Where should the birds fly?

30 July, 2010 — Ann

A moving upcoming documentary by young journalist-filmmaker Fida Qishta, set to the haunting music of Marcel Khalife and the title inspired by the line in a Mahmoud Darwish poem. The film’s trailer is followed by an extended clip that centers around one of the central characters, Mona, a beautiful 11 year old child directly affected by the Israeli assault. There is an opportunity and appeal to help support the completing of the documentary and take it to the world (h/t Mondoweiss).

Deep Dish TV asks your support for Where Should the Birds Fly

Tax-deductible donations can be made online at Deep Dish TV.org Fida Qishta, a young Palestinian filmmaker and journalist from Rafah in Gaza, with her crew of young Gazans has documented the horrific Israeli invasion and bombardment of Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. And they have kept their cameras rolling for months, recording the struggle of the people of Gaza to retrieve some sense of normalcy from the absolute abnormality of life in the world’s largest prison camp, sealed off on all sides by Israeli and Egyptian walls, barbed wire and military.

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Meet Homo Empathicus

10 July, 2010 — peoplesgeography.com

Can empathy scale up? Another adeptly animated RSA lecture that raises some interesting questions by economist and ethicist Jeremy Rifkin (he’s not very popular on the science scene though). Also check out David Harvey’s The Crises of Capitalism and other animated RSA lectures here.

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Message from Geographers for the Academic Boycott of Israel

5 July, 2010 — Ann

Boycott the International Geographical Union‘s Regional Conference in Tel Aviv

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) issued an Open Letter on 29 October 2009 urging the Executive Committee of the International Geographical Union (IGU) to relocate its upcoming regional conference (July 2010) out of Israel [1]. The IGU Executive rejected that demand [2].

A few months later, nearly 500 geographers, faculty, students, and people of conscience collectively petitioned the IGU to reconsider its position and to take immediate steps to relocate the regional conference outside Israel [3]. The Open Letter emphasized the complicity of Israel’s academic establishment (and geography in particular) with the Israeli state’s colonial, discriminatory, and oppressive policies towards Palestinians. In addition it underlined the prevailing, and deeply disturbing role of Israeli universities in developing the very weapons and military doctrines used against Palestinians. Moreover the letter highlighted the tragic irony of geographers holding a conference about “Bridging Diversity in a Globalizing World” in a country built on urban destruction and gradual ethnic cleansing, a state which defines itself as an exclusively Jewish state, not a state of all its citizens, one that continues to violate human rights with total impunity and stands accused of war crimes for its latest war on the people of Gaza.

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Posted in BDS, Boycott, Geography. 4 Comments »

The Secret Powers of Time

30 June, 2010 — Ann

Social psychologist Philip Zimbardo has some interesting observations and insights about time perspective and how it affects our work, health and well-being, all set to a well-orchestrated animation for a talk he gave at the RSA. The clip is a ten minute animation via Fora.tv.

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Posted in Animation, Christianity, Culture, Psychology, Work. Tags: . 4 Comments »

‘Liberate all ghettos’: Free Gaza, Palestine action in Warsaw

30 June, 2010 — Ann

From Poland to Palestine: support for the Gaza Ghetto in the old Warsaw Ghetto …

From Polish Palestinian solidarity site Kampania-Palestyna:

Yesterday, Israeli and Polish activists met in the ruins of Warsaw’s old Jewish Ghetto.

The activists sprayed ‘Liberate All Ghettos’ in Hebrew, followed by ‘Free Gaza and Palestine’ in English on a wall of an original block in the ghetto. The block is across the street from the last fragment of the remaining perimeter wall of the Ghetto. They also hung Palestinian flags from the wall.

This was first time such an action took place in the ghetto.

Yonatan Shapira, former Israeli Air Force captain and now refusenik and BDS activist, said:

‘Most of my family came from Poland and many of my relatives were killed in the death camps during the Holocaust. When I walk in what was left from the Warsaw Ghetto I can’t stop thinking about the people of Gaza who are not only locked in an open air prison but are also being bombarded by fighter jets, attack helicopters and drones, flown by people whom I used to serve with before my refusal in 2003.

I am also thinking about the delegations of young Israelis that are coming to see the history of our people but also are subjected to militaristic and nationalistic brainwashing on a daily basis. Maybe if they see what we wrote here today they will remember that oppression is oppression, occupation is occupation, and crimes against humanity are crimes against humanity, whether they have been committed here in Warsaw or in Gaza’.

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Australia: 11 Unions back campaign to boycott Israel

29 June, 2010 — Ann

I am tickled to hear about growing support for BDS from Australian unions … and in such ocker Aussie accents! Well done, CFMEU! Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) has a piece about Julia Gillard’s silence on the ”excesses” of Israel (as one former diplomat puts it too kindly IMO) and about her partner being given a job by a prominent Israel lobbyist.


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‘When governments refuse … we as individuals have a duty to act’: MP speaks up for human rights in Palestine, endorses BDS

19 June, 2010 — Ann

Thank you, Julia Irwin, Australian federal parliamentarian who gave a fine statement in the House debate on Wednesday, 16 June 2010. The Member for Fowler (ALP) spoke up for citizen action and BDS, stating, “… like the Stalinists of old, some world leaders continue to deny the reality, or, worse, defend it in the name of Israel’s right of self-defence. But while nations’ leaders fail to act, responsible citizens throughout the world are beginning to take action. The worldwide campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against products and services originating in whole or in part in the occupied territories is gaining momentum.” This adds to opposition MP Sussan Ley’s effort two years ago, who also spoke up for Palestine and demonstrated more cajones than her male counterparts, or these massacre-cheerleader clowns in the UK parliament.

After Irwin’s speech Craig Knowles had to issue a short disclaimer: “I want to make clear that, in making her adjournment speech tonight, the Member for Fowler was not speaking on behalf of the Rudd government.” No, Mr Knowles, she was just speaking on behalf of much of the rest of the world.

Here’s what Julia Irwin said:

Like millions of people around the world I watched with horror the actions of the Israeli armed forces in their assault on the freedom flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The predictable response from the Israeli propaganda machine portrayed the murder of nine peace activists as yet another act of self-defence. While the Secretary-General of the United Nations has called for an independent international inquiry, the United States and Australia are again happy to leave the inquiry in the hands of Israeli authorities. And even if there were any adverse findings we could expect the matter to be brushed aside like the damning Goldstone report into Israel’s war on Gaza in 2009.

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