to other countries out of convenience. We claim to be a multi-cultural society. We need to take the good and the bad with that.

Many asylum seekers work very hard to start afresh in a new country, and many are highly educated. We lack skilled workers in Australia, in all fields. Abbott (opposition leader) and others are using asylum seekers and immigration as a political hot potato. Yet, I do not believe that I was alone in voting for Rudd with the idea that he would be less draconian in his policies than Howard. He is an opportunist, but which politician isn't? And some things have changed in policy, but the opposition party claims that the prior governments policy of dealing with asylum seekers (lock em up, deny them legal access, send em back) was working and the would revert to it. Apparently Christmas Island detention centre is almost at capacity, and there is still a boat waiting in Indonesian waters. According to mainstream media surveys, the general public doesn't seem to have much sympathy towards asylum seekers, but neither does the mainstream media.

Why are people who have lived almost their whole lives being locked up, though? It is reminiscent of the Australian citizens (originally from Germany and the Philippines) who were locked up in detention centres and deported, under Howard, despite holding Australian passports.

As an aside, according to the UNCHR site, Iraqis, Afghanis and Somalis top the list of asylum seekers in the industrialized world (Oct 2009). Who, until recently, had troops in Iraq, and who still has them in Afghanistan? If we are going to contribute to destabilising the world, then we need to realise that there will be humanitarian consequences. We are a party to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and have been since 1951, also known as the Geneva Convention. We have global obligations, unless we want to become a rogue state and go alone. There is more information here, but that UNCHR site is the best source.

So the news story below shows that nothing has changed. The scary thing is, that this man has been held in a detention centre for 3 years, yet he has lived in Australia for 27 years and went through the Australian school system and so on. If he had become naturalised, I assume that his civil rights (I know we have no bill of rights in Australia) would be greatly abused by him being kept in detention for so long. The policy is misguided. If he has done wrong, try him by the Australian judicial system, which is the system that he has lived under for the majority of his life, anyway. The other thing, he is not alone. There are another five people in similar situations of prolonged detention - one for seven years. This policy of one rule for us, one rule for them - which I know has always been a policy towards immigrants and asylum seekers, and to a degree, some form of screening is necessary - will ultimately backfire. Whether your point of view be humanitarian, religiously humanitarian, in favour of democracy, or you just ascribe to decency, these policies fail those points of view without a doubt.

Man to be deported after 27 years in Oz

14:59 AEST Wed Mar 10 2010

By Karlis Salna

Authorities are seeking to deport a Cambodian-born man, raised and educated in Australia since arriving as a nine-year-old some 27 years ago.

The unidentified man does not want to return to Cambodia where six of his eight siblings are reported to have been killed.

He says he no longer has any family or other contacts in Cambodia.

A report by the Commonwealth and Immigration Ombudsman, tabled in the federal parliament on Wednesday, reveals his tragic past.

It includes time spent in jail, where he had a history of self-harm that continued after being placed in immigration detention.

In May 2009, a noose was discovered in his room at the Villawood Detention Centre where he has been for almost three years.

"He is recorded as having attempted self-harm a number of times when previously in gaol, including at least one attempt at hanging," according to the Ombudsman's assessment.

While the report concedes the man has not responded well to attempts at rehabilitation, it points out that having been in Australia for the majority of his life, he is basically a member of the community.

"It nevertheless remains relevant that Mr X came to Australia as a child of nine, was raised and educated here, and, despite his poor record as a member of the community, has been part of the Australian community for almost 27 years."

But despite having been here for much of his life, he is considered a non-citizen, and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship wants to "remove Mr X to Cambodia".

The ombudsman has recommended the man be considered for a suitable visa until a decision is made about his long-term immigration status.

He is one of seven individuals the Ombudsman has reported on.

Five of those included in the document have been in detention for more than three years, including one for almost seven years and another for five years and nine months.

Four of the detainees are being held at Villawood while the other three are in community detention.

News alerts: Get breaking news first. Download free ninemsn news alerts now.
© AAP 2010

The news stories often disappear from Ninemsn, hence my duplicating it in full. A link has been provided.

the little things we can do

“What inspires us is everything, especially the things that happen to us back home in Israel — I mean, not the political things,” Monotonix’s singer Ami Shalev said. “… It’s a different culture from here. … So, we got a different vibe, and we try to put it into our shows. That’s what inspires us the most in our shows. Not in the politics or in an angry way about things in Israel; we don’t deal with politics or anything like that. All it is is a vibe about a simple or common people in Israel.” Monotonix, featured in The Badger Herald, February 11, 2009

RTRfm, my favourite radio station, has been featuring this band lately, Israeli duo Monotonix. Here is the Wikipedia report on them. It seems, they have got quite an Indy rep, and I don't know their politics.

I do know, however, that the Palestinian people have requested that BDS be adopted in the hopes that it can eventually end their suffering. The situation in Israel and Palestine is not equal. It is not the Israelis who are being contained behind a huge wall, denied return to their land, denied access to water, who have their lands forcibly settled, who are evicted from their houses and also have their houses demolished. All that one needs to do is to look at the deaths of Palestinians, especially children, compared to the death of Israelis across the years to see that something is seriously wrong. The Israeli human rights site, B'Tselem can easily give you these figures, as can Medicin sans frontieres, or Physicians for Human Rights.

BDS encourages Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. It is non-violent in aim and method, and similar methods were very effective and influential in helping stop apartheid in South Africa. Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu have both said that the Palestinians suffer worse apartheid than they ever did. Jimmy Carter also calls the system apartheid. Malcom Fraser encourages dialogue with the democratically elected Hamas, in Gaza, as they have often asked, rather than the Israeli policy of no contact and military action.

Influential Jewish intellectuals such as Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Antony Lowenstein are also shocked by the human rights situation in Palestine (inflicted by Israel) and writers/performers such as Alice Walker, Michael Palin and Haruki Murakami (in a Japanese only essay, I think) have all spoken out against the apartheid that exists there.

Our media in Australia does not cover the injustice that exists in the area. American media doesn't either, so it's not really surprising. Just recently, Stephen Smith, our foreign affairs minister, was saying he would not discuss further development on the use of forged Australian Passport in an Israeli assassination of a senior Hamas member (on foreign soil) as it would interfere with the process. It will get swept under the carpet.

So, the only way that things in that area can change without violence is by the people on the street through support of such movements such as BDS. For example, the Church of England no longer invests in Caterpillar as their bulldozers are used (and some say specifically designed) for demolishing Palestinian houses.

Chomsky has spoken out against BDS. Of course, there are many many many Israelis who are against the human rights abuses that go on in the Occupied Territories, such as ex Knesset member, Uri Avnery, B'Tselem, Active Stills (also on flickr), Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitons and so on. It seems that BDS might also affect those who do not support the occupation as much as those who do. However, the Palestinian people have asked that this method be employed to bring attention to their plight and to hopefully alleviate it, and eventually solve it in a positive way.

Monotonix, according to Wikipedia, left Israel after being banned from venues for their stage show, but they have since returned to sellout shows. I opposed Leonard Cohen playing Israel, too (though, after his collapse, he may not have). It is not like they have made a stand against their state's policies. I know, however, that it is hard to make it in the arts, whatever they be, and it is hard to survive as a community radio station. I appreciate RTRfm for its very existence, and admire both it and Monotonix for striving to get their particular vision out to the world. I am not greatly political, and Monotonix speak for the common people of Israel, but the common people of Israel's way of life is based on the suppression of another people.

RTRfm is a great radio station. It has featured great articles in the past on the injustice in the Occupied Territories, especially on Morning Magazine, though it remained silent on that programme during the incursion into Gaza, or so it seemed (I can't listen to it all the time!). Indy Media, too, features the issue a lot. Morning Magazine has also featured the Israeli point of view; soon after, the Palestinian features seemed to dry up, but that just might be my view of it! I think my favourite Morning Magazine announcer left. To my point of view, though, injustice is injustice, and it doesn't take a degree in rocket science to figure out that basic human rights are seriously being flouted in Palestine, by the Israelis, and in Israel, against the Palestinians, as documented by the United Nations, Amnesty International and other human rights organisations. Though we are lead to believe otherwise, there is not evenhandedness of inflict and conflict in this situation. For example, I am flabbergasted that we supported the demolition of the Berlin Wall, yet are silent on the one snaking its way through the West Bank.

Therefore, why not write a letter to the station, just telling them that you support BDS. Considering the American government provides over 30 billion dollars in foreign aid to Israel, a lot of it in military aid, and that the country has a sophisticated nuclear programme, it is highly unlikely that the western governments will ever seriously address the imbalance that occurs there. You can read through my blog to see the current Australian government's attitude towards it all (and the previous, for that matter).

All we can do are the small things that we can do (except for the extraordinary people, who seem to be able to do so much more). I know this blog is not read by too many, but for the few who do read it, especially Australians, and even more especially, Western Australians, the address is rtrfm@rtrfm.com.au , or the general manager's address is: gwatson@rtrfm.com.au When I get the studio email address, it is wrong in my contacts, I will try to post it too (* studio@rtrfm.com.au - this address is correct). Not because I feel that the station should not play the music that they wish to play - I have the greatest respect for the station, and it is an integral part of my day (I listen to it over here in Japan, often) - but because I feel that maybe many of the announcers do not know the seriousness of the situation in Palestine. Looking at Banksy's paintings, it isn't the Palestinians holding the guns.

This was Graeme Watson's (RTRfm's general manager) response to my email:

Thanks for the feedback, Israeli garage band Monotonix’s debut album “Where were you when it happened” is our feature album on ‘Drivetime’ this week. Thanks for the feedback, it’s always great to hear what our listeners think of our music selections.

At RTRfm our aim is to play a wide variety of independent music and provide an opportunity for our listeners to hear music that is not usually heard. As far as I’m aware Monotonix are not a political band and the station has a strong policy of non-censorship.

At RTRfm we regularly cover both sides of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict on programs like ‘Morning Magazine’ and ‘Indymedia’ and endeavor to bring insight into conditions in this part of the world to our audience.