صلح Pax سلام שלום Pace Hasîtî Barış 和平 Мир Peace Mir Friede Paix
I love the interweaving of complex mathematical models of space with ‘feminine domestic handicraft’ here, as well as the idea of a playtank and bringing mathematics into the minds and hands of the masses … (thanks Dave)
Margaret Wertheim leads a project to re-create the creatures of the coral reefs using a crochet technique invented by a mathematician — celebrating the amazements of the reef, and deep-diving into the hyperbolic geometry underlying coral creation. R/t 15 minutes
Yoav Shamir’s memorable, must-see Defamation is by turns hilarious, profound and disturbing. It recently aired on the UK’s Channel 4 True Stories series. It is featured it here below in full and you can catch just the trailer here.
Shamir seeks to investigate whether Judeophobia really exists to anything near the levels the ADL (Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith) claims to combat. This takes him to the US, Israel, Russia, Poland and to several interesting encounters and interviews. (See also the official film site synopsis).
An excellent TED talk by Wade Davis on endangered languages and the ethnosphere. National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the world’s indigenous cultures, disappearing from the planet at an alarming rate, and what it means for all of us. The full transcript can be found over the jump.
From Michael Leunig (cartoons site). Check out a selection of Leunig cartoons posted here.
Spot on song from a bunch of friends in Wiltshire in the UK who put this together. In case you don’t already know, its a parody off Band Aid’s Do they Know Its Christmas? (1984). Its followed by another effort from last year along the same lines, over the fold.
US Labor for Palestine have a terrific Open Letter from U.S. Trade Unionists to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: Boycott Apartheid Israel, with thanks to Charlotte Kates of L4P.
Sanctions alone cannot eradicate apartheid; that task is ultimately left to the people of South Africa themselves. But economic pressure and political isolation of the South African government can hasten the day when justice and freedom reign in that troubled land.
–Richard L. Trumka, June 23, 1987
We call on other workers and unions to . . . do all that is necessary to ensure that they boycott all goods to and from Israel until Palestine is free.
–Congress of South African Trade Unions, February 3, 2009
Mark Braverman draws upon his own journey as a US-raised Jew with a Jewish Palestinian family background and frankly — refreshingly! — talks about the connection between Jewish identity and Israeli occupation in this clip. It was on a return trip to the Holy Land in 2006 that he describes being transformed in witnessing the occupation of Palestine, and by his encounters with peace activists and civil society leaders from all three Abrahamic faiths.
UPDATE 1: Paul Woodward applies a healthy dose of skepticism to these early reports. I’ve added his observations with his kind permission (see below).
UPDATE 2: Sherine Tadros reports from Rafah for Al Jazeera on the barrier — video clip added below (h/t AlethoNews)
UPDATE 3 (15 Dec): Maan News reports that the US army is installing a Gaza monitoring system along the border (also mentioned at the 19 minute mark by Jimmy Johnson on the video at this post re Egyptian engineers being trained in tunnel detection by the US on the border with Mexico) as phase one before a more uncertain phase two underground wall.
Just when you thought things could not become more Kafkaesque comes apparent confirmation that the US-backed Egyptian government is building an underground steel barrier designed to cut off one of the few lifelines sustaining the Gaza Ghetto, the tunnel economy. The BBC reports that the huge underground wall will be 10-11km (6-7 miles) long, will extend 18 metres below the surface and will take 18 months to complete. The project has been shrouded in secrecy with no official confirmation from the Egyptian government, but it is understood that the design is commissioned by US army engineers, at the behest of Israel, Ann Wright surmises.
Last month Australian journalist John Pilger, recipient of the 2009 City of Sydney Peace Prize, delivered his prize address, The Great Australian Silence (transcript). Pilger focuses here on issues of both Australian and international import, from Iraq to Palestine and US foreign policy, to the Australian federal government’s racist intervention into remote Aboriginal communities. He calls for a breaking of media and public silence and for a peoples fifth estate as an alternative to our corporatist Murdochracies. Also catch his most recent piece Normalising the Crime of the Century. The audio is embedded immediately after the video, which I’m told may have geographic restrictions.
Electronic Intifada Australians for Palestine AntiWar Maan News Counterpunch InterPress Service Middle East TruthDig Information Clearing House
