Aquí os dejo con la crónica de nuestro en cuentro en Marruecos. El encuentro yo lo calificaría como una toma de contacto entre personas que están viviendo una experiencia similar ya que la revolución o primaveras árabes han afectado a la mayoría de los países que han formado el encuentro. Sin embargo, cabe destacar también las diferencias en cada país, y es importante recalcar que la revolución se está desarrollando de un modo muy distinto en cada país en parte debido a las condiciones sociales, económicas y políticas que ha vivido cada nación.
Este evento por lo tanto ha servido para conocernos y compartir estas experiencias tan variadas. Lo más interesante del evento han sido los debates, mucho mejor que las presentaciones en general. En esta crónica podréis encontrar algunas de los temas que hemos tratado y en breve publicaremos un cuaderno un poco más extenso sobre las discusiones y debates que hemos tenido. Bueno, os dejo con la crónica. Espero que os guste,
La lucha global por la democracia y los Derechos Humanos
Los días 6, 7 y 8 de abril más de 40 jóvenes procedentes de Túnez, Egipto, Libia, Argelia, Marruecos, Mauritania, Palestina, Yemen y el Estado español, se reunieron en Bouznika (Marruecos) en el marco del “Encuentro mediterráneo de jóvenes por la democracia y los Derechos Humanos” para compartir experiencias, debatir sobre líneas comunes y crear espacios de discusión sobre las protestas y revoluciones que han tenido lugar en dichos países en el último año y medio. El encuentro ha sido organizado por ACSUR-Las Segovias y la Asociación Marroquí de Derechos Humanos (AMDH) en el marco del convenio para el fortalecimiento del Estado de Derecho y la gobernanza democrática mediante el apoyo a organizaciones de Derechos Humanos y sus redes en Marruecos, Argelia y Túnez, financiado por la AECID.
A continuación, compartimos una crónica del encuentro y un breve resumen de las reflexiones que surgieron en los debates que han mantenido los y las jóvenes que han participado en el encuentro.
Como indicó al inicio del encuentro Ryadi Khadija, Presidenta de la Asociación Marroquí de los Derechos Humanos (AMDH), éste se ha inscrito en una coyuntura muy interesante puesto que ya ha pasado un año y medio desde que comenzó el ciclo de protestas, levantamientos y revoluciones en los países del Mediterráneo. Esta distancia temporal permite hacer balance de las victorias, derrotas, límites y potencialidades de cada una de las experiencias de protesta. La inmolación del joven tunecino Mohammed Bouazizi en diciembre de 2010 frente a la Delegación de Gobierno en Sidi Bouzid, fue el detonante, la gota que colmó un vaso de indignación, rabia y luchas acumuladas contra el régimen despótico de Ben Ali. Desde entonces, se ha sucedido todo un ciclo de protestas en favor de la democracia que ha hecho caer a gobiernos autoritarios y dictaduras en toda la región: Ben Ali huye de Túnez, cae Hosni Mubarak en Egipto, derrocamiento de Gadafi en Libia, salida del gobierno de Saleh en Yemen, etc. También, la conocida como primavera árabe, daba rienda suelta a movimientos de contestación al otro lado del Mediterráneo. En contextos políticos y económicos diferentes, pero con algunas reivindicaciones comunes a las de los países árabes relativas a la crisis sistémica global, la protesta y los movimientos de indignación se sucedían en Grecia, Italia, el Estado español o Portugal.
Con todas estas experiencias acumuladas, resulta interesante analizar cuáles son los principales desafíos a los que se enfrentan los procesos de transición democrática de muchos países árabes, mientras que se debate y refuerzan los espacios de encuentro y redes internacionales para la defensa de los Derechos Humanos y la democracia en la región.
De la Transición Española a la “primavera árabe”
En la conferencia de apertura del encuentro, Abdelatif Hossni, profesor de Ciencias Políticas en la Universidad de Rabat, realizó una cartografía de las revueltas en la región árabe destacando, dentro de la gran heterogeneidad de la región, factores comunes a todos los países: una estructura de la población mayoritariamente joven, altos índices de desempleo, grandes niveles de corrupción, la ausencia de libertades, la vulneración de los Derechos Humanos y el sometimiento de la población a regímenes autoritarios o dictatoriales. Unos factores que, sin olvidar las luchas anteriores que se han dado en la zona, han sido detonantes de las movilizaciones actuales. Hossni destacó también el protagonismo de la juventud en la protesta, de las clases medias y la organización en red, no como rasgos comunes a todos los países pero sí importantes en muchos de ellos.
Ferrán Izquierdo, profesor de Relaciones Internacionales en la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, también participó en la conferencia de apertura compartiendo la lectura y experiencia de la Transición Española en relación a las transiciones en los países árabes. La distribución del poder en los regímenes dictatoriales o gobiernos autoritarios marca el tipo de transición política. La Transición Española fue pacífica debido a que el poder estaba distribuido en muchas manos por lo que el cambio de sistema político no implicó una transformación real y profunda, una gran pérdida, para las élites económicas y políticas. En los regímenes en los que el poder económico está muy concentrado en manos de las pocas personas que poseen el poder político, cambiar el Estado implica atentar directamente contra sus intereses, por lo que las transiciones normalmente son violentas. Izquierdo hizo referencia también a las élites capitalistas globales cuyo poder escapa a cualquier tipo de control democrático, las mismas élites que llevan tanto a países árabes como occidentales hacia un nuevo totalitarismo global, donde quienes mandan son los mercados. Un enemigo común a todos los movimientos de protesta que defienden la democracia y los Derechos Humanos.
Tras la conferencia de apertura comenzaron los talleres en los que fueron los y las participantes activistas y protagonistas de los movimientos de protesta quienes presentaron y debatieron en los talleres que han estado centrados en cuatro temáticas: las formas de organización de los movimientos reivindicativos, la implicación de las clases populares, el rol de las nuevas tecnologías y la lucha y participación de las mujeres en el seno de los movimientos.
Nuevas formas de organización e implicación de las clases populares
En varias ocasiones se hizo referencia en el debate a la espontaneidad como un aspecto a destacar en lo que se refiere al nacimiento de los movimientos, así como la imprevisibilidad de los mismos. En general, la percepción de los y las jóvenes participantes en el encuentro es que las formas de movilización están en proceso de transformación. Tradicionalmente han sido los partidos políticos y los sindicatos quienes articulaban al movimiento y lo organizaban. Sin embargo, en muchos de los casos, primero ha surgido la protesta de manera espontánea e imprevisible, a raíz de un hecho o suceso que ha servido como detonante de un malestar acumulado y, posteriormente, las organizaciones políticas se han sumado a la movilización. Los y las activistas tunecinas, por ejemplo, hacían referencia al hecho de que lo que ocurrió allí es un comienzo, a pesar de haber echado a Ben Ali lo que ahora hace falta es paciencia, más organización y menos espontaneidad en el movimiento para lograr transformaciones más profundas. Desde Libia, Al Mahdi Ali compartía la experiencia de la revuelta en su país, en la que, en ausencia de organizaciones políticas de envergadura, los imanes tuvieron un papel importante en la organización de las movilizaciones desde las mezquitas o los jefes tribales en las zonas rurales. En otros países, como Marruecos, el movimiento 20 de Febrero nace como fruto de años encadenando fuerzas y luchas, no viene de la nada. Sus formas de organización están más o menos definidas y comparte similitudes con las del movimiento 15M. Desde el Estado español, la horizontalidad, el asamblearismo, la democracia directa y el universalismo, se identifican como las principales características organizativas del movimiento, siendo éstas su gran potencialidad al mismo tiempo que una limitación.
Las nuevas tecnologías
Internet y las redes sociales, son herramientas que en algunos casos han sido importantes y en otros a penas han sido utilizadas. En el caso de Yemen el acceso a internet es muy bajo, reservado y accesible casi exclusivamente a las élites del país. En Palestina el acceso a la red de redes también es muy bajo y el uso del teléfono móvil no está muy extendido. Además, en su caso, al igual que en Argelia, las redes sociales se convierten en un espacio en el que encontrar la libertad de expresión que no hay en las calles al mismo tiempo que sirven al ejército israelí o al régimen de Bouteflika para identificar y controlar a activistas. En otros países, como Egipto, Túnez, Marruecos o el Estado español, las herramientas que proporciona internet sí han jugado un papel mucho más importante y el número de personas usuarias de las mismas han aumentado mucho a raíz de los movimientos de protesta. Las redes sociales han proporcionado un espacio en el que poder estar en contacto, coordinar movimientos, realizar convocatorias, denunciar la represión a través de vídeos e imágenes, etc. Los blogs han permitido poder acceder y contar en primera persona lo que estaba ocurriendo, cubrir todo aquello que la prensa oficial no contaba, dar otras versiones de los hechos. Sin duda, estas herramientas son hoy en día muy importantes para la internacionalización y coordinación de las luchas, lo que no implica que no sea fundamental realizar una lectura crítica de las mismas, tanto de los efectos que produce como de la herramienta en sí misma. Igual de importante es reivindicar el derecho a la información y a lo que podríamos llamar la soberanía comunicativa.
Las mujeres en lucha
La caída de un dictador o el cambio del sistema político no implica que la situación de las mujeres cambie. En lo que respecta a la participación y reivindicación de los derechos de las mujeres, la situación es muy diferente en unos países y en otros. En Yemen, con una sociedad muy conservadora, la participación de las mujeres en la revolución ha sido muy importante, pero éstas han tenido que enfrentarse ha múltiples agresiones incluso dentro del propio movimiento de protesta en donde los activistas islamistas estaban en contra de las manifestaciones mixtas. Las activistas de varios países han señalado que en muchas ocasiones se ha recurrido al islam para contrarrestar las reivindicaciones de las mujeres o que se han encontrado en situaciones muy complicadas en las que para mantener la unidad del movimiento han tenido que renunciar a reivindicar algunos derechos de las mujeres. En movimientos como el del 20 de febrero en Marruecos sí que ha habido una participación activa e igualitaria, en donde tanto hombres como mujeres introducen el lenguaje no sexista en las asambleas o lemas como “sin laicidad no hay democracia real”.
Algo en lo que han coincidido todas las personas que han participado en el encuentro es en que son fundamentales los espacios y los instrumentos de comunicación y coordinación entre los diferentes movimientos en la lucha global por la democracia y los Derechos Humanos. Y, también, en la importancia de encontrase y descubrir la dimensión humana de los activistas y las militantes que han sido protagonistas de las revoluciones o movimientos vividos en primera persona, a través de la televisión o de internet.
Está en proceso de elaboración una publicación que recogerá de manera extensa y detallada las reflexiones y los debates que han tenido lugar en el marco de este encuentro.
La resistencia contra el régimen sirio continua en Madrid
Manifestación frente a la embajada siria en Madrid (Daniel F. Rivera)
Ayer, desde aproximadamente las 12 de la mañana, un grupo de activistas tanto sirios como españoles se congregaron a las puertas de la embajada siria en Madrid en protesta por los constantes abusos y torturas que lleva realizando el régimen desde que el levantamiento popular comenzase en Siria en contra el gobierno dictatorial y déspota del partió Baath, liderado por Bashar Al Assad.
Esta no fue una manifestación aislada sino un manifestación más de la campaña que desde el verano pasado un grupo pequeño de jóvenes y activistas comenzasen a manifestarse continuamente cerca de la embajada de Siria. Este grupo en la actualidad ha crecido y se conoce en la actualidad como la Asociación de Apoyo al Pueblo Sirio (AAPS)
Las constantes amenazas del régimen no sirvieron para que este grupo de jóvenes cejaran en su empeño, y a partir de un grupo pequeño, minúsculo diría yo, hoy en día podemos asistir a un movimiento de protestas que cada día incluye más gente, mayores, pequeños, jóvenes e incluso familias enteras; un síntoma claro de que hay cada vez más gente siria viviendo en nuestro país que están perdiendo el miedo.
Un hecho que me llamó la atención durante la manifestación de ayer fue la asistencia de algunos activistas sirios que han tenido el coraje y la valentía de abandonar Siria y venir a España en busca de protección y asilo. Estas personas han tenido que vivir una gran cantidad de peligros y dificultades para poder llegar a nuestro país; y solo espero que consigan la protección y la ayuda que se merecen del Estado español.
La resistencia continua de modo pacífico todos los domingos desde las 12:00 hasta las 14,00 en frente de la embajada siria en Madrid, en la calle Plaza Platerías Martínez, 1, muy cerca del metro de Atocha. Activistas y defensores de los derechos humanos han prometido reunirse en este enclave para protestar contra el régimen y pedir la expulsión de la misión diplomática siria en Madrid. Así el portavoz del movimiento AAPS declaró a Europa Press ayer su más profundo: “desprecio hacia unos representantes que deberían de proteger y no disparar contra el pueblo por mantenerse en el poder”. Según los manifestantes, lo único que reciben ellos y sus familias son amenazas. Viven en una situación de miedo constante en la que el mensaje es que “no es tiempo para revolucionarse contra el régimen”
MareVostrum
Musa Amer Odeh Discusses Crucial Issues at the Core of the Negotiations with Israel.
- Palestinian Ambassador in Madrid Musa Amer Odeh
Madrid, October 15th, 2011.
The Palestinian attempt to be recognized as a state by the UN could be seen by many as a pointless bid if we take into consideration that the Security Council is the only body in the United Nation capable of granting or vetoing any initiate of this characteristics. The Palestinians knew that Israel was against such an initiative, and they were also aware that a crucial member of the Security Council, the United States, would veto such petition.
The membership application forwarded to the UN by the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas regarding a Palestinian state comprised of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with its capital in East Jerusalem is expected to fail despite the wide support that the Palestinian request has among UN members. This became clear after the UNESCO officially approved the Palestinian bid to become a full-fledged member, gaining 40 votes out of the 58 member nations of this body. This was just a symbolic step, and the petition still needs the approval of at least two thirds of the General Assembly on October 25. Not an easy task but definitely not impossible if we consider representative UNESCO’s approval.
The divisions within UNESCO are in line with the positions and ideas we heard from the Israeli’s and Palestinian leaders in the General Assembly. Mahmud Abbas’s speech highlighted the idea that peace will come after a Palestinian state is created while Netanyahu’s stated that peace should come first before any state recognition is considered.
This is the reason why I wanted to meet the Palestinian Ambassador in Spain, Mr Musa Amer Odeh to discuss the Palestinians initiative as well as other issues that at the international level could have a crucial effect on the Palestinian cause. For instance, it is quite relevant, the position adopted by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trinidad Jimenez that had been interpreted by Israeli media as de facto recognition of the State of Israel as a Jewish State and the repercussions that the Arab spring could have on the peace negotiations with Israel.
Good Morning Mr. Ambassador. You have been living in Spain for more than six years now. How would you describe your experience in this country?
Since I arrived to Spain we have received constant support from the Spanish people and, we are thankful for this. We share a common history with the Spanish people. Spain has been and, continues to be the closest country in Europe to us, and the Spanish support for the Palestinian’s cause has become a State policy and therefore regardless of the government that is in power, the Spanish State always supports the Palestinian people. I believe it’s a reflection of the will of the Spanish people in general. Although the Israelis argue that, they (Spanish people) are only in favour of Palestine, I believe that it’s not because they are just in love with Palestine, it’s because the Palestinian cause is about justice, human rights, self- determination…etc. principles that Spain upholds and identifies with.
¿How do you think the coming Spanish elections will affect your relationship with the State? If the current opposition, the Popular Party (PP) wins the election as many polls are stating, do you think there will be any change in policy regarding Palestine?
We hope not, because we do have good relations with all political parties, and the support of the bases of all political parties, because our cause is a just cause.
Since I arrived here, I have always been dealing officially with the Socialist government. However, at the same time, when our president comes to Spain, I always arrange meetings for him not only with the current government but also with the leader of the opposition, for instance, Mr. Rajoy. This is a democratic country, so whoever is in power today may not be there tomorrow… Our interest is to have good relations with all political parties and for example, regarding our initiative [state recognition at the UN], I had the opportunity to visit all political parties and explain our initiatives, including syndicates.
And with whom did you feel more comfortable? Who do you think was more supportive of your cause?
Indeed, we have received strong support from all political parties. In July, the Spanish parliament decided to request the government to recognize Palestine, and none in the parliament opposed this.
What is your opinion about the last speech of Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Sra. Trinidad Jimenez in front of the General Assembly that for many people in Israel meant recognition of the Jewish character of Israel?
She did not, and if you go back to the speech you’ll see that Spain did not recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Mrs Jimenez was referring to the past when Israel was created as a homeland for the Jews but she did not recognize Israel as a Jewish State and, in the same paragraph, she mentioned that “our commitment is to the State of Israel” not to the Jewish State of Israel. In fact, Mrs. Jiménez was the first authority in Europe to support our initiative in the United Nations.
So, it is actually the opposite?
She has supported our initiative in front of the United Nations and she said that we have the right to go to the United Nations whereas Israel was saying that it was a unilateral action. She, on the contrary, argued that Palestine has the right to be there and she also supported the recognition of the state of Palestine. She said that this is the right time to recognize the State of Palestine and that this was not a unilateral action […]. In the forties, Israel went to the United Nations for the same reason, looking for recognition, so why not the Palestinians. The right of self-determination is a fundamental right and the Palestinian people should not be excluded from this.
We are grateful to the Spanish people for this position and we talked with the authorities at Ministry of Foreign Affairs where they told us that they are not recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, and that they are not asking us to recognise Israel as a Jewish State and finally that they have already recognized Israel as it is. And we too, the Palestinians recognize Israel as it is from 1993. It is a provocation is to ask Palestine to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This is mainly for political reasons, and it affects the rights of the one and a half million Palestinians who live in Israel, whodid not come to Israel but Israel came to them, they are the native people of Palestine. Also, they want to finish the refugee issue before we even begin the negotiations, so we refuse this, and we won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state but we recognize Israel as a country for all its citizens including for those of Palestinian origin.
However, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued in his last speech at the UN that the Palestinians are those who are cleansing the land, and they are the one that would never allow Israelis to live there. What comments do you have about this position?
It’s not true; he was referring to Ma’an Erekat, our Ambassador to the US. What he meant was that we won’t accept any Israeli soldier in the Palestinian State. We’re ready to accept a third party to be responsible for security, in order to guaranteesecurity for both Israelis and Palestinians, but we won’t accept the presence of any Israeli soldier. We have a Palestinian community that is Jewish. The Samarians in Nablus are the first Jewish community in the world, and they are Palestinians, and we are very proud of them; they are part of our culture, so we cannot and we are against bringing religion to the conflict. It’ll complicate the conflict in a terrible way. It’ll be a catastrophe for Israel, Palestine and for the region to make this conflict a religious one. This conflict is a colonial one, not a religious conflict, and for us Judaism is a religion like any other one such as Christianity and Islam. And we used to live together in peace always, there were never clashes within the Palestinians society between Christians, Jews and Muslims, we never had a problem. The International Community has to give a lot of attention to this because all of us we’ll pay a heavy price if religion is brought into the conflict.
We’ll have a democratic state with respect to all believers from wherever they come. Any believer who comes to Palestine would be able to exercise his/her religion freely as long as he/she doesn’t infringe on the rights and freedoms of others.
Therefore, we are talking about a secular democratic state or perhaps you are closer to Islamic state?
Not at all, Palestine is the holy land, the land of Jesus Christ, we cannot hide from the reality that Christianity was born in Palestine, while Judaism and Islam came to Palestine, thus Jesus Christ was a Palestinian. Palestine is not a Jewish, Christians or Muslim country. Palestine shall be for all Palestinians regardless of their beliefs or religions.
Now, going back to the negotiation with Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned in his last speech that peace negotiations should come first before recognizing the state of Palestine. Why Palestinian cannot follow this path?
We believe in negotiations, we have negotiated with the Israelis for twenty years ago, starting in Madrid until now and we’ve got nothing. We’ve got more settlements, more settlers and the construction of a wall. Also the number of checkpoints has increased and there are more Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, more trees uprooted from our territories, and more Palestinians have paid with their lives as part of the Israeli genocide against our people. We believe in negotiations, we are ready to go back to the negotiation table but we want to change the methods, because we tried to talk with the Israelis for 20 years and, we tried to achieve a final agreement with them that would lead to the end of the suffering of the Palestinian people but we failed. Not because we don’t want peace, but because there is no people on earth that can stand an occupation for such a long time. We want to be free. The Israeli policy is violating our rights as well as international law, and UN resolutions.Israel argues that we are taking a unilateral step, but who is taking a unilateral step here? Is it the one who is going to address 193 countries or the one who is expanding the settlement activity inside the occupied Palestinian territory, which according to the 4th Geneva Convention is a war crime (i.e. to bring the citizens of the occupying powers into the territory under occupation) […]
Thus taking land by force is prohibited and not accepted, and it’s illegal. Settlement activity is illegal, and we have the right to control our natural resources, including water and gas. […]. So there is an international opinion, the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of July 2004, there are UN resolutions and there are agreements that we signed with the Israelis. In this regard, the presence of the Israeli (military) in our territory is illegal, it is an occupation, and occupation must end. We are not looking for a new confrontation with the Israelis or with the Americans, and we are not interested in this. Our interest is to have peace with the Israelis, and we accept them as a reality in the region, and we are ready to make peace with them based on equality. They have their state, we have our state with full respect from their side to us and from our side to them but we cannot have this with their continuous occupation because we want to be equal, and we are not equal now, so the arguments used by the Israelis are not true, they talk always about security, who needs security more? Is it the Palestinian side, which does not have an army or the Israelis who have the 5th biggest army in the world? Israel is a nuclear power, and it has the United State’s unlimited support. Security is not only an Israeli need, it’s a Palestinians need too, so we are ready to negotiate with the Israelis but with a third party involved, for instance, the presence of the United Nations or may be the EU too, Russia, and NATO could also play an interesting role, but not a single Israelis soldier must be in our territory.
-Also, after the UN speeches, the Vice-president and high representative of the Union for foreign affairs and security policy, Catherine Ashton, called the parties and the negotiation Quarter to prepare for what she described as negotiations for peace but and yesterday we found in the news that Israel started to build again in East Jerusalem. Would you accept Catherine Asthon’s invitation to re-initiate the negotiations?
Yes, we do. We would like to go back to the Quartet because Catherine Ashton represents the EU members and for us this is very important. We want to go back to the road map that was approved by the Quartet and the International Community. Resolution 1515 talks about this and there are obligations that Palestinians and Israelis must comply with […]. From our side, although we are under occupation, we implemented all our obligations but the Israelis did nothing. The first obligation for them was to freeze settlement activity in our territories, including natural growth, but they did not. We told the Quartet that we need the Israelis to respect the will of the International Community and that this is not a condition that we have, but an obligation. […]
We are against putting conditions, the one who is putting conditions is the Israeli side, and after 20 years of negotiations with the Israelis this is our right. We want the negotiations to have clear terms of reference. Every new Israeli government rejects the agreements we have reached with the previous government and we have to begin from zero, […] so we need a reference for the negotiations and this is not a condition. The reference for us should be based on international law and UN resolutions. We need a timetable; negotiations cannot go on forever.
There is not cause in history that was negotiated for 20 years without getting any result; we need a timetable, because we need to agree within one year. We need the Israelis to recognize the Palestinian State based on its 1967 border. It is not a condition from the Palestinian side and while the International Community supports the two state solution, the Israeli side continues to swallow our territories every day with their settlement activity. Now, it’s impossible to implement the two state solution with the current policy of Israel, it is impossible. With our step in the UN, we are trying to protect the two state solution. The Israelis did not accept a democratic state in historic Palestine where Israelis and Palestinians can live together, equally in peace. However, the International Community accepted the two state solution, so let us bring the right conditions and the right atmosphere for having two states in historic Palestine. We recognized Israel in 1993 when we signed Oslo with the borders they have, and now we want them to recognize our territory, which was occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem. It is very simple.
-Could be considered the one state solution a death option?
The Israelis are refusing this option. We put it on the table in 1968 but they refused it, and because we are practical and realistic, we looked for another option and we found that the two state solution was an option accepted by the Israelis, so we did too, but we cannot live only with their acceptance in words, we want to see something on the ground, we want to see a change of behaviour from the Israeli government, but unfortunately their behaviour is against the two state solution and they know that settlement activity is an obstacle for havingpeace. […]
It’s peace what guarantees security, why Israelis or Palestinians have to sleep in fear. There is not logic in this, only in the absence of peace. […] But if there is peace and justice, the Israelis will have the right to have business in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab countries. Also they have the right to go to Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and we are supposed to have the same right, meaning to go to Israel and everywhere. […] Peace is the guarantee for the security of Israel and the security and stability of the region.
If we take into consideration your position that Israel is not ready to make peace what do you expect from Israel regarding the Palestinian’s petition to the UN?
The Israelis are not part of the Security Council but the United States will use their veto power and, unfortunately they will use it in the wrong place. The Security Council was created with the aim of promoting security and stability of the International Community, and in this regards, it is not helping to implement security and stability in the region. It is supporting the aggression of one nation against another nation allowing Israel the occupying power to remain above the law […].
We believe that changing the status of the Palestinian people as a people under occupation it is very important. However, we know that even if we achieve the recognition we are looking for with the support of all nations including Israel and the United States, once we go back from New York, we’ll have to go back to our people that would still be under occupation. We need to negotiate with the Israelis, we need to do so, but we need to negotiate as a state with another state, not just as a people under occupation negotiating with a state. Israel considers the Palestinian occupied territory disputed land, which is not true. In accordance with UN resolutions and the terms of International Law, they are in fact occupied –not disputed– territoryand there is a big difference between these two status.
Now, shifting our attention to other areas in the region, what are your thoughts about the recent developments in the Arab world? The so-called Arab spring, how do you think, this is could affect the negotiation between Palestine and Israel?
We are with the will of the people but we don’t intervene in the internal affairs of any other Arab countries; this is our policy since a long time. […] We are with the will of the people, peacefully, and we are against using violence against the people. They have the right to demonstrate and to demand changes based on their constitution and fundamental right. These changes will be in favour of Palestinians although many regimes in the Arab world have supported our cause in the past because it’s a just cause. Now, we believe we will receive more support because the support to our cause does not depend on the opinion of one single leader. It depends on the will of the people and the will of the people is stronger than any leader. We wish the best for all Arab countries. We are sorry for the victims and we hope that if there is going to be change it will be done peacefully […].
And, what about Palestinian’s internal affairs? The relationship with Hamas seems that have improved since the PLO reached a unity agreement recently. How do you think the relationship with Hamas will develop in the future? Will Palestine stay together?
This is our goal, to unite the Palestinian people. Division inside our community has harmed our people and image outside. This division is a dark page in our history and we hope that this kind of situation never repeats again in our or any society. As you know, we have signed a reconciliation paper with Hamas in Cairo, and we are very serious about this issue. We have suffered a lot and we’re still under occupation and therefore it is not in our interest to have this kind of division inside the Palestinian society.
We have a plural system, right, left and middle in politics, we are very proud of this. Every one can exercise their right and express their opinion freely. All political rights are guaranteed, including Hamas’s, with whom, the Palestinian Authority, doesn’t agree onmany political and ideological positions, but they are part of our people, and they have the right to believe in whatever they think is right, as long as they respect the will of the people, and the laws and rules in Palestine.
We have agreed to form a technocrat government that would prepare for elections and torebuild Gaza, which was destroyed by Israelis, in one-year time. We have billions of dollars promised by international donors but they have refused to disburse the money to through Hamas, but they would be willing to deal with a technocrat government. This money is needed to cover the daily needs of the Palestinian people. This government is not responsible for the negotiations at all. The PLO is responsible for negotiations and Hamas is not a member of the PLO yet.
President Abbas said that we want Salam Fayat as a Prime Ministers because he is not considered to be either Hamas or Fatah. He is a professional and a technocrat and we want him to stay. Unfortunately, Hamas doesn’t want him but we want to avoid any conflict with them that would lead to a new siege on the Palestinian people. […]
We agreed with Hamas that we will have free elections, and when we say free elections, we mean it. We want the presence of international observers and whoever wins will assume power, we can guarantee this as we did before in 2006 when Hamas won the elections. We transferred the power completely for 15 months and they were not able to deliver, why, because the International Community did not accept them and soon after, we were all under siege. This is why we went to Mecca and made an agreement with them […] and within three months we had a national unity government […] I am sure that Hamas has realized that what they have done is wrong, we have realised that internal divisions are against the interest of our people. We have to look for common understanding, there are a lot of things that we can find as bases to work together though there’re issues that we find impossible to agree with but we believe in a plural system, and we hope that the International Community will accept the reconciliation between Hamas and the PLO, because if we are divided, the Israelis will use this as an excuse to reject any agreement with the Palestinians; they argue: now with whom are we going to sign an agreement with Hamas in Gaza or the PLO in Ramallah.
Now, we want to reunify the Palestinian people but Israel is saying that we are dealing with a terrorist group; so we are not accepted when we are divided and we are not accepted when we are united. This is a bad game in politics. They [Hamas] are part of our people although I don’t agree with them. […] We are very serious about the unification of our people and Salam Fayad stated that this is a priority from him. We hope that Hamas won’t oppose anymore Salam Fayad as prime ministers. He is a professional; he has done a great job in his office. He reformed the financial and administrative system in Palestine, his work and team have satisfied us, we are grateful for this, and we want him to continue. When we have elections within a year whoever wins the elections will nominate a new prime minister. If Hamas wins, they have the right to nominate the prime minister they want but right now, we ‘re in need of Salam Fayad who has the confidence of the donors
Now, going back to the negotiation with American and Israelis, what do you think they are waiting for? What do you think they need to accept the Palestinian petition?
At the end, the Israelis need to accept us and we also need their recognition. First, there is a duty for the International Community to recognize that enough is enough […] and that the Palestinians have their rights, second, the Americans have threatened us that they will use their veto power(at the UNSC). We hope that they will not. But even if that is the case, we will try again to go to the Security Council, for a second, a third and even a fourth time if we need to because this is our right.
We shall keep working for our membership in the United Nations, this is a fundamental right, and we’re qualified to have a state. We are one of the most ancient people on earth and we have developed the highest level of education, we have a great country, and though our people have suffered a lot in the past, they can forgive and forget and look ahead for the future, […], We only want to learn about the past, but we don’t want to remain in the past. We are looking ahead for a bright promising future, we are practical and we need a prosperous future for them and for us and for the whole region but they have to end their occupation not only in our territory but also in Syria and Lebanon. Now we are in the twenty first century and they need to realize that our world has changed with the Arab spring […]
Would like to add anything?
I would like to repeat the same message that we started sending more than 2000 years ago. The (Nazareno Palestino) Jesus Christ who carried his message from Palestine, tierra santa to the world. The essence of Jesus Christ’s message is justice, peace and love for humanity at large. This is what we want and what we need but we cannot enjoy justice, peace and love under the Israeli occupation. We are prevented from these three basic things. We hope that the peaceful message of Jesus Christ will prevail in the land of Jesus Christ. What we need is justice, peace and love, the same principles of our Lord. We welcome the International Community to visit our land and we hope also to bring more attention to our cause and suffering. We determine to put an end for the suffering of our people. So we need a solid position from the International Community. We are not asking anyone to start a war against Israelis, but the International Community has a duty to end Israeli occupation and to recognized independent democratic state of Palestine.
Daniel F. Rivera.
Alia Mustafa al-Tabbaa desafía al régimen sirio con una huelga de hambre
La señorita Alia Mustafa al-Tabbaa realizando una entrevista.
Estimados Amigos,
Hoy me gustaría compartir con vosotros la lucha-aventura que una mujer sola y casi sin la ayuda de nadie ha comenzado en Madrid. Me refiero a la mujer de origen sirio llamada Alia Mustafa al-Tabbaa, que desde el pasado 16 de septiembre, ha decidido comenzar una huelga de hambre en el Paseo de la Castellana, justo en frente de la Embajada Siria en Madrid.
Desde que conocí a Alia no he dejado de sorprenderme por su simpatía, coraje y valentía a la hora de afrontar esta difícil prueba. Alia está convencida de que debe hacer algo para protestar contra lo que está ocurriendo en su país. No puede quedarse sentada viendo como cientos, o quizás miles de sus compatriotas están sufriendo, son detenidos, torturados y en muchos casos asesinados mientras la comunidad internacional hace muy poco para detener a este régimen, déspota y cruel como lo describe Alia.
Cuando la pregunté porque había decidido realizar este huelga de hambre me respondió: “Una vez viendo la cadena de televisión Al-Jazeera vi como un compatriota explicaba como una mujer siria había sido detenida y torturada solo porque su hermano se había manifestado contra el régimen. Ella y su hermano fueron asesinados, y sus cuerpos fueron descuartizados y entregados en una caja a su familia. Así, con mi acción, pretendo solidarizarme con su sufrimiento y comunicar a todo el mundo lo que allí esta ocurriendo. Es un esfuerzo pacífico y así continuaremos hasta el final, hasta que no tengamos otro remedio que actuar de otro modo.
Además con esta acción pretendo llamar la atención de la gente. Yo se que las personas están ocupadas con sus cosas y cuando los medios de comunicación no cubren suficientemente lo que está ocurriendo en el país, la gente comienza a pensar que no pasa nada, que todo está bien, a pesar de que la situación allí es muy grave. Pero creo que se puede hacer algo, creo que podemos conseguir la atención de la gente, y presionar al Estado español para que presioné al régimen y expulse a su embajador y así romper las relaciones diplomáticas con el régimen “.
Alia y un grupo de compañeros que están colaborando con ella están decididos a presionar todo lo posible a los diplomáticos sirios para que abandonen la embajada y salgan del país cuanto antes a pesar de que en numerosas ocasiones han recibido amenazas de algunos diplomáticos sirios que se han acercado para amenazar e insultar a esta activista. Por ejemplo, Yamal, sirio kurdo de origen, la acompaña diariamente desde que comenzó esta aventura me comentó:“no tengo papeles y he pedido el asilo político en España, me lo han denegado y no puedo volver a mi país, solo puedo decir que quiero que mi país haga algo por nosotros y no continúe torturando a nuestro pueblo. Estaré aquí hasta que consigamos que el embajador sirio abandone este país“. Por otro lado Ali, activista y colaborador en la campaña añadió: “no sé si conseguiremos nuestros objetivo de echar al embajador porque todavía la voluntad política en Europa y España es muy débil. Las relaciones entre Europa y Siria son más simbólicas que otra cosa y, a pesar de que las relaciones con Siria son mínimas, la decisión de echar a un embajador tiene un carga simbólica muy fuerte que todavía no están dispuestos a asumir “.
Retratos de torturados, muertos o desaparecidos en Siria
Alia permanece sentada en una silla durante la mayor parte del tiempo y dedica todos sus fuerzas a conversar con algunos compañeros que la ayudamos, y todo aquel o aquella que se acerca a este campamento improvisado en el Paseo de la Castella. Alia está dispuesta a charlar con todo el mundo y animo a todos los madrileños que se acerquen al Paseo de la Castellana y conozcan a esta valiente mujer que lo único que busca es hacer justicia para con su pueblo y contra un régimen que parece haber perdido el norte.
Por último, os dejo con un video de la última concentración este domingo en frente de la Embajada siria en Madrid. Todos los domingos un grupo de activistas sirios y españoles nos reunimos en la Embajada para protestar en contra del régimen. Os animo a participar y a colabora en esta noble causa.
Dear friends,
Since almost a month or perhaps two I have been away from my blog and my writings about the Arab revolution. I had too much work with my thesis and I just couldn’t find enough time and effort to keep the blog updated with info about what I see and I received from many friends in the Arab world.
However, I had to break my silence after watching a great short documentary about the influence of foreign powers and Western NGO’s in the Arab revolution. This is not a joke.
The documentary is called the Revolution Business and it was produced by Journeyman pictures, a New York Based independent production company founded by Paul S. Mezey (Maria Full of Grace, 2004).
The piece is short but correct. However, the more I think about the Arab Spring or revolution, the more I am convinced of its originality and honesty despite of what happened in Libya with NATO and other arguments exposed in this documentary.
The film bases its thesis on the premise that the so-called Arab Spring is not an organic uprising of frustrated youth as the media continues to report. The film defends the ideas that the Revolution was carefully planned and well executed by a series of Revolutionary experts and consultants from the Serbian organizations such as Optor (Revolution in Serbian) and CANVAS.
Poster used by the organization OPTOR during their proterst in Belgrado
Former students created these organizations during the uprising against the Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic in 2002 and since then they have worked hard and in more than 50 countries teaching and giving work shops to the youth about how to organize no-violent protest and revolutions. Tina Rosenber at Foreign Policy published an article where she interviews former members of CANVAS Ivan Marovic who said some years ago before all this happened in the Middle East:
”Revolutions are often seen as spontaneous,” Ivan Marovic, a former CANVAS trainer, told me in Washington a few years ago. “It looks like people just went into the street. But it’s the result of months or years of preparation. It is very boring until you reach a certain point, where you can organize mass demonstrations or strikes. If it is carefully planned, by the time they start, everything is over in a matter of weeks.”
What we know so far about these organizations is that they have helped political activist to organize students in North Africa into a more efficient force and they have developed various strategies usually based on the ideas of Boston retired professor Gene Sharp and his books: From Dictatorship to Democracy: a conceptual framework for liberation (2004) and Nonviolent Action: A Research Guide (1997).
However, there are authors that have a very different approach to what happened with Milosevic. Michel Parenti mentioned in his article The Demonization of Slobodan Milosevic (2003) some of the strategies and propaganda used by US officials to discredit Milosevic:
“The propaganda method used to discredit many of these governments is not particularly original, indeed by now it is quite transparently predictable. Their leaders are denounced as bombastic, hostile, and psychologically flawed. They are labeled power hungry demagogues, mercurial strongmen, and the worst sort of dictators likened to Hitler himself. The countries in question are designated as “terrorist” or “rogue” states, guilty of being “anti-American” and “anti-West.” Some choice few are even condemned as members of an “evil axis.” When targeting a country and demonizing its leadership, U.S. leaders are assisted by ideologically attuned publicists, pundits, academics, and former government officials. Together they create a climate of opinion that enables Washington to do whatever is necessary to inflict serious damage upon the designated nation’s infrastructure and population, all in the name of human rights, anti-terrorism, and national security.
There is no better example of this than the tireless demonization of democratically-elected President Slobodan Milosevic and the U.S.-supported wars against Yugoslavia. Louis Sell, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer, has authored a book (Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia, Duke University Press, 2002) that is a hit piece on Milosevic, loaded with all the usual prefabricated images and policy presumptions of the U.S. national security state. Sell’s Milosevic is a caricature, a cunning power seeker and maddened fool, who turns on trusted comrades and plays upon divisions within the party.”
The similarities between Optor’s campaign and the propaganda lunched by the US government led us think there was a close relationship between these movements and foreign actors in uprising against Milosevic’s regime. Moreover, what it seems clear is that Optor and Canvas were very much involved in Tunisia and Egypt as the video explains. However, the weakest point of the films is the director’s attempt to link the Bush doctrine with the Arab Uprising and the work of these organizations on the ground.
Optor Venezuela
When George W. Bush initiated the War on Terror in 2003, he predicted that the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan would create a domino effect that would democratize the Middle East. After more than eight years, the strategies and plans adopted by the US military had been a total fiasco and both countries are going through serious problems due to a raising corruption, embezzlement and sectarian conflict (more often that not provoked by the occupiers).
So far so good, a civil resistance embodied mainly by the youth, trying to peacefully overthrow a nefarious character such as Milosevic. Things change when we see similar operations in Venezuela, Bolivia and in our country (Argentina), where elected governments by popular vote are subject to destabilization processes that respond to soft manual Albert Einstein Institute. Charlie Boyle
Poster of the Syrian Revolution
Optor and CANVAS are not the only US founded NGO’s working on the Middle East that are promoting democracy and non-violent actions. The US and the EU have been since years founding organization and NGO’s that were supposedly trying to promote democratic values and ideas but their results and achievements were certainly poor. Why the US did not take this strategy from the beginning? Why expending millions of dollars and sacrificed thousand of soldiers if it could fund NGOs to start a democratic revolution?
The answer to this question is that Bush or other US president before him never wanted to spread democracy in the Middle East. Figures such as Hosni Mubarak, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and Muammar el Gaddafi played a paramount role in the status quo that the United States had helped to create in the region (Gaddafi was more important for the European than for the Americans). The US and EU wanted to see change in the Middle East since decades but never really had the determination and will to carry out it. Why now?
This is not the first time that pro democracy movements start massive protests and demonstrations denouncing the abuses and corruption of the political elites. For instance, in Egypt we find the Kifayah (it’s enough) movement that has organized demonstration since almost a decade against Mubarak and in 2005 Lebanon started a non-violent and pacific movement called the Cedar Revolution after the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri. Therefore, there must be certain economic and social conditions that have helped to start this revolution such as extreme poverty, youth unemployment, the perception that people have about the regime (authoritarian and corrupted élite), the spread of social networks in Internet and the disclosure of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables in Internet as well as years of warfare, intervention and occupation in the MENA region.
Having said that, this does not mean that the revolution is free of foreign intervention and manipulations. NATO’s intervention in Libya is a good example but there are many other examples orchestrated by the media and intelligence officers around the Middle East. Since the revolution started various well-known and prestigious Public Relations firms in the US such as Qorvis Communications and Brown Lloyed James have been hired by current dictatorships in the Middle East to improve their reputation and counter-balance what they consider a Western media attack against their figures. In this regard, Rosanna M. Fiske, Chair and Chief Executive, Public Relations Society of America, New York, NY, US said about Brown’s public relations adventure with Muammar al Gaddafi:
“Ethical public relations places an emphasis on counselling reputable organisations and individuals in developing and maintaining beneficial relationships with concerned stakeholders. Given that Colonel Muammer Gaddafi showed no inclination to embrace this fundamental concept, despite BLJ’s efforts, we question the value the firm offered the American public in its attempt to reveal a more nuanced picture of the Libyan government. Most disturbingly, the work has insulted the very freedoms that allowed BLJ and similar firms to engage in such questionable services in the first place.”
Rosanna’s emphasis on ethical public relation it seems to me an odd argument if we consider what have happened in the market place since the financial crisis started in Wall Street around 2007. Western government has been caught off guard, in the middle of huge economic crisis and between the dilemmas of abandoning its quest in the Middle East or continuing with the current strategy that only has helped to create a weak democratic systems ruled by corrupted and limited political leadership. Also, we cannot undermined the influence of the strong and powerful pro-Western lobbies in the Arab world such as the Saudi Lobby over the US and EU policies adopted in the Middle Easy.
Documents with photographs and details of people wanted by the Libyan External Security office are seen in the abandoned office where Muammar Gaddafi's former spy chief and foreign minister Moussa Koussa was based in Tripoli
Let’s not forget that Western positions about the spread of democracy in the Middle East was based on the assumption that radical Islam would take over democracy if elections would be hold. This approach to MENA region politics has encourage Western democracies and Arab dictators to justified their authoritarian and brutal methods against any political opposition.
Having said that, this does not mean that the revolution is free of foreign intervention and manipulations. NATO’s intervention in Libya is a good example but there are many other examples orchestrated by the media and intelligence officers around the Middle East. The West in general has been caught off guard, in the middle of huge economic crisis and between the dilemmas of abandoning its quest in the Middle East or continuing with the current strategy that only has helped to create a weak democratic systems ruled by corrupted and limited political leadership.
In this occasion what I can see is how the EU and the US are in a hurry trying to catch up with a train that left without them when one year ago from Tunisia. This revolution comes in handy and Americans and European would be stupid if they wouldn’t take advantage from the situation. The problem lies here will the West repeats its mistakes or they would do it right this time. What kind of intervention can we expected from Western governments?
MareVostrum
La Segunda Flotilla Española a Gaza
Manuel Espinar y Laura Arau
Esta mañana nos hemos enterado de que probablemente Israel esté detrás de las averías o sabotaje en el eje que mueve las hélices de uno de los barcos que forma la flotilla a Gaza que tiene pensado, una vez más, desafiar a las autoridades israelíes y romper el bloqueo excesivo, injusto e ilegal que mantiene el estado hebreo sobre la población palestina de Gaza.Este incidente es un claro ejemplo de lo que puede ocurrir en esta ocasión y de las grabes dificultades y riesgos que conlleva este proyecto. Las autoridades españolas se han desentendido públicamente de este proyecto y desaconsejan a cualquier persona española viajar a Gaza, la Ministra de Asuntos Exteriores Trinidad Jimenéz declaró que:”no protegerán a la flotilla” ya que “no puede garantizar la protección de estas personas y que su actuación se limitará a un “seguimiento diario de los acontecimientos”. Además la ministra anadió que había solicitado “contención” a Israelíes y pidió “prudencia” a los participantes en la Flotilla pero por otro lado, tenemos conocimientos de que la policía española y fuerzas de seguridad han monitorizado todos los movimientos de los organizadores hasta el punto requisar parte de sus documentos e interrogar a sus participantes sin dar más explicaciones. ¿A quién esta protegiendo el Gobierno a sus ciudadanos o Israel?
“Así es necesario recordar que este asunto es extremadamente sensible ya que amenaza la estabilidad de las relaciones entre Israel y España. Un desenlace dramático y violento como el del año pasado pondría a España en una posición muy incómoda ya que debería defender los derechos de muchos de los participantes españoles que participan en este proyecto. La posición de sus participantes es clara y rechazan cualquier utilización e la fuerza y la violencia para romper el bloqueo. Así en una entrevista en Al-Jazeera un activista declaró: ‘nuestro objetivo es ‘ir en paz‘ y además añadió:
“Nos horrorizan las acciones israelíes, y su propaganda de que tenemos armas y ácido y que vamos a atacar a soldados israelíes, cuando estamos todos dedicados a la paz”.
“No arrojaremos objetos ni los atacaremos de ninguna manera”. “
He recibido un email muy interesante sobre la Flotilla a Gaza donde el movimiento expone sus intenciones y objetivos. Creo que es necesario conocer este proyecto antes de juzgarlo apresuradamente ya que en definitiva, esta flotilla internacional, es un intento de la gente por realizar un acción humanitaria por encima de cualquier consideración política y económica y ayudar a un pueblo que vive bajo el rigor de un bloqueo que sobre los límites imaginables por cualquiera de nosotros; infórmate.
Salvemos a Gaza de la miseria del bloqueo.
El grupo de activistas de Rumbo a Gaza emprende la primera etapa del viaje que le llevará hasta la Franja de Gaza
Las más de 40 personas que embarcarán en el ‘Gernika’, el navío del Estado español en la Flotilla de la Libertad, han partido hoy del aeropuerto de Barajas
En el grupo se encuentran también el eurodiputado Willy Meyer, el actor Willy Toledo y la diputada autonómica valenciana Marina Albiol
Madrid, 22 de junio de 2011.- El grupo de activistas de Rumbo a Gaza que participará en la Segunda Flotilla de la Libertad han partido hoy del aeropuerto de Barajas, iniciando así el viaje que les llevará hasta la Franja de Gaza. Además de la brigada de activistas, también viajan hoy personalidades como el eurodiputado Willy Meyer, el actor Willy Toledo o la diputada autonómica valenciana Marina Albiol, quienes forman parte de la delegación española que, junto a una gran coalición internacional, intentará romper y poner fin al bloqueo de la Franja de Gaza a finales de este mes de junio.
La expedición española –una de las más numerosas a nivel europeo de cuantas componen la Segunda Flotilla de la Libertad– se embarcará en un puerto del Mediterráneo a bordo del ‘Gernika’, el navío que Rumbo a Gaza aporta a la Flotilla. La expedición también aporta una ingente cantidad de ayuda humanitaria, especialmente material sanitario, educativo y de construcción.
Además de las personas de la campaña Rumbo a Gaza y de las personalidades representativas de ámbitos culturales y políticos, también viajarán en el ‘Gernika’ periodistas de los principales medios de comunicación nacionales, así como de otros países.
La mayoría de los y las activistas viajarán en el barco que Rumbo a Gaza aporta a la Segunda Flotilla de la Libertad, que supera en navíos a su antecesora. Precisamente, el 31 de mayo se cumplió el primer aniversario del abordaje a aquella expedición: el Ejército israelí asesinó en aguas internacionales a nueve activistas, hirió a más de 50 y secuestró al resto de las 750 personas que formaban el convoy.
Se trata de 40 activistas que suponen una representación fidedigna de la pluralidad de la sociedad española, tanto a nivel de territorios –hay personas de, entre otras comunidades autónomas, Andalucía, Asturias, Castilla y León, Cataluña, Comunidad Valenciana, Galicia, Madrid, Navarra y País Vasco– como por edad, profesión, procedencia social, etc. Las personas que componen la delegación española han sido seleccionadas de acuerdo a un riguroso protocolo en el que se ha valorado su experiencia en cooperación internacional y movimientos sociales, su conocimiento de Oriente Medio y de la situación de Palestina y su capacidad de trabajo en equipo.
La iniciativa Rumbo a Gaza tiene el absoluto convencimiento que los más de 40 hombres y mujeres seleccionadas constituyen un equipo de una inmensa valía, unido por la determinación de romper y poner fin al bloqueo ilegal al que el Estado de Israel somete desde hace más de cinco años al millón y medio de personas que vive en la Franja de Gaza.
Campaña Rumbo a Gaza
La Campaña Rumbo a Gaza surge de la sociedad civil del Estado español con el objetivo de aportar un barco, un nutrido grupo de activistas y un cargamento de ayuda humanitaria a la Segunda Flotilla de la Libertad, además de sensibilizar a la opinión pública sobre la dramática situación de la Franja de Gaza y, por extensión, del pueblo palestino.
La Campaña Rumbo a Gaza se define como una iniciativa no violenta amparada por las legislaciones española e internacional, no adscrita a ningún partido político español, europeo, palestino o internacional y cuyo fin último es coadyuvar a la búsqueda de una solución al sometimiento del pueblo palestino que sea justa y acorde con los Derechos Humanos.
Tras casi un año de intenso trabajo, Rumbo a Gaza ha logrado la meta inicial de aportar un barco, activistas y ayuda humanitaria a la Segunda Flotilla de la Libertad. Este logro demuestra el gran respaldo que la sociedad civil española ha dado a la campaña y equipara Rumbo a Gaza con otros grandes movimientos de solidaridad internacionalista que han tenido lugar en las últimas décadas como la Plataforma del 0,7 o el movimiento No a la Guerra o su sintonía con el amplio movimiento social del 15-M que ha eclosionado esta primavera en todo el Estado español.
Para más información:
Alejandro Fernández
Rumbo a Gaza
Tel.: (+34) 678619913
comunicacionprofesionalcyl@gmail.com
www.rumboagaza.org
Cristina Ruiz y Aleyda Domínguez
Acerca Comunicación
Tels.: +34 918316940 / 911289771
mov: +34 672 300 896 / 672 300 897
info@acercacomunicacion.org
Una parte del grupo de activistas
Gracias a Rumbo a Gaza y a todos aquellos que ha comparido la información,
MareVostrum
Interview with the Popular Movement to Save Iraq.
Demonstration against a lack of basic services near Tahrir Square in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011.
I just have received from Ali Issa a great interview with Uday al-Zaidi, the brother of the brave Iraqi journalist who threw a shoe to former president George W. Bush during a press conference not so long time ago. Ali Issa had just conducted a very interesting interview with him that has been recorded on video produced and edited by Joyce Wagner, and can be found at Ali Issa´s blog Al-Jadaliyya (جدلية).
Nouri Maliki’s Government and project are against the ropes. After 8 years of occupation, Iraq is moving too slow for a population that does’t understand why there is still such shortage of basic services and products or as Uday al-Zaidi argues “services are still going from bad to worse, security and safety have gone never to return, and the stench of treachery has spread. This has shown us once and for all that terrorism and the government are two sides of the same coin”.
Udays is leading a growing movement in Iraq called The Popular Movement to Save Iraq. In this video he explain what are the aspiration and aims of the movement that seems to be gathering more and more people around a coalition. The Movement is trying to organize civil demonstration and sit-ins in all over Iraq with the help of other groups and association to demand the resignation of the Prime Minister and his government:
“we are not returning to our homes until Maliki’s steps down, the occupation leaves, corrupt politicians are held accountable, face trial and the parliament is disbanded”.
Uday point of view is that the sectarian political system is not helping to improve Iraq’s politics, economy or society. The current political élite is too corrupted and influenced by regional and foreign entities to really help the country get on its feet. People has lost hope in their political élite and they believe they are unable to restore Iraq’s dignity and freedom.
According to Uday’s words we are about to witness a considerable increase in civil demonstration and protest in many provinces of Iraq. Maliki’s management failure in addition to his petition to expand the foreign occupation could be the spark that initiates the flame of revolution that we are seeing in many countries in the Arab world.
MareVostrum
Spain’s ‘Real Democracy Now’ movement
Plaza de Sol por Daniel F. Rivera
Hello friends,
I hope you like it. Here I leave you with part of the text and the link that takes you to the original article. As always, I am looking forward to hear your comments.
Anger, irritation, annoyance and even rage are some of the most common adjectives used by protestors camping at Plaza del Sol in Madrid. The massive series of demonstrations that started on May 15 gathered people from all classes and ages. Mothers came with their children; professors and lawyers gave improvised speeches at every corner of the plaza, protesters started building tents and other facilities.
The 15M movement or “Real Democracy Now – DYR” – started as a public outcry denouncing political corruption and unemployment that has soared to unprecedented levels. Some 25 per cent of the labour force can’t find a job and almost 50 per cent of young people are unemployed.
They united against what they see as an outrageous situation produced by bankers and politicians. Nerea, an active demonstrator with some physical disabilities, put it this way: “Right now we have political corruption, banks that are abusing our people, there is not access to housing and we can’t find proper jobs. I’m a graphic designer and I’m studying advertising and the only job the administration offers me is to become a teleoperator.”
Nerea’s views are just one of many similar claims that we find among protesters in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and other major cities. People also began to demonstrate in front of the Spanish embassies in Berlin, New York, Egypt and Ecuador.
Joan, a Spanish demonstrator, protesting in front of the Spanish Embassy in Quito, Ecuador, commented: ”This is not a demonstration against the socialist government of Rodriguez Zapatero. The problem is that democracy does not care about the interests of the people anymore. Powerful people, banks and corporations have sneaked between us and the politicians.”
“We know how to do it; we know how to organise ourselves. This is a way to demonstrate to our politicians that the people are smarter than they think.”
Now some pictures I hav from the Plaza:
Plaza del Sol, 15M, Daniel F. Rivera
Plaza del Sol por Daniel F. Rivera
This revolution will change everything
رسالة مفتوحة لجميع اخواني وأخواتي العرب والذين يعيشون ظلم الدكتاتوريات في الدول العربية
- (مظاهرة أمام السفارة المصرية في لندن (اٌذار٢٠١١
لا أريد أن أتكلم اليوم كمحلل سياسي لشؤون الشرق الوسط كالعادة, لكن أرغب في اظهار كل ما عندي من التعاطف والاحترام الى قضاياكم لانها قضايا مشابهة لكثيرمن الشباب في جميع أنحاء العالم وأنا من بينهم.
أنا أنتمي إلى جيل الشباب نفسه الذي يقود الثورات ضد الأنظمة الدكتاتورية في مصر وتونس وبهرين وليبيا ويمين.فعل الرغم من كوني إسباني ولكنني كالكثير من الشباب العربي عاطل عن العمل مع أنني أحمل شهادة الماجستير وأحلم بمستقبل و حياة أفضل. و يوماً بعد يوم أمشي في شوارع مدينتي و أسأل نفسي: أين يقع الخطأ؟
أريد أن أقول اليوم أن غضبكم هو نفس غضبي عندما أرى حكومتي تقف مكتوفة الأيدي أمام الأزمة الاقتصادية في بلدي. أشعر باليأس عندما أري الشعب يدفع ثمن الأزمة الاقتصادية التي أنتجها النظام الرأسمالي عدر البنوك و مضاربة العقارات. كم من شخص أو مؤسسة تمت محاسبته أمام أي محكمة على الاستيلاء على ملايين من الدولارات التي اختفت؟ مرة أخرى نحن المجتمع المدني ندفع ثمن الفساد وجشع الأقلية بينما اللأغلبية تعاني من قلة فرص العمل وإرتفاع الأسعار وغلاء المعيشة بينما تقلص الحكومة من الخدمات الاجتماعية تدريجا.
أيها الشباب العرب أنني أفهم جيداً وجعهم وغضبكم. أولا سرقت الامبريالية الغربية حريتكم في بداية القرن العشرين وسرقت مرة أخرى بعد الاستقلال من الانتداب البريطاني والفرنسي -فعلى رغم من حركات التحرر في كل من مصر والعراق والمغرب منذ الخمسينيات- احتكر القادة العرب ثرواتكم ونهبوها من بلدكم من خلال التخويف والعزل والتعذيب وانعدام الحرية التعبير.لم يتغير أي شيء و حصل كل ذلك على مراَى من الدول الغربية المنافقة التي دعم وتشجع هذه الأنظمة الديكتاتورية في أوطنكم طالما خدمت مصالحها.
في العام ٢٠٠٣ تظاهر الملايين من الأوروبيين و الأمريكيين ضد الحرب على العراق ولكن صوتهم سقط في بئر أسود لان رأي الشعب ليس مهم في نظر السياسيين في الغرب. بكل صراحة الشعب الأوروبي والأمريكي لديهم نفس المشكلة لأن حكامنا يكذبون علنا ويستخدمون ثقتنا والموارد المالية التي تقتطع من أموالنا للهجوم على العراق وأفغانستان وباكستان باسم الحرية والديمقراطية.وبعد سنوات من الحرب ما هي النتيجة؟ خسائر بشرية ومادية لا تحصى!
أتلبع بقلق كيف تنتشرالإسلاموفوبيا في المجتمعات الغربية وبرامج السياسيين من المحافظيين في أوروبا و أمريكا. هولاء السياسيين أقنعوا الشعوب الأوروبية أن المسلمين في بلداننا يفرضون علينا ثقافتهم وتقاليدهم. ولكن من يقهر من؟ العرب والمسلمون الذين تركوا وطنهم و اسرهم للبحث عن حياة أفضل في الغرب أم الأمريكيين والأوروبيين الذين ينتشرون جيوشهم على أرض العرب والمسلمين؟ هذه هي المفارقة! نحن ضحايا الإسلام منذ وقبل 11 أيلول ولكن عامة الشعب الأوروبي كما القادة يفضلون إبقاء أعيونهم مغلقة و أن يتجاهلوا الألم والمعاناة الهائلة التي تسببها تدخل الدول الغربية في شؤون العالم العربي والاسلامي.
خسرالغرب فرصة جيده في تاريخه لبناء مستقبل مشترك بين الغرب والشرق ولكن بعد عقود من الحرمان لا تزال هناك إمكانية للتغيير.الثورة العربية هي مصدر إلهام كبير بالنسبة لنا وخاصة لأولئك الذين يريدون أن تتغير الأمور مرة واحدة وإلى الأبد في هذا العالم. وسائل الإعلام مثل الجزيرة والشبكات الاجتماعية في الانترنت ومشاريع كالويكي ليكس فتحت عيوننا وفمن ولايات المتحدة الى الصين يصرخ الناس: كفى ! و تصرخ الشعوب العربية: نريد إسقاط النظام و إن شاء الله هذه الثورة ستغير كل شيء
ماري بوستروم
We need to stop the bloodshed.
Yemeni riot police charge towards anti-government demonstrators during a demonstration demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Feb. 18, 2011. photo courtesy of Associated Press.
Dear friends,
The situation is deteriorating fast in the capital of Yemen, Sana‘a. There are reports describing a violent crackdown on protestors and according to the media more than 40 people has been killed and more than 200 have been wounded. The event took place after the Friday prayer in the University of Sana‘a.
According to eyes witness armed men begun to target protestors from the rooftops in the deadliest day since the peaceful demonstration started in Yemen against the rule of the Present Abdallah Al-Saleh. Yassim Noman, an opposition member, told Al-Jazeera:
“We condemn these crimes,” {…} “There is no longer any possibility of mutual understanding with this regime and he has no choice but to surrender authority to the people.”
A similar situation is unfolding in the capital of Bahrain, Manama. Protestors have been targeted by security forces in the streets. There is a video showing footage of Police vehicles opening fire to people walking in the street on the 16 of March.
The situation is far from calm in Bahrain where Security Forces have detained hundreds of protestors and peaceful activities according to Writers in Prison Committee. Also the Bahraini Human Right Society has expressed their concern over the arrest of Ali Abduleman, a charismatic Bahraini blogger, and other activists:
“His uncle described the scene last night when 50 heavily armed policemen came to arrest him, just a few weeks after he was released as a part of concessions to placate Bahraini protesters. He had been accused of being part of an “organisational cell” and was known as one of the 25, who were arrested for plotting to overthrow the government.”
The U.N has declared a no-fly zone over Libya air space in an attempt to protect the civilian population and support the resistance against Gadafi’s loyalists. The resolution has already caused an effect and governmental forces have called the rebel for a ceasefire. This is a positive step to start negotiations and I hope the regime will start fresh negotiation to find a solution to the current crisis in the coming weeks.
The U.N. and other international agencies should demand an investigation immediately over these events in Yemen and Bahrain. It is urgent to discuss the possibility of declaring sanctions and embargo to these two countries. We need to make effective measures that could help stop this massacre.
MareVostrum.
La revolución árabe está en su punto más crucial.
Foto por SANKOFA Asociación Cultural
La revolución árabe avanza, lenta pero imparable. Esta revolución comenzó de forma pacifica en Túnez y aunque todavía podemos leer en la prensa y en medios de comunicación la revolución tunecina, egipcia o libia, la realidad parece ser muy distinta ya que existen diversos conatos de protesta en muchos países del Norte África y Oriente Medio. Las ansias de libertad y justicia parecen no tener fronteras y en la mayoría de los países árabes ha comenzado un movimiento popular que pretende agitar el sistema establecido desde hace décadas.
Una característica fundamental en estas revueltas es su carácter pacífico y cívico. La gente ha salido a la calle a ejercer su derechos sin pistolas o escopetas, y a pesar de las represión brutal y la violencia del estado, la no violencia, la contención y perseverancia del pueblo árabe parecen ser las claves para entender este fenómeno. Esta es sin duda una característica novedosa y en ella parece residir la fuerza de estos movimientos que como Mahatma Gandi hiciese en la India, consiguieron liberal al país del imperislismo y colonialismo británico. Así escribiría Thomas Merton en Gandhi on Non-Violence: A Selection From the Writings of Mahatma Gandhi:
“En la mente de Gandhi, la no violencia no fue simplemente una táctica política útil y eficaz para la liberar su pueblo de la dominación extranjera, … Al contrario, el espíritu de la no violencia emana de una realización interna de la unidad espiritual en él mismo. El concepto de la acción no violenta y satyagraha es incomprensible si es pensado meramente como un medio de alcanzar la unidad y no como el fruto de haber alcanzado la unidad interior.”
A diferencia de la India, que no pudo conseguir la unidad interior ya que después de alcanzar la unidad y el objetivo de expulsar el ente colonizador fue alcanzado, la división entre Indios y Musulmanes tiro por tierra la filosofía de resistencia que Gandi defendió hasta su muerte, en el mundo árabe observamos como después de un largo letargo de 500 años de ocupación y dominación extranjera la consciencia colectiva esta rompiendo las barreras y fronteras que tanto turcos otomanos, rusos, franceses, ingleses y norteamericanos han intentado imponer en este territorio.
Una de las doctrinas más importantes de la religión musulmana es la unidad e indivisibilidad de dios. La creencia básica de que el cosmos emana de un única fuente ha sido una de las doctrinas religiosas que ha permitido a la civilización árabe e islámica encontrar elementos de cohesión y unión entre otras culturas y formas de pensar. Quizás, la doctrina más importante, de uno de los filósofos más destacados en la historia del Islam, la encontramos en Ibn Rushd quien afirmaba que existe y es necesaria la compatibilidad entre las esferas religiosas y divina con el conocimiento y funcionamiento de las cosas sin importar a que civilización, cultura o religión pertenecen.
“negar la existencia de las causas eficientes que podemos observar en todas las cosas sensibles es sofismo… La negación de las causas implica negar el conocimiento y la negación del conocimiento implica que nada en este mundo podría ser realmente conocido.” (Ibn Rushd citado por Perez Hoodhoy en Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality. Londres. 1991. P, 114).
Ibn Rushd fue un incomprendido en su época y han tenido que pasar siglos para que comprendiésemos su valor. Así en su recorrido por la historia el Islam ha buscado y encontrado enemigos y, la intolerancia e ignorancia de unos pocos llevó a la mayoría a cometer atrocidades en nombre de la unidad de dios y el Islam. Sin embargo hoy, la consciencia árabe se ha vuelto a unificar a través de la realización individual de que el peor de sus enemigos ha sido el mismo.
La civilización árabe está descubriendo que el mayor de sus enemigos no solo venía del extranjero sino que se encontraba entre sus filas y entre aquellos que defendían sus intereses en contra de las dominación extranjera. El individuo, el gran olvidado en la historia del Islam, está resurgiendo desde el entendimiento de que no solo está unido con dios y el cosmos a través de la umma o comunidad musulmana sino que pertenece a un mundo y a un entorno con el cual también está conectado.
La toma de consciencia de esta conexión ha permitido que las personas independientemente de sus tendencias políticas y religiosas se uniesen en contra de un enemigo común y, cuánto más brutal y sangriento se muestra las fuerzas opresoras mas cohesión encontramos entre sus filas. Solo encuentro una explicación a este fenómeno, el individuo árabe está apunto de encontrar la unidad espiritual interna que Gandi buscó durante toda su vida para el y para su pueblo. Una vez los árabes hayan alcanzado este estado no habrá fuerza ni ejército que pueda detener este movimiento.
MareVostrum
El efecto domino continua ( في كل الدول العربية يوميات يوم الغضب )
Divide y vencerás?…
La revolución árabe está lejos de terminar. Hoy en Cairo celebran la victoria de la revolución mientrás Yemen, Iraq, Bahrein y Líbia viven protestas y realizan manifestaciones en varias ciudades importantes del país. No cabe duda que la revolución de la ira continua, y está lucha va a ser larga y dura. En el Cairo, el ejército controla la transición aunque parece estar diseñando una hoja de ruta rápida que asentará las bases legales para introducir las reformas necesarias para la democratización del país.
Una bandera es desplegada por los manifestantes en Cairo, 18 de Feb.
Sin embargo, en otros lugares, la reacción del gobierno está siendo durísima y violenta. La brutalidad policial en Bahrein y Yemen es manifiesta. No solo han asesinado a sangre fría a varios manifestantes sino que a demás se han ensañado con enfermeras y médicos (Bahrein) de los hospitales que atendían a los heridos manifestantes. Según RTVE hoy los hospitales han atendido más de 2000 personas afectados por los gases lacrimógenos que utilizan las fuerzas de seguridad. La policía en Bahrein está formada por hombres reclutados en Pakistán e India y por supuesto no tienen una relación directa con el pueblo, lo que permite que sus métodos y tácticas sean brutales.
Protestas en Manama, Bahrein.
El déspota monarca de Bahrein Hamad Ben Isa Al-Khalifa ha defendido la actuación policial argumentando que está evitado que el país caiga en el caos y en un conflicto sectario. Sin embargo, parece evidente que ha aprendido la lección de Egipto y Túnez muy bien, divide y vencerás, y así está procurando por todos los medios evitar que los bahreinís se reúnan en la plaza central de Manama. Además está ofreciendo toda la clase de incentivos económicos a sectores de la población con la esperanza de que el dinero calme los ánimos, 2660 dólares por familia. Tanto en Bahrein como en Libia el gobierno está haciendo todo tipo de concesiones económicas y monetarias para mantener a la población sumisa y leal al régimen.
El presidente de Yemen, Abdalah al-Saleh parece también estar haciendo algo similar pero utilizando otras tácticas. El presidente yemení, unos de los dictadores que ha permanecido durante más tiempo en el poder, ha reunido a un numero de tribus leales al régimen para que defiendan la plaza central de Sanaa. A pesar de esto, ayer no solo en Sanaa si no también en Taiz y Adén (centro y sur del país) las revueltas han continuado.
Protestas en Yemen 14 de Feb cortesia de Arabia Today
Líbia en plena encrucijada
Manifestantes pro Muamar el Gadafi en frente de la Embaja de Líbia en Londres
- En Libia observamos un caso similar. Manifestantes pro y en contra de Gadafi se manifestaron por separada en varios puntos del país. La capital Trípoli parece estar tomado por las fuerzas pro gubernamentales mientras que ciudades como Bensasi o Albaida están tomadas por la oposición.
Manifestate anima a sus compañeros denunciado el régimen
Las imágenes en Internet son difíciles de confirmar pero el número y volumen de manifestantes es impresiónate, alrededor de 24 muertos aproximadamente desde que la revuelta comenzó. Los manifestantes han destruido varios símbolos del régimen como estatuas y monumentos al presidente.
En Londres fue convocada ayer un protesta que superó todas las previsiones. La embajada Líbia en Londres o Libyan people’s Bureau está en el barrio céntrico de Londres en Knightsbridge (SW1x 7LY) y alí se presentaron tanto defensores como detractores del régimen, cada uno en un lado de la acera y separados por la policía londinense.
Panorámica Londres 17 Feb
Londres 17 Feb
Londres 17 Feb
Manifestantes en contra del régimen, Londres 17 Feb
Tuve la oportunidad de hablar con uno manifestantes pro Gadafi antes de que la policía me invitará a cambiar de sitio, tuve que eligir entre unos y otros y, al final, me quede apostado con los detractores del régimen. La manifestante, una periodista Líbia que trabaja en el norte de Inglaterra me comentó, “no estamos aquí por el dinero, hemos venido a defender a nuestro presidente”, y cuando la pregunté si no había sido suficiente después de varias decadas de dictadura me respondió, “amamos a nuestro presidente y nuestro país, estamos aquí por Libia, añadió un compañero suyo a su lado”.
Minifestante en apoyo al régimen muestra un ejemplar del Libro Verde de Gadafi, Londres 17 de Feb
Panorámica Manifestantes pro Gadafi, Londres 17 Feb
Después, mientrás permancía con los manifestantes del otro lado (contra Gadafi) –He de decir que este la de la manifestación era vibrante y llena de color, júbilo y sobre todo ira, y odio hacia un régimen despótico y fascista– tuve la oportunidad de charlar con varios de las manifestantes a los que pregunté que les dirían a los otros manifestantes que estaban apoyando al presidente, uno de los respondió:
Londres 17 Feb
“no les diría nada, el régimen les ha pagado para venir a manifestarse aquí, solo piensan en esto…”, y me enseño un billete de 20 libras.
Londres Feb 17
Londres 17 Feb
Además en Argelia y Marruecos continuan sucediendose eventos en apoyo a los manifestantes. En el diario el País ha epublicado un video subtituloado apareciendo donde aparecen 14 chicos jóvenes marroquís denunciando la dictadura, la corrupción y la falta de oportunidades en su país y la celebración de una manifestación el 20 de febrero, sea verdad o montaje de los medios con la oposición en el exilio, será interesante ver que es lo que ocurre en Marruecos. En Argelia, el presidente ha anunciado que va a cancelar el estado de emergencia aunque todavía este hecho no se ha producido.
Es evidete que los dirigentes árabes están haciendo todo lo posible por confundiar y dividir a los manifestantes. Sin embargo, la velocidad con la que todos estos eventos se está produciento, añade un elemento de sorpresa que está jugando a favor de los manifestantes en contra de sus regímenes. Washington encuntra dificultades para seguir lo que está sucediendo en el terreno y tiene las manos atadas ya que no tiene suficientes datos para decidir que dirección tomar. Mientrás menos intervenga en lo que está sucediendo mejor para la revuelta ya que podemos observar una tendencia en la Casa Blanca a amoldarse a la situación.
Para finalizar os dejo con algunas imágenes de la manifestación en frente de la embajada de Líbia en Londres que tome ayer. No pude tomar muchas fotos de uno de los grupos ya que el acceso estaba restringido, sin embargo, creo que por las imagenes que he tomado es evidente la diferencia entre ambos grupos.
Londres 17 Feb
Londres 17 Feb
Londres 17 Feb
Londres 17 Feb
Gadafi
Londres Feb 17
MareVostrum
Y Mubarak se fue…
MUBARAK IS GONE
Después de 18 días de intensas manifestaciones y protestas finalmente el pueblo ha logrado lo que tanto tiempo lelvaba aspirando. Este es un día histórico para Egipto y es impresionante ver las protestas a través de Al-Jazeera en directo.
Egipto es una celebración total y la emoción en las caras y rostros de la gente son suficientes pára entender la alegría y la dicha que están viviendo los egipcios hoy mismo, a 11 de febrero de 2011, Omar Suleiman ha anunciado la dimisión del Hosni Mubarak, cabeza insdiscutible del régimen que desde hace 30 años mantenía un absoluto control de Estado.
Viva la Revolución
Aún así hay todavía muchas preguntas que quedan por responder acerca de como se ha producido la dimisión y creo que será muy interesante conocer todos los detalles. Por qué ayer Mubarak no anunció su dimisión durante el discurso a la nación, que papel ha jugado el ejército en su dimisión, dónde está Mubarak, que va a ocurrir ahora? son algunas de las preguntas que durante estos días próximos serán interesantes descubir y que iré introduciendo en este blog.
La Revolución Continua.
La red esta inundada de información sobre las diferentes teorias sobre quién será el próximo país en caer. El inicio de un revolución en Egipto es una evento que puede muy fácil contagiar a otros países, ya hay previsiones de todo tipo, los nombres que más se oyen son Jordania, Siria, y Yemen entre otros.
Indicador de posibles revueltas en Oriente Próximo
An index of unrest in the Arab world
En Iraq también han habido varias manifestaciones y la verdad es que nadie sabe como predecir como la revolución egicia va a afectar a todo mundo árabe porque si de algo estamos seguros es de que tendrá un gran efecto demoledor en Oriente Medio.
MareVostrum
Los día de la Ira, ¿fase final?
El Día de la Marcha. THE DAY OF DEPARTURE
Foto Simba Russeau. "¡No te queremos, vete! ¡Él se irá, nosotros nos quedaremos!
Hola amigos, el final de Mubarak está cada día mas cerca. Se suceden las noticias afirmando que Obama está preparando el camino de salida a Mubarak y desde have unos días es evidente quien es el candidato de la Casa Blanca, Omar Suleiman. Sin embargo detrás de ese aspecto serio y pacifico se encuentra de uno de los pilares del régimen, comandante de las fuerzas de inteligencia, y probablemente el culpable de la violencia que se está viviendo en la plaza de la liberación.
No parecen los manifestantes muy convencidos de la valía de este candidato y una vez Mubarak este fuera la duda continua, quién será capaz de liderar un transición. Suleiman quiere alargar este proceso seis meses, un periodo demasiado largo teniendo en cuenta las ansias de cambio que existen en la población. Si Suleiman quiere sobrevivir políticamente tendrá que modificar radicalmente sus posturas y presentar una hoja de ruta aceptable, creíble y mucho más ambiciosa que la que ha presentado. Por otro lado, Muhammad al Baradei podría ser un interlocutor mucho más creíble y serio desde el punto de vista político pero carece del carisma popular necesario para desempeñar un role tan importante como este.
La revolución del 25 de enero necesita una voz.
El movimiento revolucionario popular y espontáneo en contra el régimen tiene que comenzar a coordinar sus voces y preparar un comité o asamblea popular que sea capaz de intermediar en este proceso. Desde el Cairo Simba Russeau me ha asegurado que el movimiento juvenil se está organizando en una plataforma y que pronto tendremos conocimiento de ella, hasta el momento no dispongo de más información, pero sería muy positivo que los jóvenes se unieran y presentarán un interlocutor con el cual sea posible negociar. El ejército es la clave en este país, y el ejército necesita apoyarse en un personaje lo suficientemente popular y apreciado como para que el pueblo lo considere legitimo en el proceso de transición. Suleiman parece estar cumpliendo con este papel y nadie en el otro campo se ha consolidado como representante oficial.
Foto Simba Russeau
Foto Simba Russeau: "Como en nuestro gran país puede mandar una embajada y un palacio"
La revolución se está expandiendo como la pólvora.
Campaña de Solidaridad con Egipto en Siria.
Ya nos comienzan a llegar noticias de como en otros países la juventud está organizando todo tipo de actividades y manifestaciones en apoyo a Egipto y en contra de sus gobierno. Yemen, Jordania, Palestina, Siria, Egipto y Libia están organizando manifestaciones multitudinarias y en muchos casos los gobiernos están empleando todo tipo de estratégicas para frenar y cortar el contagio pero con poco exito hasta el momento. En Beirut, los manifestantes chocaron contra la policia, en Palestina han cortado la transmisión de Aljazeera y no se puede utilizar facebook en muchos casos, además han detenido a varias personas que estaban organizando protestas en al embajada de Egiptpo (ver mi post anterior) y en Siria ya hay un plataforma con 15,000 personas preparando una gran manifestación internacional dentro y fuera de Siria para protestar contra el régimen (ver video a principio de este capítulo). Y aquí, en Londres, he recibido un una aviso de la campaña de solidaridad anglo-libia que también pretende el 17 de abril organizar una gran manifestación en frente de la embajada de Libia en londres.
Desde el Cairo Simba nos escribe:
“A BBC reporter entering Egypt says that he was detained at the airport some sixty some hours but he managed to get away with his video camera and he says he saw the Norwegian and Australian press being harassed and gear confiscated by police.
The army today was blocking several entrances heading downtown from both Kasr Al Nil and 6th of October. They were using the abandoned police trucks to border entrances.
Several people carrying much needed supplies had to find a back entrance and enter by foot where they reach Tahrir Square where protestors had created a zone with check-points to only allow anti-government demonstrators inside and once inside lot of women and children were also on hand but the majority of people were injured.
Mahmoud was carrying supplies in with along several women and as he tried to enter from one of the checkpoints towards Tahrir he was stopped by what seemed to be civilians and as soon as they saw the supplies they smashed the car and beat the shit out him and the women.
After beating them they ran to the police station and accused Mahmoud and the women of attacking them. So then the police beat contributed to the violence by beating Mahmoud and the women more.
As the group was leaving Tahrir pro-Mubarak supporters stopped their car several times and was thoroughly checking their cars for supplies and trying to investigate where they were leaving. They believe that these supporters are in fact paid by the NDP to help clear the protestors.
At five in the morning anti-government demonstrators say that they heard gunfire and later in the day reports surfaced that at least ten people were killed.
“The people who shot at us were the police but they were not wearing their uniform,” said one injured protestor.
Google developed a means of communication for Egyptians to continue tweet and the government banned access to Twitter and Facebook via an international number that allow you reach an assistant from Google that will tweet your updates. However, for the past five days the marketing director has reportedly gone missing.”
MareVostrum con la ayuda de Simba Russeau desde el Cairo.
Los días de la Ira. (Urgente).
Finalmente la conexión por Internet con Egipto se ha restablecido. Mi amiga Simba Ruseau me acaba de mandar un mensaje desde su apartamento en cairo. Las fuerzas que están luchando contra los manifestantes son en realidad la policia. Parece ser que el ejército también está involucrado. Hay miedo a que se desate una masacre. Aquí os dejo con el mensaje,
“Right now we are certain that the pro-Mubarak protestors are in fact the police. Here is one ID found on one of the protestors: Sergeant Yasin Ali Mohamed Ali, from 10th of Ramadan police station. ID 89015191. The army and the police have been cooking this moment for the past week. We could feel it coming. The army which was there to protect the protestors have now pulled back and are allowing the pro-Mubarak protestors to create this massacre.Police were seen in full force after dissapearing from the streets for several days and when they appeared they had more advanced weapons. They have also banned Al Jazeera for reporting the peaceful protest and now only nationalistic TV is allowed to air.”
MareVostrum
Egipto al borde de la guerra civil (Día 9)
Estimados compañeros la situación en Egipto se está deteriorando por momentos. En las calles del Cairo se están produciendo todo tipo de enfrentamientos entre los manifestantes y un grupo de fuerzas de seguridad que visten con ropa civil. El ejército no está haciendo nada y básicamente se esta produciendo una guerra campal con palos y piedras entre manifestantes y grupos afines al régimen. La situación es caótica y estos altercados podrían desencadenar una guerra urbana entre facciones e incluso un guerra civil.
Lo que está ocurriendo es muy similar a lo que ocurrió en Túnez durante los últimos día de las revueltas, grupo afines al régimen sembraron el caos en Túnez con el objetivo de asustar a las masas y contrarrestar la revuelta popular. El discurso dado ayer por el Hosni Mubarak no anunció su retirada y además pretendía justificar su posición en el gobierno durante otros seis meses, hasta el final de su mandato. Estas declaraciones no calmaron los ánimos y los manifestantes continuaron manteniendo sus reivindicaciones. Ayer por la noche la policía intentó desalojar varias plazas ocupadas por los manifestantes utilizando gases lacrimógenos.
La situación es grave y hay manifestaciones convocadas por todo el mundo en apoyo al movimiento. Este quizás sea el fin de una revolución o el fin de Mubarak?
Unas fotos de mi compañero Matthew Cassel, Revolution day and night.
Mare Vostrum
Los Días de la Ira (Día 6).
Protesters attend an anti-government demonstration in Cairo, Egypt, Jan 25, 2011xin6
El pulso contra el gobierno de Mubarak continua. La población ha desobedecido el estado de sitio que el régimen ha intentado imponer y la congregación y ocupación de la Plaza de Tahrir por parte de los manifestantes continua a pesar de que los helicópteros, jets y fuerzas de seguridad lo rodean por tierra y aíre. El pueblo egipcio está dispuesto a vencer y, no se dejará engañar por las pretensiones de Mubarak de crear un nuevo gobierno presidido por Omar Suleiman que bien fue descrito ayer por un manifestante como la “cabeza de la serpiente” y que a continuación se reafirmaba diciendo: “no puedes esperar que las cosas cambien si cortas el cuerpo y dejas la cabeza”. Efectivamente, las nuevas nominaciones parece que poco pueden hacer para cambiar la situación y la población lo tiene claro; las manifestaciones continúan en la mayoría de las ciudades principales como Suez, Alejandría, Mahalla, Ismailiya y Cairo.
La situación en la calle.
Sin embargo después de 6 días de protestas hoy parece que las cosas se han calmado un poco. El vacío
Protesters attend an anti-government demonstration in Cairo, Egypt, Jan 25, 2011xin
de poder se ha traducido en robos esporádicos de tiendas e incluso en el Museo Nacional. Aún así la reacción de la población ha sido ejemplar y ha decidido crear sus propios grupos de seguridad y vigilancia con el objetivo de proteger barrios y viviendas. Un reportero de CNN describía como el ejército se estaba desplegando para proteger el museo, así como otros barrios de la ciudad y al mismo tiempo varios ciudadanos se unían y participaban en las labores de vigilancia. En un mensaje de twitter abdallashaheen@waelabbas mentioned: “Just called family in Heliopolis and the army caught two looters, there r police men”. La policia parece estar detrás de muchos de estos saqueos y no sería de extrañar después de lo que ha ocurrido en Túnez que fuese cierto. El régimen aunque agonizante todavía esconde vari0s ases debajo de la manga, y sin duda cuenta con más apoyos y métodos para contrarrestar la revueltas que Túnez. Aún así el pueblo parece decidido a conseguir lo mismo que en Túnez. Será posible que Mubarak tenga que abandonar el País o ser detenido para su enjuiciamiento. Sí es esto lo que quiere el pueblo que así sea, pero sin la ayuda del ejército será difícil. La revolución todavía tiene que pasar la prueba más dura, atraer el ejército hacia su causa.
El ejército esta jugando un papel fundamental y básicamente está desempeñando una labor de escudo entre la policía y la población. Tampoco han habido declaraciones públicas de sus mandos y desconocemos cual será su reacción durante esta semana. Hay muchos heridos y los hospitales parecen que no dan a basto. Varias mezquitas están funcionando como clínicas y es urgente la ayuda de médicos y doctores.
Apoyo internacional.
Barack Obama meets Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.
Estados Unidos así como la mayoría de sus aliados continúan apoyando a Mubarak en un intento vano por salvar lo que queda del barco. La
Hosni Mubarak
Secretaria de Estado Hilary Clinton declaró en varios medios de comunicación norteamericanos: “What we’re trying to do is to help clear the air so that those who remain in power, starting with President Mubarak, with his new vice president, with the new prime minister, will begin a process of reaching out, of creating a dialogue that will bring in peaceful activists and representatives of civil society to, you know, plan a way forward that will meet the legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people,”.
Parece que la Secretaria estadounidense está tan alejada de la realidad como el Rey de Arabia Saudí Abdullah que declaró ayer: “ Egypt is a country of Arabism and Islam. No Arab and Muslim human being can bear that some infiltrators, in the name of freedom of expression, have infiltrated into the brotherly people of Egypt, to destabilize its security and stability and they have been exploited to spew out their hatred in destruction, intimidation, burning, looting and inciting a malicious sedition,’” the news agency said.”
También es interesante observar la reacción de Israel que parece tener información que nadie posee. Ayer un miembro del Knesset, Benjamin Ben Eliezer mencionaba en el canal 10 de Israel: “hablé con Mubarak en cual le dijo, esto no es Beirut o Túnez, y sugirió que el ejército estaba preparado para solucionar la situación”.
La EU –y Zapatero también– como siempre continua haciendo política detrás de los Estados Unidos y hace un llamamiento a las partes a que calmen sus ánimos. Señora Ashton dice en su comunicado oficial: “I also reiterate my call upon the Egyptian authorities to urgently establish a constructive and peaceful way to respond to the legitimate aspirations of Egyptian citizens for democratic and socio-economic reforms.”
Police Day 25 Jan
Incluso China ha bloqueado los servicios de micromensajes a través de Internet en un movimiento claro evitar posibles contagios. El diario Chino Tiempos Globales publico este comunicado ayer: “La democracia está todavía muy lejos en Túnez y Egipto. Para que la democracia tenga éxito son necesarios cimientos sólidos en economía, educación y temas sociales. Cuando se trata de sistemas políticos, el modelo occidental es solo una de las opciones”.
Manifestación Londres 28 de Enero
Sin embargo las manifestaciones en los consulados y embajadas de Egipto se han venido sucediendo durante todo el fin de semana en Estados Unidos, Montreal, Londres, Beirut y Madrid. Yo tuve la oportunidad de estar en la de Londres y la verdad es que fue emocionante ver como unas 100 personas gritaban los mismos eslóganes que la gente en Egipto. El apoyo popular en occidente es fundamental para Egipto y he encontrado varios mensajes de twitter en Internet llamando por la movilización popular en todo el mundo. Mandar mensajes, distribuir y compartir vuestra información, artículos, datos, todo aquellos que pueda difundir la voz.
Los Días de la Ira (يوميات يوم الغضب)
Estimados compañeros y amigos de Mare Vostrum.
Poster de Echoing the sounds of Egypt's protesta organizada en Londres
La movilización popular, el Día de la Ira esta llegando a su punto más álgido en Egipto. Los ánimos de apuntarse un tanto del novel de la paz y ex secretario de la Agencia Atómica Internacional (IAEA) Muhammad El-Baradei y de capitalizar políticamente sobre la revueltas quizás no le salga tan mal después de todo, lo intentó antes y falló, y posiblemente la juventud y pueblo egipcio están buscando otra cosa, es decir, no otro personaje que monopolice lo sucedido para sacar rédito político. Aún así, no olvidemos que El-Baradei es un premio novel con una larga experiencia a nivel internacional como director general de la IAEA y, en todo momento defendió a Iraq en cuanto a su posesión de armas nucleares y biológicas se refiere. El-Baradei podría liderar una transición pacífica y democrática pero es esto lo que quieren los egipcios?
Bloqueo comunicativo.
Según el diario el País el gobierno ha cortado Internet y las comunicaciones con en el país en una grave violación de los derechos más fundamentales. Desde ayer por la noche llevo intentado contactar en facebook con varios compañeros y ninguno al día de hoy a respondido todavía. Cuando he revisado sus wall he podido observar que están como congeladas y desde ayer no han podido pegar ningún artículo, cuando en los día anteriores, estaban publicando artículos y notas de prensa sobre lo sucedido constantemente. También la página de facebook sobre Egipto tiene su último post hace 17 horas y también estoy intentando contactar con ellos. El gobierno permanece callado y no ha dado ninguna explicación.
Espero poder contactar con todos ellos pronto y seguir informando sobre lo que esta sucediendo. En la medida de lo posible iré publicando vídeos e información que pueda encontrar en internet sobre lo que esta ocurriendo y animo al resto de mis compañeros a hacer lo mismo.
Altercados y manifestaciones.
La página página en facebook sobre Egipto ha publicado información bastante útil. En su último post describen los altercados con la policía en la ciudad de Suez. Parece que hay varias columnas de humo en la ciudad y que hay ciertos elementos aprovechándose del caos para robar supermercados, apedrear bancos y otros establecimientos. No está claro quién realiza estos pillajes pero puede muy bien ser la mismas fuerzas de seguridad como pasó en Túnez.
También en la misma página de facebook la Organización Egipcia para los Derechos Humanos anunció ayer públicamente que el número de detenidos desde que comenzó el Día de la Ira hasta el jueves 27 ha alcanzado 1120 detenidos en 9 provincias principales: Cairo, Suez, Alejandría, Dahliya oeste, norte del Sinaí, Ismaeliyya, al Fuyoum y Asiyut. Además se han realizado 200 manifestaciones en frente de 6 diputaciones provinciales en las provincias de Cairo, Almanufiya, Dahliye, Suez, Allejandría y Kafar Sheikh. La organización ha solicitado su liberación inmediata. La página ha publicado un lista de detenidos.
Vídeos en Internet
Esta mañana he recibido un video desde egipto a través de una de mis amigas en Palestina. El video muestra como en el Sinai un manifestante es tiroteado por las fuerzas de seguridad. Además adjunto la carta integra que acompañaba el email.
First we invite you to watch this video of live shooting of human being in Sinai, Egypt caught on video:
http://video.ap.org/?f=None&pid=oT7qj_wiVHTbYae3scwok4_irYjJ2R8Z
Thank you for your continued coverage of the protests in Egypt. the Egyptian government has completely disabled Short Messaging Service texts and the internet in the whole country. We have been unable to reach our friends and family via the internet and have no news from them for several houres. Cutting off protesters and the rest of Egypt from all methods of communicating with the outside world is a grave situation which we wish to share with you.
There have already been reports of wide spread abuses by the government security offices, and such a media and communication blackout only guarantees that the security forces can do as they please in crushing tomorrow’s protests without threat of exposure to the world.
We implore you to provide live coverage of the protests as they unfold, and to contamn all violations of human rights which the Egyptian citizens are exposed to for 3 days now. This is crucial not only in potentially saving lives of Egyptian protesters and police men, but in also stirring up the opinions of the international community and international leadership to place more pressure on their governments to condemn the actions of the Egyptian government.
Sincerely,
Worried Citizens
Mare Vostrum
Urgent Notice Update
I have to deleted the last post because the detainee has finally been release. Therefore there is no need to sign the petition. Thank you so much for your support,
Mare Vostrum
A Bloody Plan
Foto tomada por Reyes de Juan
Hello friends,
Here is my last post in The Majallah. I am happy with it although the editing took its toll. At the beginning of the article I said that:
“The clashes, which had started at the Gadaym Izik refugee camp, proved to be a turning point in the history of the conflict between Morocco and the Sahrawis. What was a peaceful demonstration against the high rate of unemployment and lack of social services escalated into full-scale clashes between Moroccan security forces and camp residents that lasted several days, resulting in the death of 10 Moroccan policemen and two Sahrawis, in addition to the arrest of 163 people.”
The camp cannot be described as refugee camp because it was a camp that was built outside the city of Alayoun in order to protest against the Moroccan government.
Besides this, I think everything is fine and I hope you like it.
Looking forward to hear your comments, and I am specially interested in hear what the readers may think about the relationship with what is happening in Tunisia and the Sahawan struggle. Perhaps this is a great opportunity to bring this cause to the forefront.
Finally I would also ask you to subscribe to my blog. It is a simple gesture and it will make my job a bit easier. I hate when I forget to include someone in the list of emails.
Mare Vostrum
Será este el principio del fin.
“Cuando las personas deciden vivir, el destino debe obedecer, y un día…las cadenas de la esclavitud se romperán”
Versos del poeta tunecino Abu Al-Qasem Al-Shabi (Schebbi) en los Defensores de la Pátria.
In memorian de Muhammad Abu Aziz
Ex presidente de Tunez Ben Ali
Todavía estoy impresionado y perplejo por la reacción que ha tenido el pueblo tunecino ante la corrupción y el abuso del poder de sus gobernantes. Los que hemos vivido un tiempo en Oriente Medio llevamos tiempo esperando algo así. ¿Cuánto tiempo podrían resistir estos regímenes tan injustos y anti-democráticos? El ex presidente de Túnez Zine Al Abdidine Ben Alí no es más que uno más entre los diversos déspotas, reyezuelos y dictadores que existen en el norte de África, Oriente Medio y en muchos lugares del mundo. Este dirigente que tan acostumbrados estaba a recibir el apoyo y la protección de un occidente hipócrita y oportunista ha tenido que poner pies en polvorosa, mientras probablemente dejaba un tufillo a heces por todo el aeropuerto imaginándose como iba a terminar si se quedaba en el país.
Si hay alguien que puede cambiar Túnez, y/o el resto de la región OMNACA (Oriente Medio, Norte de África y Centro Ásia) son los pueblos y ciudadanos que lo habitan, y así lo está demostrando Túnez sin que Bush u Obama vengan a liberarles. Cuando el peor
Foto de Zeinab Samir (http://twitpic.com/3q9n94)
presidente de los Estados Unidos comenzó la Guerra en Iraq en 2003, se llenaba la boca con el supuesto efecto domino que terminaría por cambiar todo el mundo árabe. Ahora, después de 8 años de guerra en Iraq y Afganistán vemos como la región se esta hundiendo en el caos. Millones de muertos, billones en perdidas económicas, desesperación, impotencia, rabia y sobre todo una sentimiento de vacío y desorientación. ¿Qué pasará después de que se vayan los americanos? ¿Hacia donde vamos?
Sin embargo un solo hombre, Muhammad Abu Aziz, uno de tantos que hay en esta región, una ejemplo de persona educada, con estudios y luchadora que había dedicado su vida a su familia ha provocado una ola lo suficientemente fuerte como para derribar los cimientos de una dictadura que desde hace más de dos décadas se aprovecha y roba al pueblo con total impunidad y alevosía. Este hombre y su decisión de quemarse vivo cuando la policía le confiscó su único sustento para vivir –un puesto ambulante de verduras– ha sido la gota que colmó el vaso y, no la toma de Bagdad o el asesinato sistemático de civiles en Afganistán o Pakistán supuestamente en defensa de la democracia y la libertad.
Ahora me pongo en la piel del resto de gobernantes que existen en la región y estaría tremendamente preocupado. Marruecos, Argelia, Libia, Egipto, Jordania y Siria, Yemen, Arabia Saudí, Bahrein, Irán y Pakistán llevan demasiado tiempo viviendo del cuento, viviendo del miedo y las torturas que infligen a sus pueblos. Durante las últimas elecciones en Irán tuvimos la oportunidad de apreciar que algo estaba cambiando en la región, sin embargo el poderío y la dureza del gobierno tuvo la suerte de ganar la partida, pero ahora después de la increíble hazaña del pueblo tunecino, todo el mundo árabe esta mirando y es consciente de que un mañana distinto es posible. La fuerza y la decisión del pueblo siempre serán más potentes que las balas y gases de la policía. La unidad, la voluntad de cambio y el centrase en un objetivo común son los ingredientes básicos para que los pueblos se liberen de tanta represión y despotismo gratuitos.
Sólo me queda ya felicitar al pueblo tunecino y cruzar los dedos para que la historia no se repita de nuevo. El occidente supuestamente moderno y democrático está muy lejos de comprender lo que esta región necesita y, como en muchas ocasiones en el pasado, ha hecho todo lo posible por proteger y financiar a estos reyes de pacotilla que tanto sufrimiento están causando a estos pueblos. Ahora nos esperan unos meses muy interesantes por delante, y sobre todo será fundamental para la región OMNACA como se soluciona esta situación: ¿Tendremos más de lo mismo o finalmente el pueblo ha despertado?
Mare Vostrum
2010 in review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,100 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 11 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 16 posts. There were 47 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 61mb. That’s about 4 pictures per month.
The busiest day of the year was May 12th with 44 views. The most popular post that day was Not in my Name, not with our Taxes.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were digg.com, facebook.com, mail.live.com, mail.yahoo.com, and slashingtongue.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for mare vostrum, madrileños por el mundo libano, madrileños por el mundo beirut, journalists, and fumando arguile.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Not in my Name, not with our Taxes May 2010
3 comments
Un Madrileño en Beirut June 2009
4 comments
SOAS’ Conference on The Left In Palestine, The Palestinian Left. March 2010
Un madrileño filmando en Beirut November 2009
Irán: los intentos por recuperar la revolución perdida. June 2009
Activistas del S. XXI
Activistas del S. XXI
Las conferencias Palestina, de palabras a los hechos. La ciudadanía en acción: el activismo del s. XXI, fue precisamente eso, un recorrido por un activismo comprometido y activo de la mano de personas extraordinarias que han decidido dedicar su vida a una causa, en este caso Palestina, y que son desde mi punto de vista una gran inspiración para el ciudadano del s.XXI. que a pesar de tantos avances científicos y humanos sigue tan perdido e indefenso con sus antepasados y carece de los medios e inspiración para tomar las riendas de sus vidas y hacer algo en contra de tanta injusticia y abusos.
Cartel Conferencias Interpueblos
En este post he introducido sus voces y espero que sean de tanta inspiración como lo han sido para mi. La valentía de Ann Wright a la hora de abandonar su carrera diplomática como protesta por la guerra de Iraq, las aventuras de Vangelis Pissias que desde hace muchos años lleva organizando flotillas de ayuda para Gaza y en su exposición nos cuenta la historia de este tipo de iniciativas, y Manuel Tapial y Ahmet Emin que tienen ya un gran experiencia en estas iniciativas y, que aprovecharon estas jornadas para explicar y presentarnos los programas y proyectos que harán posible en un futuro un nueva flotilla a Gaza más grande y preparada. Así os dejo escuchar a estos magníficos activistas y además quería disculparme porque no he podido incluir la ponencia de Ahmet Emin Dag por problemas técnicos con la grabación, si la consigo la añadiré próximamente en este post.
Un activismo efectivo es posible y me gustaría abrir un debate sobre este asunto en el blog. ¿Merece la pena ser un activista en el s. XXI? ¿Qué puede hacer un persona realmente antes tales problemas que le superan con creces? ¿Cómo podríamos todos ayudar en la nueva flotilla, en especial desde las plataformas digitales? ¿Cómo es posible presionar a nuestros gobiernos para que simplemente hagan lo que tienen que hacer, respetar el derecho internacional?
Al menos la campaña para la nueva flotilla ya esta en marcha y necesitarán toda la ayuda que les podamos brindar. Aquí os dejo el link de su página en facebook, Solidaridad con la flotilla de la Libertad, no al terrorismo de Israel.
Hasta pronto,
Mare Vostrum
I International Lecture Series on Modern Arab World Challenges
La Semana de la Solidaridad at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid is hosting its first international lecture series on Modern Arab World Challenges in the capital of Spain, Madrid. The series begins on November, Wednesday 24th.
The series of lectures, which will be held between the 24th and 30th of November are moderated by Daniel F. Rivera, Arab translator and PhD candidate at UAM and he is an active member working with the International Cooperative for New Education, Art and Animation (CINPAA) in numerous projects and activities. All lectures will take place at Facultad de Ciencías Jurídicas, UAM between 16:00-20:00h.
The lecture series will cover a wide range of topics related to the Arab world such as memory, gender issues, citizenship, economy, education and the problem of refugees and includes a basic introduction to the Arabic language. This lecture series is an opportunity to learn how to write and read Arabic and understand the complexities of realities and challenges we can find nowadays in the Arab world.
The first lecture is on Wednesday 24th at Aula VI Planta Baja, Facultad C.J. (map) and the program is enclosed below:
I International Lecture Series on Modern Arab World Challenges
La Semana de la Solidaridad at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid is hosting its first international lecture series on Modern Arab World Challenges in the capital of Spain, Madrid. The series begins on November, Wednesday 24th.
CINPAACoop. is a social and non-profit cooperative project born from the personal and professional initiative of several professionals, about teaching and sharing knowledge using new scientific approaches based on participation and experience.
The Cooperative focuses on three main areas of expertise: education, psychology and art and animation, and includes new intercultural pedagogical techniques which all members participate.
For more information enter cinpaa. And Leila’s Nachawati Blog: Un Mundo Lleno de Mundos.
Like this:
Ayuda y participa en la liberación del blogero Ali Abduleman.
Ali y su causa.
Ali es un joven blogero de origen bahriní que desde el 4 de septiembre ha permanecido arrestado por las autoridades bahrinís y acusado de publicar información falsa sobre la situación social y política en Bahrein.
Banner de la campaña
Este blogero es un activista y defensor de los derechos humanos en su país, y denunciaba constantemente la falta de libertad de expresión en su tierra natal. Si queréis más información sobre Ali, ver el video de la campaña preparado por el canal de noticias France 24, está en inglés pero merece la pena verlo, es corto y directo, y explica los detalles de la campaña.
video de France 24 sobre la detención del blogero bahriní Ali Abdulemam
El arresto de Alí llega en medio de una ola de arrestos perpetrados por el gobierno en contra de activistas políticos y oponentes al régimen solo una semanas antes de que las elecciones parlamentarias en Bahrein programadas para el mes de octubre tengan lugar. Varias asociaciones han denunciado la falta de claridad por parte Bahrein que utiliza la vaguedad y poca claridad de la ley anti terrorista para acosar y encerrar a cualquier oponente al régimen. Tal y como explica el canal de noticias al-arabiya:
“La mayoría de los sospechosos son miembros de Haq (verdad), o el movimiento por las libertades y la democracia, una escisión de la principal organización política Chiíta, la Asociación Islámica de Acuerdo Nacional, INAA.”
Su liberación es todavía más urgente si tenemos en cuenta la deplorable situación de los derechos humanos en las cárceles del país. Más aún, tememos por su seguridad y, salud física y mental dado la tendencia de las autoridades bahrinís a torturar a sus detenidos. Ayúdanos a liberar a Ali y sus compañeros.
Terminemos con la impunidad del régimen.
La campaña:
Esta campaña no conoce precedentes y está siendo seguida y promovida por cientos o quizás miles de blogeros. Esta organizada por amigos, activistas, blogeros y asociaciones por los derechos humanos que buscan presionar al gobierno de Bahrein para que libere a Ali y a otros conmpañeros.
La campaña busca la participación de todos a través de los blog y redes sociales en Internet. Incluso es posible mandar mensajes en Twitter al Ministro de Asuntos Exteriores bahrení para pedir por su liberación. También puedes descargar varios banners sobre su liberación que están publicados en Internet y colgarlos de tu blog o página web.
También puedes participar en esta campaña colgando en Internet artículos y links a los múltiples blogs en árabe, español e ingles exigiendo la liberación de estos presos políticos. Incluso es posible enviar una carta al Rey de Bahrein pidiendo su liberación así como la de otros numerosos activistas acusados con cargos similares.
Participa en la campaña mundial Join Free Ali Abdulemam
1- Envía peticiones a la embajada de Bahrein en tu país.
2- Envía una petición a el Ministro de Asuntos Exteriores bahriní en Twitter: @KhalidalKhalifa
3- Divulga el caso en Twitter- usa # Abdulemam and #Bahrain.
4- Añade un Banner en tu Blog/website.
5. Escribe posts en tu blog pidiendo la libertad de Ali Abdulemam.
6. ¡Comparte y divulga el video!
Un abrazo,
Mare Vostrum
History Repeats Itself
Conflict and uncertainty threaten to divide Lebanon again
Lebanese Hezbollah supporters wave Lebanese and party (yellow) flags while holding pictures of party leader Hassan Nasrallah during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in southern Beirut on 25 May 2010.
The intense diplomatic activity surrounding Lebanon is a clear sign that something is afoot in this divided and vulnerable country. At stake is Lebanon’s political and military security, threatened at once by the controversy surrounding the Hariri tribunal, and the country’s tenuous borders with Israel. The possibility of a new conflict is real, but exactly when and for what reason is difficult to predict. Internal and regional players agree, however, that urgent measures are to be adopted to prevent an undesired escalation that could result in a new occupation of Lebanon, or a regional conflict involving Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
To continue reading please clink here.
Go Lebanon, go!
I have the pleasure to find out today that Lebanese are sending two more ship to Gaza, the Mariam and Naji al Ali
Ahmadi-vader
in their admirable effort to break the illegal Israeli blockade on Gaza. I was also quite surprised to read in al Jazeera that the Israel Ambassador in the UN Security Council Gabriela Shalev not only sent a clear warning to UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon stating that Israel will use all the necessary means to stop this flotilla but also that they “have serious doubts about the nature of this fleets” in a clear move to point out that probably Hezbollah is sending weapons in this vessels: “As a result, Israel can not exclude the possibility that terrorists or smuggled weapons on board the ships concerned”.
Although Israel keeps ignoring the real objective of this peaceful initiatives, what it seems clear is that the people traveling in these vessel could be anything but terrorist. In an article published by Now Lebanon, the organizers of this new great adventure explain us what are their motives and goals and, more importantly who are participating in this trip: “Mariam will carry eight Lebanese and up to 17 European women and two doctors, while the Najri al Ali will carry around 50 journalists and 25 European volunteers on board. The women’s ship will carry a large quantity of medical aid, while the press ship is to deliver food.”
Thus if a 22 year old AUB graduated is perceived as a Terrorist for the mere fact that she is traveling in one of the ships then I don’t even want to image what will they accuse the Iranian ship that has departed from Iran on June 12, the Death Star nuclear vessel or The Iranium atomic ship. I believe this could be the end of the useless and absurd blockade to Gaza and I strongly encourage the Lebanese people to support those involved in this voyage. As my friends here used to say, In Shah Allah!
“Unpleasant, even dangerous, qualities can be found in every nation and every individual:…”
Human, All Too Human (1878), Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.
To Shahrazad, my lovely dream from Rammallah.
I consider myself to be very lucky because I had the rare opportunity to be in Palestine in such an important occasion. May 15 will always remain on the memory of many as the disaster -An Nakba- the date when hundreds of thousands Palestinians lost their lives, homes, properties, and ultimately their dignity as human beings and a nation.
Nakba demostration on the 17 of May 2010 by Daniel F. Rivera
Nevertheless, and after 62 years of war and conflict, there is still people refusing to admit the undeniable and prefer to fabricate stories based on bias search, half truths and obscure data about what happened in 1948. Thus we find writers such as Ben Dror Yemeni that in a recent article published on Maariv this last May, and translated and published as well in El País, argues that the Palestinian people have created the myth of the An-Nakba which according to him is an absolute fraud that have endure for six decades:
“The Nakba – the story of the Palestinian refugees is the greatest success story in the history of modern times – a success that is a complete fraud. There is no other group of “refugees” in the world that has gotten such broad global coverage.”
The author seems to forget that the greatest and most successful story ever told was the Jewish holocaust, narration that has been tirelessly used to justified the victimization of the Jewish people, creation of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. He assures that the Palestinian population was very low during the end of the nineteenth century and the region was divided in Sanjaks or districts belonging to the greater provinces of Syria and Lebanon. In other words, there was not a State or a Nation on this land, and Palestine was an empty land where only a handful number of spare Arab settlements could be found as he has interpreted from the descriptions provided by a number of European and American orientalist such as Mark Twain who wrote in 1865:
“….A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds… a silent mournful expanse… A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action. We reached Tabor safely… We never saw a human being on the whole route. Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes… desolate and unlovely… these unpeopled deserts, these rusty mounds of barrenness…that melancholy ruin of Capernaum; this stupid village of Tiberias slumbering under its six funereal plumes of palms”.
Therefore, it cannot be considered that the creation of Israel was unfair action because the Palestinians never demanded a state. They were under the Ottomans, and later under the Egyptians and Jordanians (1948-1967).
62 years of Makba 1948-2010 by Daniel F. Rivera (May 17, Ramallah )
They lived under a cruel regimes, making every effort to emigrate to other countries due to the harsh and difficult condition under which they have to live. Moreover, as Yemeni put it, the Palestinian community has not the right to return.
Regarding this argument, there is a very important feature that needs to be mention about the Ottomans which Yemeni forgets to address. The Sublime Port never allowed the use of national distinctions among Arabs and other communities belonging to the empire, meaning “Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanian, or Iraqis” because among other things, the Ottomans were against any national movement that could jeopardize the existence of the Empire. The Ottoman census of the Arab population was based on religious affiliations which allowed great degree of autonomy to religious confession living in the Crescent Fertile.
Nakba 62 years after by Daniel F. Rivera
We need to wait until the end of the First World War to witness the emergence of a genuine independent Palestinian movement after the Arab revolt in 1916. Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals were the main precursors of Arab nationalism but in 1920, the Third Arab Congress, Palestinian notables (Muslims as well as Christians) was gaining strength and formed the so called Arab Committee that was comprised by forty-eight delegates with a permanent secretariat in Jerusalem and headed by Musa Kazim Huseyn.
Musa Kazim al-Husayni, the mayor of Jerusalem.
After The Fourth Congress (May 1921), the Palestinian national movement sent a delegation to London in order to discuss the Palestinian question, and the next year Winston Churchill approved the White Paper which allowed the government to place some limitation to Jewish immigration and promote self- government in Palestine:
“The tension which has prevailed from time to time in Palestine is mainly due to apprehensions, which are entertained both by sections of the Arab and by sections of the Jewish population. These apprehensions, so far as the Arabs are concerned are partly based upon exaggerated interpretations of the meaning of the Balfour Declaration favouring the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine, made on behalf of His Majesty’s Government on 2nd November, 1917.”
Churchill White Paper June 1922.
Another fact that Ben Dror seems to omit is that the whole region was occupied by Britain and France after the Ottomans formally surrounded in 1918. The secret Sykes-Picot-Sazonov agreements (1916) divided the old Ottoman provinces into spheres of influences controlled by European powers. The Arabs who helped the British to defeat the Ottomans were promised to obtain independence and sovereign nations after the First World War ended (The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence. July 14, 1915 – March 10, 1916 ). Soon after the war, the British and the Arabs reached an agreement that clearly stated that:
“Great Britain is prepared to recognize and uphold the independence of the Arabs in all the regions lying within the frontiers proposed by the Sherif of Mecca.“
On the other hand, the British reached another agreement known as The Balfour declaration (November 1917) between Arthur James Balfour, Britain’s foreign secretary and Lord Rothschild, president of the Zionist federation, declaring that: “a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.” The area consisting of today’s Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jordan.”
Thus it is quite understandable the confusion created by this colonial policy which obviously angered the Arab-Palestinian population that had to suffer the entire consequences derived from it. The Palestinians regarded this agreement between the British and Zionist movement as an unacceptable, and among other things, we need to take into consideration that when the Balfour declaration was made in 1917, 90% of the population was Arab and only 2,5% of the population was Jewish. In this regards, I consider ILan Pappe description quite reveling of the situation in this land regardless of the amount or percentage of population that was living in Palestine:
Nakba demonstration Ramallah on May 17, 2010 by Daniel F. Rivera
“Despite Britain’s pro-Zionist policies and the presence of the growing Jewish minority, Palestine was still very much an Arab country by the end of the Mandate. Almost all the cultivable land in Palestine was held by the indigenous population – only 5.8% was in Jewish ownership in 1947- which makes the use here of ‘mixed’ somewhat misleading, to say at least. Although the Zionist leaders had tried to persuade Jewish immigrant, ever since the movement had set foot in Palestine, to settle in the country side, they had failed to do so: Jewish newcomers overwhelmingly preferred the cities and towns. As a result, most of the Zionist settler colonies in the rural areas lat far apart from the each other; in some areas, such as the Galiliee in the north and the Naqab (Negev) in the south, they were effectively isolated islands amidst the surrounding Palestinian countryside. (Pappe 2006, p, 30)”.
Also, another misleading assessment introduced by Yemeni is that the Palestinian never demanded a state in Palestine. This is just false. The Palestinian leadership with the support of the Arab League, the regional inter-Arab Organization and Arab Higher Committee refused to accept and collaborate with a UN mission that envisioned the partition designed by the United Nation Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). These committee which was formed on May, 1947, was comprised by 11 nations that recommended the division of Palestine into two states. We could argue that the Palestinian boycott was very negative to Palestinian interest and to some extent, the Palestinian people lost an opportunity to be recognized as nation-state but it is needed to take into account the circumstances and context under which this plan was approved.
First of all, this was the first time in history that an international body had to decided the partition of a country in order to solve a conflict. None of the member belonging to this committee had neither knowledge nor previous experience in Palestinian history or solving sectarian conflicts. Under the committees’ plan, the Jewish community was granted with a bit more than 50% of the most fertile land of Palestine to a population that only constitute one third of the total population at that time. Another fact that is often forgotten is that when Resolution 181 was adopted in November 1947, several Palestinian leaders demanded that the International Court of Justice (created in 1946) would study the case but this body never accepted to do so (Pappe 2006, p, 31-33).
62 years of Nakba by Daniel F. Rivera
Following Yemeni’s hypothesis, once the partition plan was adopted, the Palestinians waged war against the Jewish people and it started what he calls the Jewish Nakba. This is just another example that shows the Israeli tendency to steal Palestinian history and culture for its own interests. When Yemeni assures that 800,000 Jewish were forced to face eviction and expulsion from several Arab countries, he fails to acknowledge that Israel had already achieved Plan Dalet which was designed by Ben-Gurion and other Zionist leaders and resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. From March to September-November in 1948, a group of Jewish officer sent clear orders to different units on the ground to began an operation to expel the Palestinian population from vast areas of the territory. ILan Pappe’s the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine offers a well researched and enlightening investigation about how the Zionist leadership organized this crime against humanity:
“large-scale intimidation, laying siege to and bombarding villages and population centers; setting fire to homes, properties and goods, expulsion, demolition, and finally, planning mines among the rubble to prevent any of the expelled inhabitants from returning”. The final goal of Plan Dalet was to destroy rural and urban center belonging to the Palestinian people and once the mission was terminated 800,000 Palestinian were expelled from the homes and 531 villages were destroyed, and 11 urban center neighborhoods were emptied of their dwellers” (Pappe 2006, pp, xii-xiii).
There will be not bargaining with the Right to Return, Nakba by Daniel F. Rivera
Although these facts have been proved, and I am far trying to justify the reaction of several regimes regarding the expulsion of Jewish communities, it should be noticed the huge impacted that the refugees had in the region. The Arab reaction to this event was based on a perception that the Jewish community was initiating a policy that was never seen in these lands and thus raising the fears that inaction could lead to allowance and conformism with what was happening on the ground. Arabs began to think that the definition of Greater Israel as Abraham described in the bible: “To your descendants I give this land from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18)” was becoming a reality, and this is the reason why so many ant-Israeli politicians were so successful to raise popular support among the population. Also despite the expulsion of Jews initiated by Iraq and other Arab countries, it is worth mention that precisely while these events were unfolding, the Palestinians were the only ones to denounced such a policy. Sabry Jiryis, director of the Institute of Palestine Studies in Beirut, described in 1975 how these factors propitiate the consolidation of the State of Israel:
“Participated in the reinforcement of Israel, its strengthening and fortification to the degree we see it as present. . . . There is no need to say that the problem of those Jews and their passage to Israel is not merely theoretical, at least from the viewpoint of the Palestinian problem. Clearly, Israel will raise the question in all serious negotiation that may in time be conducted over the rights of the Palestinians. . . . Israel’s arguments take approximately the following form: “It is true that we Israelis brought about the exodus of the Arabs from their land in the war of 1948 . . . and that we took control of their property. In return however you Arabs caused the expulsion of a like number of Jews from Arab countries since 1948 until today. Most of these went to Israel after you seized control of their property in one way or another. What happened, therefore, is merely a kind of ‘population and property transfer,’ the consequences of which both sides have to bear. Thus Israel gathers in the Jews from Arab countries and the Arab countries are obliged in turn to settle the Palestinians within their own borders and work towards a solution of the problem”. Israel will undoubtedly advance these claims in the first real debate over the Palestinian problem.” An-Nahar, May 15, 1975.
The Nakba in Ramallah by Daniel F. Rivera
However, since 1988, Palestinians and other Arab countries have recognized Israel’s right to exists and they has reiterated this recognition in numerous occasions, especially the Palestinian leadership (Madrid 1991, and Oslo 1993), and Egypt and Jordan that have signed peace agreements with Israel. The Arab League comprised by 22 nations forwarded a plan to recognized Israel in 2002 (Beirut Declaration). this plan envisioned the creation of a Palestinian state along Israel under within the 1967 borders which have been internationally recognized. The next day this plan was proposed, the Israeli army surrounded the Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in Rammallah as a retaliation for suicidal attack in Israel.
Panoramica Al-Manara, Nakba in Rammlah, 2010 by Daniel F. Rivera
Finally, Yemeni defends that idea that there is not history precedent to allow the Palestinians people to return to their homes and lands. In this case, he should consider that there is not a precedent in history to what has happened in Palestine, and other Arab countries specially regarding the large number of refugees who live within the Occupied Territories, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and other areas of the Arab world, North and South America and Europe. Israelis defend the idea that it is impossible to allow millions of Palestinians abroad to come back to Palestine because the State would collapse but at the same time Israel favors the religious process of aliyahto grant any Jew with the the Jewish nationality.Yemeni should ask himself if these problem is related to Israeli fear to become a minority in their territory rather than any argument related to the possibility of hosting more population.
In this post I have tried to demonstrate that Palestine was not just a empty desert but a land with its people and well organized society. They were conscious of their identity and they have tried by all means possible to be recognized as such. They have fought to defend their rights and, when the time have come, they offered peace and understanding. Denying the Nakba is just as wrong as ignoring the Holocaust, a historic mistake that would only lead to more conflict and suffering. Jewish communities along history have found on Arab land more peace and tranquility that in many European countries, and today we can finds Jews living in Morocco or Yemen.
Accepting what happened in 1948 is one of the most important steps that Israel need to make in order to build a sustainable peace with Palestine. There are many other issues that need to be address and peace will not be easy for both part but ignoring the Nakba is just a deliberate attempt to continue with the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, an attempt to ignore the disaster that still nowadays hundreds of millions of Palestinians have to live with, wherever they are or whatever nationality they hold.
Journalists by Daniel F. Rivera
Not in my Name, not with our Taxes
The President of Spain Rodriguez Zapatero with Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in his recent visit to Madrid, Abril 2010
It is quite disturbing and enraging to find out that Spain, the current EU presidency, is trying to forward a secret plan to boost Israel-European relations. Electronic Intifada published an article last week denouncing these plans at a time when even US officials are embarrassed by Israel plans to expand settlements in Palestine as it happened during US vice president Joe Bidden in his last visit to Jerusalem[1]. I am confused, and I believe many people should be too, after listening incoherent statements regarding EU-Israeli relation by Spanish politicians. The EU has frozen several agreements with Israel, linking this decision to Israeli policies in Palestine and as Benita Ferrero-Waldner -EU External Relations Commissioner- mentioned in 2009 after a meeting with Israeli officials: “We expect indeed a clear commitment from the new government to pursue the negotiations with the Palestinians, {…} We expect a stop of all activities undermining our objective of a two-state solution.”[2] However, if we visit the EU External Relation website we find out that there is a plan –which is not secret at all– under the title “Action Plan” that if is approved will transfer millions of euros to Israel.
This means that Israel could be eligible for €14 million in EU financial cooperation aid for the next 7 years. This is quite shocking if we take into consideration that Israel is one of the fastest growing economy in the Middle East, and it is certainly more developed that many countries belonging to the EU. It is unacceptable that In the midst of a huge economic crisis, the EU is thinking about transferring millions of euros to a state that is constantly violating the rights of Palestinians and Lebanese people and has shown its unwillingness to comply with human rights provisions and international law regulations.
This plan is based on the mutual agreements between both parties and it does not include any biding clause protecting Palestinians from human rights violations committed by Israel. Such a clause could prevent the EU to become a passive accomplice of Israeli crimes if the letter violates any article related to human rights, weapons of mass destruction or other issues alike.[3] The Plan, if signed, will give Israel carta blanca to keep up with its current racist policies that are clearly designed to prevent the creation of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State besides Israel.
The Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos made a public stand calling for tougher actions against Israel and to some extent reverted the statements made by the EU representative Javier Solana (Spanish as well) who recently said during his visit to Jerusalem in the conference Facing Tomorrow that: “Israel, let me say, is a member of the European Union without being a member of its institutions and that Israel is “an active part of all programs of the Union” and contributes its experience in advanced technologies.” This kind of statements gives the impression that the EU is inviting Israel to become a member of the EU after the UN (Goldstone report) has clearly accused Israel and Hamas of violating human rights provisions during the Israeli war on Gaza in December 2008 and encourages Israel to keep its reluctance to initiate any peace negotiation with the Palestinian representatives and resistance members.
Also, Javier Solona should watch his words when he assures that Israel is a member of the EU, when Israeli border official keeps harassing and intimidating EU travelers at its borders, threaten them with deportation and making them wait between 6 and 10 hours to get a three or one month visa or to get finally deported. When a EU citizen crossed at the Tel Aviv international airport they have to show in their computers all their files, their phone agenda and messages, and often they have to facilitate their email passwords if I wanted to cross and therefore violating any privacy right.
Moratinos mentioned that “the EU must be firm in its opposition to the Israeli government’s decision to approve the construction of new illegal units for mainly radical Jewish settlers in Palestine and East Jerusalem”[4] and this statement seems to be aligned with other EU members position such as Finland, France, Czech Republic and Sweden that are calling to freeze any negations with Israel. The new European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton has also made clear her position in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg that: “East Jerusalem is occupied territory, together with the West Bank”[5] and accordingly other EU members –as Spain that is also holding the current EU presidency– should continue its pressures to Israel in order to resume peace talks, withdrawing Israeli troops from Occupied Territories, release political prisoners, ending the siege on Palestinian towns, villages, farms, and industries, stopping any settlement activity and other policies that are against human rights conventions that are supposedly endorsed by the EU and Israel.
Finally, I should mention here that Israel continues its provocations not only to the Palestinian people but to the EU as well when it has forged and misused European passports to carry out terrorist attacks in Arab countries such as Dubai and Algeria. Great Britain at least expelled one of the Israeli diplomats working in the UK (which I consider to be a very soft measure) but what I deem to be absolutely unacceptable is Spanish position to receive Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Madrid[6] last week after Algerian police detained an Israeli spy carrying a Spanish passport in Algeria. The question remains the same: for how long we will allowing Israel to do whatever he wants without consequences? How many people will have to die to realize that what is happening is simply wrong?
[1] Adam Entous and Mohammed Assad. Biden scolds Israel over settlement plan. Reuters. Mar 10, 2010.
[2] Maayana Miskin.Plan to Boost Israeli-EU Ties on Hold; Livni Protests. Arutz Sheva.04/23/09..
[3] EU/ISRAEL ACTION PLAN. European Commission External Relations.
[4] Spain calls for tougher EU stance on Israel. Middle East Online. 03-2010 <http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/palestine/?id=37805>.
[5] “New EU foreign policy chief lambastes ‘Israeli occupation,’” EUTimes, Dec. 18, 2009,
[6] “FM Liberman met with officials in Spain”. April 22, 2010. Israeli Dipomatic Network.< http://eu.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/missionhome.asp?MissionID=6&>
Socialism and Resistance meets in London.
Session Three: The Left of the PLO ‐ West Bank and Gaza Strip. From right to left: Chair: Dina Matar, Muhammad Jaradat,Toufic Haddad, Aitemad Muhanna, and Jamal Zahalka. Picture by D. Rivera.
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has held its annual conference dedicated to Palestinian studies, researchers and activists. This event gathered an unusual group of leftist thinkers that rarely can be found in a single place. Authors and experts such as Azmi Bishara, Ilan Pappe, Leila Khaled, Gilbert Achcar, Sabry Hafez and Jamal Zahalka among others made a great effort to present and share with the audience issues and challenges that the Palestinian left has to face since the end of communism in Russia.It would be difficult to summarized all the lectures in a short post, and despite the risk of over-simplifying the complexity and variety of matters, I dare to introduce here part of the discussions.[1]
Azmi Bishara (former Knesset member in exile, writer and political leader) argued that since the fall of the Soviet Union, leftist movement have experience a serious decline not only in Palestine but around the globe. The paramount role that the Palestinian left played in the Palestinian resistance against the Zionist occupation has been diminished by the lost of financial, logistical, ideological and material support from Moscow.
Under these circumstances, the Palestinian left chose to support al-Fatah, heavily criticized now for its corruption and ties with the U.S. while Hamas gain a lot of popularity through a new strategy based on four pillars: defense and resistance against the aggressor through gorilla-suicidal warfare strategy, the establishment of a welfare system with the creation of schools, clinics and other social projects that are having a great impact in Palestinian camps and other occupied territories like the Gaza strip, the creation of an independent financial network and its alignment with the regional resistance led by Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. In this regard, Aitmad Muhanna (Swansea University) gave us a first hand account about how Hamas’ popularity grew considerably in Gaza after the first intifada. She explained us how difficult was for the Palestinian women the rise of Hamas in Gaza and the fact that she as many other women had to follow new rules such as wearing the scurf (Hijab) did not diminish women’s ability to participate in politics and the resistance.
The vacuum left by communist was soon fill by Hamas in a process that started in the first intifada in 1987 and reached its peak after the Palestinian legislative election in 2006. This was the first time in Palestinian history that the secular and dominant al-Fatah lost its control of the Palestinian camp. Perhaps this lost was interpreted by many Palestinians as the only hope and option to free Palestine after decades of unfruitful negotiations led by the PLO and al-Fatah. The hope for change was soon overshadowed by bloody clashes between Hamas and al-Fatah, initiating the most serious and worrisome crisis that the Palestinian leadership has ever had. According to different speakers in this conference, the Palestinian people are exhausted and confused over these power struggles, and the support and popularity of the these two parties is declining among the population. This was the main issues discussed by Jamal Zahalka, Palestinian and member of the Knesset, who mentioned in his lecture: “many Palestinian are tired of the corruption and inefficiency al-Fatah and turned their vote to Hamas not because they supported their political positions or believes but because they thought that they were voting the less evil of both of them.”
The fighting between factions is a clear sign that there is also many doubts about how the resistance could better manage the struggle against Israel. There is a lack of hope and trust about the capacity of any of these two movements to change the situation in Palestine and this is a rare opportunity that the left could used to expand its constituency. The population is caught between radicalism and collaborationism and the left seems to be searching for its right place in order to become a third viable option that would engage the youth and the emerging leftist movement with those indecisive activists in both camps. The left has an “historic opportunity” to augment its constituency, Jamal Zahalka mentioned, and although we have to be realistic about our limitation to become a leading option due to Hamas and al-Fatah popularity, the left could become the “agent of change” if increases its constituency.
I have no doubt about the capabilities and abilities of the left to become a third option however I would like to open a debate about how this could be achieve. In the conference, the audience claimed the increasing necessity of coordination and networking among activists, in addition to an open platform where the various and sometimes very different movement that support the Palestinian cause could gather. What was more problematic and, unfortunately could not be discussed properly due to time restriction, was the kind of alliances that should be established on the ground.
The Palestinian left has two options and neither of them are easy. On one side, It may continue with its support to al-Fatah which from the ideological point of view is closer but their dialogue strategy with Netanyahu’s cabinet and other Israeli governments has repeatedly failed. The latest Israeli announcement about its plans to build another 1600 new homes on East Jerusalem is just another example of how serious is Israel about achieving peace and reconciliation. On the other side, Hamas has a clear vision of the role of the resistance and has rejected any negotiations with Israel under such terms, even if it does mean to die under attacks such as the one perpetrated by the IDF on Gaza one year ago. We could characterized Hamas a suicidal and fanatical organization against many key values supported by the left, religion is the opium of the people – and religious figures in Islam have always regarded communists as kafir or infidels– but it has succeeded in bringing up to the front the struggle against the occupation with their relentless resistance in the Gaza massacre last winter; now the entire world knows what it means to negotiate and live under such a brutal regime. The left should be aligned with Hamas and al-Fatah should follow, realizing that there is not other way to deal with the occupier.
The questions I would like to share are: will Hamas honor this alliance taking into consideration different views and means to resist? Does the left assume the risk of being diluted into Hamas or on the contrary, the left could help moderate some of Hamas’ positions such as rocket lunching and other operations?
[1] http://www.soaspalsoc.org/docs/The_Left_in_Palestine_SOAS_conf_2010_timetable.pdf
