Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, a Jew and participant with his family of the Gaza Freedom March: I want to break the blockade, I want to see the damage done by the weapons from my tax dollars, and I want it understood: Israel does not kill in my name.…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
How an old cleric challenged the Islamic Republic at its core
The death of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri in Iran has caused huge public grief and anger: Blogger Cyrus Farivar reminds us of the man’s influence on Iran’s internet culture: I’m obviously fascinated with Montazeri’s small role in Iran’s Internet history. As best as I can tell, this is the first example of the Islamic Republic’s…
Sri Lanka, tourist destination for the blind
At a time of gross human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, rely on the British Labour party to ignore decency: Ben Bradshaw, the Cabinet minister responsible for tourism, was facing criticism last night for flying to Sri Lanka for a Christmas holiday two days after the British Government raised “serious concerns” about human rights in…
What do Israel and China have in common?
When Israel and its blind supporters accuse any critics of anti-Semitism – the latest shameful example, this time in Canada, is reported here – it’s easy to claim that Zionists are the masters of crying wolf. Then a story like this appears and it’s hard to know what to think, other than Israel’s enemies are…
The Israeli left, as tiny as it is, shouts against the state
Israeli peace group Ta’ayush, dedicated to resisting the occupation, attended a protest last week in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah against Jewish colonisation. Blogger Joseph Dana, with whom I collaborated during my visit to Israel and the West Bank in July, has video from the event and writes the following: A busy weekend in Israel for…
The Gaza Freedom March is about highlighting injustice
The Gaza Freedom March, which I’ll be attending, is about showing solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestine. There are certainly obstacles in the way, but this preview film, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, outlines the reasons behind the mission: Between a Rock and a Hard Place Preview 1.1 from Maurice Jacobsen…
The Israeli government’s elastic truth over occupation
The invaluable Gaza Gateway blog has new information, challenging the Israeli government’s spin on conditions in the occupied territories: On December 6th, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a newsletter highlighting the economic situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Though there are some miscalculations, for the most part the MFA’s data…
Shoulder to shoulder with the Strip
My following article appears in the British magazine New Statesman: Freedom marches have a noble pedigree. Hundreds of thousands marched for racial equality in the 1960s US; among them was Martin Luther King Jr, who delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the march on Washington in 1963. Now, thousands of miles away, the…
Cracks in the Islamic Republic’s armour
A wonderful sentiment and photo from Nasrin Alavi about the growing rifts in Iran: I want to share with you a photo of a member of the Iranian anti-riot police surreptitiously showing his solidarity with the protestors by showing the V sign for victory that has become a symbol of the green movement:
Being gay in Uganda may soon be very deadly
This is so shocking it can only be condemned in the strongest possible terms: Uganda will be going back to the days of the Idi Amin regime if it passes a Bill which will arrest or kill people for being gay or lesbian and for repeatedly engaging in homosexual sex, say rights activists. Pro-gay activists…