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"The country's biggest force, the Metropolitan police, is to lobby the attorney general… because officers believe that large sections of the population have become increasingly politicised"
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So this is “policing by consent”… or “facilitating legal protest”?

February 02, 2009 By: fotdmike Category: Antiwar, Human Rights, Police State

Peace and Justice for Palestine – March against the Gaza massacre London 3 January 2009. A personal account of riot police charges in Hyde Park underpass

After a week of brutal and disproportionate violence by the Israeli government against the Palestinians, we joined thousands of others gathered at Londons Embankment to march for peace and justice.

It was a brilliant display of solidarity with the Palestinians, but the provocative behaviour of riot police in panic mode escalated an otherwise peaceful demonstration. We are ordinary citizens, who were marching for peace, but who were terrified by series of batoned charges in the Hyde Park Underpass. Conveniently, it meant the police violence went unseen and unrecorded by the TV camera crews, so this is our account for those who werent there.

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A sense of outrage

January 23, 2009 By: fotdmike Category: Antiwar, Human Rights, Politics, Press Bias, Rants, War Crimes

The latest atrocities that have been perpetrated against the Palestinians in Gaza by the Israelis have once again left me with that oh-so-familiar sense of outrage and sheer disbelief… “How can such a thing be allowed to happen?” “How can they get away with this?”

But it is. And they do.

For our government, and that of the US, and of so many other countries around the world (including those, shamefully, that one would have thought to be the natural allies and defenders of the Palestinians, the “Arab States”), seem unwilling to do little other than… eventually… make a few palliatory noises.

And what can we, the ordinary people of conscience who see so clearly the truth of what’s really occurring, actually do about it?

For, in these wonderful “democracies” of ours, no amount of letter-writing (to MPs, to the Media, to Embassies, or to elsewhere), no amount of petition-signing, no amount of demonstrations and protests, appear to achieve anything at all.
Rather, they’re simply met (if at all!) with the same tired old responses that bear all the hallmarks of the pernicious Israeli spin-machine that feeds excuses to its mouthpieces in the “free world” which then get trotted out ad nauseum.

So much for the “legitimate” means of registering one’s opinion and dissent in a “democratic” society. Of “having one’s voice heard”.

And whilst all this letter-writing, petition-signing, and demonstrating is going on; whilst there’s all the speechifying from the likes of the STWC, and all the meaningless rhetoric from the politicians, people are dying. Being killed. Murdered. Butchered.
Yet we’re all supposed to behave like good little citizens, peacefully allowing “our” government to pursue foreign policies that virtually sanction, if not actually encourage, such butchery.

So what of the UN? That international body that was set up to supposedly

* save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
* reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
* establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
* promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom

Time and again in the past that body has proven to be completely ineffectual… a eunuch so often castrated, in the case of Israeli-related issues, by the knife of the US veto. And of the resolutions that somehow, miraculously, do manage to evade the chop… well… Israel tends to just ignore them. And narry a word is raised in protest.
It rather begs the question of whether the so-called “leaders” of the so-called “free world” have any conscience whatsoever.

So I ask again, what can we, the ordinary people of conscience who see so clearly the truth of what’s really occurring, actually do?

Short of courageous acts such as that undertaken by a handful of protesters in Brighton recently (courageous for they must have known at the outset that the full weight of the law would be applied against them… instead of against the true criminals in Israel of course) what other options are open to the ordinary caring citizen? Options that stand at least some chance of having an impact?

Ah yes… boycotts! The consumer boycotting of Israeli goods perhaps?
That’s certainly something we can all do, and should do, as a matter of course.

But, although not wishing to be a wet blanket, I have to ask just how effective it is? Surely for it to be truly effective it requires incredibly large numbers of the world’s population to implement it? Doesn’t it?

And there we come up against two major hurdles.

The comfort-driven and Western lifestyle-cushioned lethargy that afflicts vast swathes of the population of the “civilised” world. And the misguided sympathies for the Israelis that are fed by the biased reporting of so much of the Western mainstream media.

Damn!

I’m still left with my sense of outrage. My anger. My frustration. My feelings of utter powerlessness in terms of being able to do anything effective whatsoever.

Thankfully the butchering in Gaza has, for the moment at least, ceased… well, to a large extent. The suffering of course continues, as it will for generations to come probably.

My immediate reaction is to think “this can never be allowed to happen again”. But I’m not that naive. Unless something majorly drastic occurs in the supposedly “civilised” world, Israel will carry on in its own sweet way, unhindered, with the might of the US backing it as per usual.

But, and this is the whole point, I’m not yet despairing enough to give up completely with a shrug of the shoulders and a muttered “What’s the use?”

Nor does the fact that the butchering has temporarily abated mean the issue should be put on the back burner, shelved until such time as Israel once more struts arrogantly and bloodily over its neighbours, as it inevitably will. Unless ordinary people of conscience finally discover a way to force their governments to listen and to act.

The letter-writing shoudn’t end. Nor should the petition-signing. Nor the protests and demonstrations. And for those who incline to a more direct form of action, well, neither should they rest on their laurels.

For Gaza needs rebuilding… and fast! (Too much to hope of course that Israel will be compelled to make complete reparation… though that would be true justice.) The survivors (I’d like to say “Palestinians living there”… but that makes it sound far too comfortable) need urgent relief from their suffering.
And, necessarily, the Israelis should be held to account… for War Crimes and for Crimes Against Humanity at the very least.

Held to account, moreover, in a truly effective way such that a clear message will be sent to all their successors… “Don’t even think about pulling a stunt like that again”.

And I still feel outrage, and frustration, and utter powerlessness! Hopefully so too do so many other ordinary people of conscience for maybe, just maybe, the burning desire to realistically tackle this state of disempowerment will provide the driving force for genuine change.

Though I’m not going to hold my breath.

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Uncomfortable resemblances

January 22, 2009 By: fotdmike Category: Antiwar, Human Rights, War Crimes

Just come across this story on Sky News: Israelis To Probe Racist Graffiti reporting on “a series of disturbing slogans daubed on the walls of a house occupied during Operation Cast Lead by soldiers in the town of Zeitoun”, some of which were “too offensive” to be reproduced in the report.

And it goes on to say: “The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs quotes eye witnesses as saying a hundred Palestinians were rounded up and moved to a house which was repeatedly shelled 24 hours later.
Around thirty people are thought to have died.”

The more I hear of the behaviour of the so-called “IDF” (let’s not beat about the bush…. let’s name it as it is… the Israeli Army) and of its masters, the Israeli government. the more difficult it becomes to not notice the disturbing parallels between they and the Nazis of the Third Reich.

And it seems that the rest of the world (or the governments thereof at least) are intent on simply following a policy of appeasement.

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More of the same

January 18, 2009 By: fotdmike Category: Antiwar, Human Rights, Terrorism, War Crimes

According to a Press Association report (UK in bid to stop Gaza weapons flow) Gordon Brown has “offered British naval resources to help monitor and stop weapons being smuggled into crisis-torn Gaza”.

The report goes on to say “Mr Brown’s announcement followed an agreement signed between the US and Israel. The deal called for expanded intelligence co-operation to prevent Hamas smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip”.

This current development centres around the existence of tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, which Israel alleges are being used to smuggle arms, whereas the Egyptian goverment claim the tunnels are used principally to transport food into the beleaguered region, a statement that tends to be supported by such remarks as “…responding to a rumour that Israel has threatened to “collapse” (bomb? destroy with an incursion?) the Rafah tunnel network that keeps everyone fed…” and “Unless the siege ends, Gaza folks need these tunnels,” quoted from a blogger reporting real-time from inside Gaza now.

It seems to me that if perhaps the so-called “international community” just for once took positive steps to bring to an end Israel’s illegal occupations, aggressive landgrabs, and war crimes then Hamas (the Palestinians’ democratically elected government, be it noted) wouldn’t need to take steps to arm itself against its neighbour’s brutality, if indeed that is what its been doing.

But no. Instead what appears to be happening is that once again the UK and the US are unreservedly buying into Israeli “explanation” at the cost of yet more lives and suffering.

More of the same then. Just how long, I wonder, will this rogue state of Israel be permitted to continue unchecked before simple human conscience and compassion say “enough is enough”? Or is that too much to expect from the world’s governments?

Footnote: Intriguingly, on checking the above Press Association link to ensure it was still “live” before posting this item I discovered that the wording of the PA article had been modified somewhat. But, as luck would have it, I’d archived a copy of the original wording of the article… for anyone that’s really interested!

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Depleted uranium found in Gaza victims

January 04, 2009 By: fotdmike Category: Antiwar, Human Rights, Terrorism, War Crimes

Medics tell Press TV they have found traces of depleted uranium in some Gaza residents wounded in Israel’s ground offensive on the strip.

Full story at Press TV

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