Because selling deadly weapons is the best way to show America’s real commitment to democracy in the Arab world: On the same day President Obama pressed again for peace in the Middle East, the Associated Press reminded us that the United States cannot help itself from flooding the region with the instruments of war, reporting…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
On Obama, AIPAC, occupation, revolutions and the status-quo
So much discussion about the latest elaborate dance between the US under Barack Obama and Israel. In many ways, little has changed over the years, as Washington occasionally talks tough with Israel but then never does anything more. Words are cheap in the Middle East, especially as the occupation deepens every day. And, as if…
Private prisons only help the private companies
The reality, according to this piece in the New York Times, is that privatising prisons doesn’t save money or bring more accountability or make people’s lives any better. Politicians and commentators who say otherwise are obsessed with “market” solutions. Besides, who feels comfortable making money from the misery of others? The conviction that private prisons…
Serco wants to hide its behaviour from us all
This move has all the hallmarks of attempting to keep real people out of the media spotlight. Humanising refugees is the last thing this government and Serco wants: The company running the country’s immigration detention centres has upgraded how seriously it takes the unauthorised presence of media, putting it on par with a bomb threat…
Nakba day in Ramallah
Palestinians protesting their dispossession is a legitimate right, something denied by far too many in the West. Australian film-maker Inka Stafrace is working on a film project in Palestine (and she has a record of fine work). Here’s her latest:
Jewish writer celebrates murder of peace activist in Gaza
What has happened to my people? Zionism has polluted the mind and ruined the soul. Here’s Harriet Sherwood in the Guardian: I was sent a link this week to a piece published in the Jewish Chronicle by historian Geoffrey Alderman, the opening sentence of which I found pretty shocking. Under the headline This Was No…
Serco simply isn’t qualified to deal with traumatised asylum seekers
These stories are tragic and reflect the almost inevitable result of privatising detention centres; costs and corners are cut. ABC reports today: Detainees at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre say an inadequate response from guards forced them to use a cigarette lighter to try to save the life of a man who had attempted suicide. Detainees…
This is what modern, occupying Israel is doing
As the Arab Spring comes to Palestine (massive non-violent protests against Israeli occupation and apartheid), some truths are being spoken by the very people who are behind the oppression: Transgressions by the Israeli army in the occupied Palestinian territories will be disclosed by a group of former soldiers in an internet campaign aimed at raising…
America and Israel have lost control of the Middle East narrative (finally)
So the Arab Spring has arrived in Israel. And how does the Zionist state react? Blame Iran and Syria. It’s a futile tactic and will fail. Nobody serious believes it. Palestinians are calling to be free, free of occupation and free of enslavement. No amount of IDF propaganda (ably assisted by rabid Zionists in the…