This is simply not right.
The first thing that must happen is a ceasefire.
The second thing is the restoration of humanitarian aid.
If you’re a Canadian and/or live in Canada, please sign my petition to restore UNWRA funding https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4802
If you are an American, please contact your elected representatives and tell them *not* to veto tomorrow’s (Tuesday Feb 20, 2024) Gaza Ceasefire resolution in the UN.
It strikes me odd that people tell artists they shouldn’t have opinions.
No matter the medium, art is an opinion, a statement, speech.
We’re lucky to have artists who are able and willing to fight for a better future.
This series of excellent videos, produced by the The Palestine Festival of Literature helps clarify what is happening at the International Court of Justice tomorrow afternoon.
South Africa Charges Israel with Genocide | Major Actors Read the Case File | Part 1Extracts from South Africa’s Application Instituting Proceedings
Click to access 192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf
Read the “Application of…
The list of war crimes Israel perpetrates against Palestine just keeps growing.
The 17 year siege of Gaza is the longest siege in history. The Gaza Strip is home to some 2 million people (or it was before this started). The Strip is surrounded by razor wire and “no go” buffer zones where any Palestinian getting too close would be summarily shot. Nor could Gazans leave this open air prison by the heavily patrolled sea, where the Israeli naval service would use any means possible to prevent this.
There were two exits available, one totally controlled by the Israeli military, the other by the Jordan military. The exit to Jordan has been shut down. About one-third of the 1.4 million registered Palestine refugees live in the 58 UNRWA-recognised refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Egypt does not want more.
Duriing those 17 years, Israel has strictly controlled everything that goes into and comes out of Gaza. Electricity, water, fuel, medical help. They carefully keep Gazans on a subsistence diet. Humanitarian aid coming by sea (including the Canadian Boat To Gaza) have been stopped and sent back. Covid Vaccinations were given to Israelis, not Gazans.
Gazans have no human rights under Israeli military rule. Half of the Palestinian residents Gaza are children.
Each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children (12-17) are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system, most commonly charged with throwing stones.
This 16 year siege has been marked by various uprisings from among the captives. But apparently this siege has not been brutal enough.
So now, in response to the recent Hamas terrorist attacks on Israelis, Israel is “imposing a complete siege on Gaza.”
After mercilessly bombarding the civilians of the Gaza strip with bombs, Israel is ordering the captive Palestinians to leave…except when they do, they are attacked and often killed.
“There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything will be closed.” When you lock up millions of people in a densely occupied open air prison without food and water, there is only one possible outcome.
This isn’t a war, its an occupation. Its shooting fish in a barrel.
But Israel thinks these flagrant human rights violations are justified, because their leadership don’t see Palestinians as human beings, but as human animals.
This is lovely.
Happy St Patrick’s Day
Remembering the St Patrick’s Battalion,
“Composed primarily of Catholic Irish immigrants, the battalion also included Germans, Canadians, English, French, Italians, Poles, Scots, Spaniards, Swiss, and Mexicans, many of whom were also members of the Catholic Church.[2] Disenfranchised Americans were in the ranks, including escaped slaves from the Southern United States.[3] ”
—Wikipedia: St Patricks Battalion
Lyrics
“My name is John Riley
I’ll have your ear only a while
I left my dear home in Ireland
It was death, starvation or exile
And when I got to America
It was my duty to go
Enter the Army and slog across Texas
To join in the war against Mexico
"It was there in the pueblos and hillsides
That I saw the mistake I had made
Part of a conquering army
With the morals of a bayonet blade
So in the midst of these poor, dying Catholics
Screaming children, the burning stench of it all
Myself and two hundred Irishmen
Decided to rise to the call
"From Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
"We marched ‘neath the green flag of Saint Patrick
Emblazoned with "Erin Go Bragh”
Bright with the harp and the shamrock
And “Libertad para la República”
Just fifty years after Wolftone
Five thousand miles away
The Yanks called us a Legion of Strangers
And they can talk as they may
“From Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
"We fought them in Matamoros
Where their volunteers were raping the nuns
In Monterey and Cerro Gordo
We fought on as Ireland’s sons
We were the red-headed fighters for freedom
Amidst these brown-skinned women and men
Side by side we fought against tyranny
And I daresay we’d do it again
"From Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
"We fought them in five major battles
Churubusco was the last
Overwhelmed by the cannons from Boston
We fell after each mortar blast
Most of us died on that hillside
In the service of the Mexican state
So far from our occupied homeland
We were heroes and victims of fate
"From Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side.”
— St Patrick Battalion (David Rovics)
Maybe It’s Time
The Green Party of Canada is looking for candidates. Have *you* considered running?
POLITICS AFFECTS US ALL
If you believe you or someone you know might be a great Green candidate, now is the time to
(before nominating someone else it is a good idea to talk to them about it first! 😏)
Today is the first day of Black History Month. Meet Dr Charmaine Nelson.
Tomorrow — Monday October 26th, 2020 — is #ElectionDay in two Toronto ridings.
Newly elected Green Party of Canada leader Annamie Paul is running to win the Toronto Centre seat vacated by former Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau (amidst WE scandal ethics questions) . Annamie is both a brilliant candidate and an excellent choice to represent this, her home riding.
Photographer Sasha Zavarella is running in York Centre, where another Canadian National Party Leader — this time Peoples Party of Canada’s Maxime Bernier.
Neither of these by-Elections will change the balance of power in Ottawa.
That means voters are free to vote for what they want — they don’t have to worry vote splitting will result in the party they fear winning majority power.
Since by-Elections historically have poor attendance at the best of times (and a pandemic is surely not one of those times!) fewer votes cast means these votes will have more weight. This is a brilliant opportunity for voters in these formerly safe seats whose votes never elect anyone to cast a vote that may be heard. Greens across Canada are rooting for Annamie, because the sooner our leader can take her seat in Parliament the better we’ll be able to hold the government to account.
It is important to remember the other big parties “whip” MP votes, which means their MPs represent their party first, because, if they don’t, they can lose party support which invariably means losing their seat. Whipped votes used to be a rarity, but in recent times they have become the default for NDP, Liberal and Conservative MPs.
Green MPs differ from other major party MPs because first and foremost they represent the constituents of their ridings. If there is a conflict between what is best for their riding or what’s best for the party, the best interest of their constiuents come first. Always.
If you live in either of these two ridings, your vote for Annamie or Sasha will mean something. We’ve seen what an impact Mike Schreiner has made as a single Green MPP. Electing another Liberal will just be more of the same old. But Greens will always make a difference.
And we can give our votes more power if we can convince our friends and families to vote too.
Even in our terribly unrepresentative voting system, voting is incredibly important. Even our vote is unlikely to change the outcome, it puts our choice on the record.
If you live in one of these ridings, please vote tomorrow. (And make sure to wear a mask when you do!) It is so important — and perhaps even more important:
VOTE FOR WHAT YOU WANT.
(Even if you don’t want what I want.)
If enough of us vote for what we want, we might just get it. And Annamie has an excellent chance of winning this one.
So get out and Vote!