Sharyn Lock on Gaza flotilla killings (and Israeli hasbara)

As someone who was in Gaza during the 08/09 attacks, working with the ambulances, I saw first hand the contradictions to all the lies Israel told then.

It makes it impossible for me to trust their side of the story now, when they are preventing us not just from contacting our friends for their side of the story, but from even finding out if they are alive or dead.

I personally know my close friends on board the boats would take an Israeli bullet rather than resist violently in any way - and in the past, some of us have - Caoimhe Butterly for example.

But isn't the question we should be asking instead - why didn't the Navy just stay home and let the aid through, when the flotilla was going nowhere near them, as FreeGaza boats never had in the past?

From Sharyn Lock, founding member of the FreeGaza movement, nonviolence trainer, passenger on the first and fourth FreeGaza boat trips, and author of Gaza: Beneath the Bombs

Call for action from activist Caoimhe Butterly (Gaza TV News).

Call to action in response to Israeli killing of humanitarian activists on FreeGaza flotilla:

Gaza flotilla; Mahmoud Darwish & Trio Joubran

Below is a YouTube video of the wonderful Trio Joubran setting of Mahmoud Darwish reading 'Wait for her.' Lovely.



Today is a tense one for anyone caring about the fate of the flotilla of aid, human rights workers, journalists, parliamentarians and others trying to enter Gaza by sea again. The State of Israel has been threatening all sorts of hi-tech and savage ways to prevent them reaching Gaza, whilst making disingenuous statements about its 'inability' to control shipping in Gazan waters. Follow the flotilla's progress on http://twitter.com/freegazaorg or http://www.witnessgaza.com/

Greenpeace on the BP oil spill

Original here.

Local food event, June 12th

I'll be at a wedding somewhere terrifyingly countrified, but in Manchester on 12th of June this very worthwhile event will be happening:

“Create your own Abundance” open event
Saturday 12th June, 11am-1pm at Madlab,  36-40 Edge St, Northern Quarter, Manchester City Centre, M4 1HN
Abundance Manchester invites groups and individuals in Greater Manchester to find out how they can cut food waste, have fun, reduce food miles, get fit, help vulnerable people and strengthen their communities.....all at the same time. How? By coming to an open event designed to help them set up an 'Abundance' project in their area.
Abundance Manchester is a small voluntary group that harvests surplus and unwanted fruit and veg from gardens, allotments and public places and distributes it to places that need it, like homeless hostels and refugee projects. It has been running for 2 years in South Manchester, covering Chorlton, Didsbury, Withington, Fallowfield & Whalley Range. Jointly with several other Abundance projects in the country, it is one of 3 schemes shortlisted for the ‘Best Grassroots Project’ award at the Observer's Ethical Awards 2010.
“Abundance is a great project, but we can only cover a tiny fraction of Greater Manchester, and we want people in other areas to take advantage of the 'abundance' of fresh produce that's going to waste where they live” said Debbie Clarke of the group. “And we'd like to help get them started”.
On Saturday 12th June, Abundance Manchester is holding a short open event in Manchester city centre where people can find out just how easy it is to start and run their own Abundance project, or something like it. The group will provide tips and advice on getting started, plus the chance to connect interested people from the same areas.
Starts 11am with a short presentation, followed by discussion and one to one advice. Those interested are asked to book by Monday 7th June, as places are limited.
For more info (& to book) - email: abundancemanchester[at]yahoo.co.uk, phone: Nicola: 07515 116 730 or Debbie: 07967 227 981, website: http://abundancemanchester.wordpress.com/

And congratulations to Abundance, especially Nicola, on that Observer Ethical Awards shortlisting. Full details of the shortlist for this year's awards are here - we'll know if Abundance gets the top prize in June.

Oh for goodness' sake...

These are the opening paragraphs of a press release I received yesterday morning:

Abu Dhabi Launches World’s First Gold Vending Machine 17 May 10
Emirates Palace host to unique tourist attraction
The world’s first gold vending machine is now enticing tourists in Abu
Dhabi where the Gold to go™ has found a home in the uber-luxurious setting
of Emirates Palace – one of the world’s most opulent hotels.
Gold to go® dispenses ten specially-designed 24 carat gold bars in various
designs, such as the Kangaroo, Maple Leaf and Krugerrand in denominations
of one, five and ten grams, as well as one tenth, a quarter and one ounce
of gold.

Anyone got any theories on why our civilisation might actually deserve to survive?
Sigh.

Nick Clegg on Gaza

On Tuesday 22nd December last year - 2009 - Nick Clegg wrote on the Guardian's Comment is Free website that:

What is less well-known [than the December 2008/January 2009 invasion] is the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The legacy of Operation Cast Lead is a living nightmare for one and a half million Palestinians squeezed into one of the most overcrowded and wretched stretches of land on the planet. And as Israel and Egypt maintain a near total blockade against Gaza, the misery deepens by the day.
This is not only shocking in humanitarian terms. It is not in Israel's or Egypt's interest, either. Confining people in abject poverty in a tiny slice of territory is a recipe for continued bitterness, fury and radicalism.
And what has the British government and the international community done to lift the blockade? Next to nothing. Tough-sounding declarations are issued at regular intervals but little real pressure is applied. It is a scandal that the international community has sat on its hands in the face of this unfolding crisis.
No doubt the febrile sensitivities of the Middle East have deterred governments, caught between recriminations from both sides. No doubt diplomats have warned that exerting pressure on Israel and Egypt may complicate the peace process.
But surely the consequences of not lifting the blockade are far more grave? How is the peace process served by sickness, mortality rates, mental trauma and malnutrition increasing in Gaza? Is it not in Israel's enlightened self-interest to relieve the humanitarian suffering?
The peace process is in serious trouble right now. Internal Israeli politics limits any meaningful room for manoeuvre, illegal settlement activity in the West Bank continues, and leadership of the Palestinians is divided and incoherent. A two-state solution, long the accepted bedrock of any agreement, is being openly questioned
But paralysis in the peace process cannot be an excuse for the inhumane treatment of one and a half million people, the majority of them under 18 years old. No peaceful coexistence of any kind is possible as long as this act of collective confinement continues.
According to a recently leaked report by the UN office of the humanitarian co-ordinator, Gaza is undergoing "a process of de-development, which potentially could lead to the complete breakdown of public infrastructure". A report released today by a group of 16 humanitarian and human rights groups further spells out the effects.
Family homes destroyed in the invasion lie as shattered as ever. The embargo on construction materials means they will stay that way. Local hospitals and clinics were left devastated by the invasion, and those suffering health problems wait longer than ever to get out of Gaza for treatment. Many have died waiting. Bed-wetting and nightmares are endemic among children.
Half of those under 30 are unemployed. These young people are trapped in a broken land with little hope of economic opportunity. The blockade's restrictions on Gaza's fishermen mean they can sail only three nautical miles from the coast, impoverishing their families. Meanwhile, 80m litres of raw and partially treated sewage is pumped out into the sea every day.
Most disturbingly of all, the lack of access to materials means that basic water infrastructure simply cannot be repaired or improved; 90 to 95% of Gaza's water fails to meet WHO standards. The extremely high nitrate level in the water supply is leaving thousands of newborn babies at risk of poisoning.
The insistence by some that aid should come into no contact whatsoever, even indirectly, with Hamas means NGOs are prevented from repairing basic water and sanitation facilities in schools.
There is a clear moral imperative for Israel and Egypt to end the blockade, as well as it being in their enlightened self-interest to change course. But if they do not do so of their own volition, it is up to the international community to persuade them otherwise.
The EU has huge economic influence over Israel, and it believes the blockade must be lifted. At the same time as exercising leverage over Hamas, it should make clear that the web of preferential agreements which now exists between the EU and Israel – from Israeli access to EU research and development funds to recently improved access for Israeli agricultural products – will be brought into question if there is no rapid progress.
Equally, the US, as by far the largest bilateral donor to Egypt, should press President Mubarak to allow in the humanitarian and reconstruction materials that are so desperately needed.
What will be the state of Gaza's drinking water by next December? Of the health of its children? Of the economy? The attitude of its people towards Egypt and Israel? The risk of waiting another year is too great. Gordon Brown and the international community must urgently declare that enough is enough. The blockade must end.

I wonder if Mr Clegg, from his new position of power in the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition, recalls his words? Perhaps we should ask him. He can be contacted on cleggn@parliament.uk and leader@libdems.org.uk.

Manchester Peace Festival benefit gig

10th May 2010
Benefit night for Manchester Peace Festival
Sand Bar, Grosvenor Street (off Oxford Road) 7.30-late
Music from Vanessa Lewis, Black Jack Barnet, Uncle Meat and the Highway Children, and poetry from Lauren Bolger. And cake. All proceeds to Manchester Peace Festival

Another reply on Palestine (pity about the literacy...) and more election communications

The free postal leaflets for Marc Ramsbottom, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Manchester Central, finally turned up yesterday (a bit late for us postal voters...). This was the biggest of the lot - an A3 size sheet of paper folder into 4 to make an A5 flier. Sadly, the concept of 'less is more' hasn't been introduced to Lib Dem designers. The example below was, unfortunately, crumpled up and put in the recycling by Beloved Husband, so it's a bit creased, but you can see what I mean:






Yesterday's other bit of election communication was the second response I've received to my second round of candidate-mithering via the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website. The first came from Marc Ramsbottom, and yesterday's came from Gayle O'Donovan, the Green Party's main hope for a council seat in Manchester, even though her chances of dislodging Tony Lloyd at Parliamentary level are about level with the survival hopes of a Louisiana seabird.
The email read as follows:

Hi Sarah,
I campaign allot on this issue with Action Palestine, the Free Gaza Boat Project and the PSC. This is a subject close to my heart and I will do whatever is within my power to fight for the rights of Palestinians.
Best Wishes
Gayle O'Donovan

Commendable sentiments, of course. Bit ropey on the literacy side of things, what with 'allot' being a verb meaning to allocate or hand out. It should, of course, be two separate words, 'a lot'. Churlish of me, I know, and I'm sure our pressurised candidates have bigger things to think about than their grammar at this point. But standards, dear boy, standards. It also doesn't specifically say whether she is signing up to the pledge which the email she's replying to asks her to support, and which the Green Party candidates for Manchester Gorton (Justine Hall) and Manchester Withington (Brian Candeland) have signed, according to the list on the PSC website.

Voting algorithm

Beloved husband sent me this the other day. Highly entertaining (although am I alone in not actually recognising the Tory logo? I had to go by process of elimination. Who on earth designed something so incredibly boring and mediocre? It looks like something you'd reject from the logo selection for a set of free business cards).

The Green Party Dalek video returns!

Highly entertaining Green Party propaganda

Reposted from Feminazery...

21 April, 2010
Urgent abortion support appeal: help a teenage girl in Northern Ireland
As publicised by the wonderful Penny Red:

Whether it’s a shortage of mange tout at the supermarket or a friend stranded abroad, we’ve all been affected by the cloud of ash from Iceland. But imagine if you had only a few weeks to navigate your way to England for a safe and legal abortion.
This week, we’ve heard from a number of women who were due to travel to the UK this week for terminations, including a very young teen who is extremely close to the 24 week time limit for abortions in the UK. She had to miss her appointment earlier this week and is now coming next week by ferry and train – a roundtrip journey of more than 24 hours. Her mother solely supports her and her siblings with a part time job and now has to cover costs of £2,300 (procedure + money lost on cancelled flights + last minute ferry and train tickets).
Due to these extraordinary and extremely difficult circumstances, ASN has made a pledge to fund this young woman £500, much more than we usually commit to a single case. This is less than half of the costs she is facing. We would like to help more. If you would like to help cover more costs for her and women like her, please pledge to make a donation today.
You can do this by donating via PayPal (http://www.abortionsupport.org.uk/donate/), writing a cheque (email info@abortionsupport.org.uk for our postal address), or by making an online transfer (HSBC/Abortion Support Network/Sort Code: 40-11-18/Account Number: 64409302).
Please mark the donation “Iceland”.
Thank you in advance for any amount you can give – your donation will make a real difference to this family or to one of the other women who have had to re-purchase tickets to travel to England.

The deeply disturbing photoshop genius

of Mr Marc Roberts.
'Nuff said.

A reply on Palestine!

As with the Refugee Council pledge on asylum, the prize for quickest response goes to Marc Ramsbottom, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Manchester Central. If nothing else, this guy's got an effective campaign office.
Having sent a second round of the PSC's automated election lobbying messages to all candidates who'd supplied emails - I think a couple of days ago, lost count now - this arrived in my email inbox this morning. He says he can't sign the pledge - which seems a little odd, since six of his Lib Dem colleagues have, according to the PSC's list here. However:

Dear Sarah
Thank you for your question. As described in the Manifesto, we seek peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, involving two separate Israeli and Palestinian states which both recognize each other and are internationally accepted, following the borders before the Six-Day War. We will also push Britain and the EU to pressure Israel and Egypt to end the Gaza blockade. We also support an International Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the sale of arms to dangerous regimes and would stop British arms from being sold to states which use them for internal oppression.
Therefore, in answer to your questions, we will call on Israel to relinquish the territories you mention. We will lobby to end the siege in Gaza. In accordance with our manifesto, if Israel is shown to be using arms for internal oppression, we will not sell British arms to Israel. We would also go further, addressing the factors causing such conflict. If elected, the Foreign Secretary would actively work for both the establishment of two separate states in acceptable borders, and for an International Arms Trade Treaty including an international ban on cluster munitions. As we have already agreed policies for the Party in the Manifesto, we are unable to sign pledges outside this. However, as you can see, we specifically support the goals which you are understandingly concerned about.
Marc
Cllr Marc Ramsbottom
Liberal Democrat Councillor - City Centre Ward

On the Refugee Council pledge, I still have nothing in the post from Tony Lloyd, despite an email saying I would be getting something 'in the next few days' - ten days ago. I also have zilch from the Tory Suhail Rahuja, but then he might not have got round to clearing out his inbox to know what messages he's actually got...
On other issues, this morning we get confirmation - thirty years late - that anti-fascist campaigner Blair Peach was indeed murdered by a copper who then, along with his mates, lied about it. Well, golly gee.

Tony Lloyd's Big Smiley Leaflet

Well, no sign of the promised reply from Tony Lloyd on the subject of the Refugee Council asylum pledge, but this morning the postie did deliver a slightly scary leaflet featuring Mr Lloyd smiling broadly. The punctuation's a bit ropey, though. And there was only one copy, addressed to Beloved Husband. Our surnames are only a letter away from each other in the alphabet, so I'll assume that mine's on its way, rather than Labour are following the Tories' views on matrimony.

Banksy and the Bethlehem Donkey

Last weekend, at a symposium to accompany the opening of the Contemporary Art Iraq exhibition at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, I encountered someone who was possibly the most breathtakingly rude, arrogant and self-aggrandising journalist I have ever had the misfortune to meet. Which was a pity, because the symposium was fairly interesting (although the speaker count was pretty much halved by the effects of the Icelandic ash cloud) and this woman's aggressive, narrow-focused interrogation of the presenters racked up the tension amongst speakers and audience so much that little real debate seemed possible. It was also a pity because she had some really useful insights and very interesting experiences and information - she just chose to present them in such an exclusionary way that engaging with her was impossible. She is on the editorial team of a magazine I've long respected and have written for in the past; I suspect I won't be going near it again, and from the conversations I've had subsequently, she comprehensively alienated a room full of people who should have been amongst her publication's target market.
However, I should be grateful to her for one thing. She reminded me that I should write up a little anecdote I've been trotting out for a while as an example of the confusions which can plague political art.
On a return visit to the West Bank in spring 2009, my friend Samer pointed out to me the places near Bethlehem checkpoint where graffiti artist Banksy had left his mark. Several of Banksy's wittier contributions to the many murals, stencils and tags on the Israeli military's Separation Wall remained but, as reported widely in December 2007, an image depicting a donkey being id'd by an Israeli soldier had been painted over by irate locals.
According to Samer, Banksy's images had heightened debates amongst locals over whether drawing, painting and spray-painting on the Wall was an act of defiance or a beautification of the unforgivable, something to make the Wall easier to live with and detract from its role in wrecking the Palestinian economy, cutting people off from jobs and hospitals and educational opportunities, and stealing large areas of Palestinian land.
But the donkey cartoon had been singled out for particular criticism by some Bethlehemites. To call someone a donkey the Middle East is excruciatingly insulting, and locals felt that the image compared them with the creature depicted. Hence the mural's fate under a layer of new paint. And, on the roundabout heading into Bethlehem from the checkpoint, even fourteen months later in 2009 and unnoticed by the reporters who initially recorded the story, several concrete blocks bore the sinister message 'R.I.P. Banksy.'

Blog also posted at Menassat, the Arab media community.

Playing this morning...

I've voted!

... in the Manchester local elections, at least - where the choice in Moss Side was between the Big 3, the Greens and an independent who I can find no policies for online and who hasn't been round canvassing, so has somewhat missed the boat. My early vote is because for some historical reason I can't remember, I have a postal ballot, and once you have one of these it seems to be automatic (isn't this one of the reasons it's potentially open to fraud? Surely I could die or emigrate and Beloved Husband, who has a rough idea of my signature, and possibly an even rougher one of my date of birth, could just keep on voting...anyway).
I'm not saying who I voted for. Suffice to say it wasn't the Tories, whose execrable leader is currently smarming his way down the airwaves at me, although the R4 callers are poking him with sharp enough sticks to stop me haring down the stairs for the Off button. He's currently trying to justify his regressive, socially conservative attempt to bribe people into matrimony.
For some bizarre reason, the Conservative Party has forked out for phone box advertising in Moss Side, which is affording me mild amusement each time I leave the house, seeing how much more of the ads have been peeled off, especially from the one by the cashpoint where I guess bored people have a bit of a rip while they're queuing.
Certain items haven't yet arrived in the post. One is my General Election ballot papers, which is fair enough; I'm not expecting them till next week. The other is the letter from Tony Lloyd, giving his position on asylum and immigration, which I was told a full week ago now had been posted.
And absolutely no reply to a SECOND shot at emailing all my candidates from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign lobbying website. The list was interesting: the PSC seems to have acquired the emails for Tony Lloyd and Suhail Rahuja (if he's bothered to clear his inbox out), but doesn't yet have contacts for 3 candidates I didn't know about - those from the Workers Revolutionary Party, the vile UKIP, and one from Socialist Equality. What the PSC site does have is a list of which candidates have signed up to their pledge - a list dominated by Greens (although NOT including Manchester Central candidate Gayle O'Donovan), with some from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Respect, small numbers from various independents and devolved national parties, and none at all from the Tories (although it does say they've had some responses from Conservatives, which implies some have had the decency to get back saying why/why not).
Finding this list, I headed to Wikipedia, where I found out some interesting and generally unpleasant additional facts about Manchester Central. Firstly, that we have the second highest unemployment of any constituency in the country. And secondly, that as well as a Socialist Labour one I hadn't previously noticed and the creepy UKIP, we have a candidate from the fucking fascist BNP scum, some lowlife called Tony Trebilock. Mr Trebilock, unsurprisingly, doesn't seem keen to divulge much about where he lives, and I can't imagine he'll be showing his face in Moss Side too much...

Unlikely birdspotting

I was surprised enough to see a Greater Spotted Woodpecker in Moss Side last autumn, but today I got a really glorious bit of urban birdlife. Walking down the banks of the Irwell near the Lowry Hotel, I saw a rapid flash of turquoise, which zipped fast along the river, low above the water and off under Blackfriars Bridge. I thought I must be fantasising to think it could be a kingfisher, but several posts on the Manchester Birding Forum confirm that there have been a number of sightings on that stretch - right in the heart of the city. Wow.



Image pinched from some birding forum but copyright Cook Images.