I am not the best person to commemorate the passing of Mahmoud Darwish, the national poet of Palestine. Any poetry I have written is basically comedic, whether I intend it that way or not. My arabic is not good enough for me to appreciate him in the original, and even of his english translations I only have read or heard a handful of poems. But I do have some sense of what he means and has meant to Palestinians and to poetry.
Category: Palestine
A brutal week
Natural disasters are always exacerbated by social ones. On the one hand, there is what Naomi Klein argues in “The Shock Doctrine”, that elites exploit disasters of any kind to reorganize society in their own interests. On the other, there is what Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize for: revealing that undemocratic regimes with unfree presses have disaster-level famines, where democratic regimes with free presses (still capitalist) can only get away with chronic hunger deaths (this last is certainly not his wording!) The regime in Myanmar is one of the worst in a world of terrible regimes, and the people’s suffering is so much worse for it. And then there is the global regime that is destabilizing the climate to make the natural part of such disasters more and more likely for more and more people. Like so much out there, it feels beyond inadequate to write something about this.
Another topic where writing in a little blog can’t begin to make sense of things: yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the day Israel became a state, and while some “supporters of Israel” were “partying like it was 1948”, Palestinians saw “no cause for celebration”. My friend Rafeef explained as much for those who came to a press conference last week and the demonstration in Toronto yesterday. Another friend, Dan Freeman-Maloy, prepared a long piece about Canada’s role in the creation of Israel, drawing from work by Israeli scholars like Benny Morris and Canadian scholars like David Bercuson and bringing different values to bear (which is to say, Dan does not have the contempt for Palestinians that both Morris and Bercuson, and Canada’s Prime Minister Harper, show). 60 years is too long for a people to be denied the right to return to their homes, too long for a people to be occupied and colonized and subjected to intensifying genocidal policies. It is generations of people growing up in refugee camps that are themselves being starved and bombed.
And in a week of massive disasters and 60-year occupations, there are under-reported injustices in this part of the world (Canada) as well. Mohawk activist Shawn Brant was re-arrested (I’ll republish the statement by his wife Sue Collis below, but it’s linked here) on charges that will probably fall apart again, like the previous sets of charges. But by arresting him again and again, they not only punish him de facto by putting him in jail for months at a time, but also help create the image of him and the Mohawks they are trying to put forth.
And in another jail, one of the Toronto 18, Steven Chand, was beaten up in jail by guards, according to his lawyer (the CBC report):
Michael Moon said his client, Stephen Chand, was taking a shower at Maplehurst provincial jail in Milton west of Toronto. When he tried to rinse soap from his hair, Moon said, a guard smashed Chand’s face into a wall, then dragged him naked along a hallway by his hair and threw him into a bare cell smeared with feces and smelling of urine.
The lawyer is demanding that surveillance videos of the incident be released by the Ontario government, though internal investigations at the facility found no wrongdoing by guards.
“These videos capture everything that goes on on the range,” Moon said, “If he [Chand] did anything wrong, it will be shown on the video. If what he says is accurate, that will be shown.”
Moon also says that when another inmate complained about the treatment of Chand, he too was thrown into the bare cell, known as the hole.
A spokesman for the Ontario government had no comment because the case is before the court. But he added that provincial corrections officials were committed to the just and humane treatment of inmates.
Below is Sue Collis’s statement:
Shawn Brant’s Arrest – Statement by Sue Collis, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
(May 4th, 2008) Eight days ago, on Friday, April 25th, 2008, my husband, Shawn Brant, was arrested and detained on assault and weapons charges. Since that time, Commissioner Julian Fantino and the Ontario Provincial Police have issued public statements that have, it seems, misstated the events leading to my husband’s arrest.
I believe it is important to the public good for people to understand the circumstances that have lead to Shawn’s incarceration at this time. Those circumstances are as follows:
On Sunday, April 20th, 2008, the community of Tyendinaga responded to threats from a Kingston developer to bring “a crew of 25 to 30 guys”, in order to begin development on a property which falls within in the Culbertson Tract land claim. Mohawks from Tyendinaga did peaceful road closures on Highway 2, adjacent to this proposed development site on Mohawk land.
My husband Shawn has been living and complied with very strict conditions imposed when he was charged in relation to community rail and highway blockades on the June 2007 Aboriginal Day of Action. One of his conditions is not to attend protests. During the evening of Monday, April 21st, 2008, my husband was some distance away from the road closures erected in response to the Kingston developer, talking to a Tyendinaga community member, while he also checked a nearby creek for fish.
During this conversation, Shawn became aware of some commotion down the road, and made his way towards the commotion, parking his car some 50 feet away from where a small group of people was gathered on one side of the road. The first thing Shawn saw a 10-year-old girl shaking and crying uncontrollably. He had no idea what was going on. As he approached the scene, someone yelled “Shawn help us!” The little girl screamed, “They hurt my Mommy! They’re gonna hurt my Mommy.” Someone else yelled, “He has a ball bat!” At this time, Shawn noticed two trucks were parked facing the people who were in obvious distress. Shawn returned to his car and retrieved his fishing spear. By the time Shawn returned to where the people were gathered, the occupants of the trucks were back inside their vehicles. Shawn shouted at the occupants of the trucks to leave. The windows were so tinted that he could not make out their faces. The drivers of the trucks sped away with such force that one of their truck tires was raised in the air, spraying much gravel and stone at the women and the child, some of which they later discovered was imbedded in their skin.
Shawn turned his head to avoid catching stones in the face, and held out his spear in an effort to create some distance between the group of Mohawks and the trucks, out of concern that those in the vehicles would strike those on the road with their vehicles. The trucks then sped away. That is the extent of Shawn’s interaction with the individuals he is now charged with assaulting. To be clear, he is charged with assaulting the men in the trucks.
A 911 call was made during this incident on April 21st, 2008, in which the trucks’ licence plates were recorded. Shortly thereafter, the women made statements to the police, identifying the men driving the trucks as known Deseronto inhabitants, subsequently identified as Jamie Lalonde and Mike Lalonde. The women also testified in police statements that one of the men swung a club at them, drove one of the trucks into them, and threatened further violence. The women also described being injured by flying stones, and described the trauma endured by the young girl. No one but Shawn has been charged.
The men from Deseronto sought out this group of people, deliberately caused them injury and issued threats of further violence. They were targeted for assault and abuse for no other reason than that they are Native. The actions taken by the men from Deseronto were driven by bigotry and racial hatred. By definition, these were hate crimes. Again, no one but Shawn has been charged.
The men are presumed to have filed a complaint against my husband, resulting in a police search of his car on Friday, April 25th, when his fishing spear was taken from his car, and charges of assault and possession of a weapon – the spear – were laid. My husband remains in prison, in maximum security, as a result.
It is our understanding that the prosecution is seeking yet another publication ban on all future court proceedings in this matter. A pattern has emerged with respect to my husband, Shawn Brant. The police and prosecution make sensational and vilifying statements about Shawn in the media, and then seek a publication ban during court proceedings, when the actual evidence is introduced. The starkly different narrative of events that emerges in court is withheld and the public forbidden from hearing it. The version of events I have just presented will all but disappear.
Less than a month ago, my husband was acquitted of charges he carried for more than 18 months. When issuing the ruling in this acquittal, the judge described the investigative practice and evidence employed and presented by the cops and the Crown as “problematic” and “troubling,” as they related to Shawn. During this same period, CBC Radio aired a documentary in which several Mohawk people recounted conversations with OPP Commissioner Fantino that occurred during the 2007 Aboriginal Day of Action, in which they say he threatened to “ruin” Shawn. During Shawn’s detention at the Napanee OPP detachment last week, several different police officers threatened to “slit his throat” and “cut off his head.”
As I deal with the tears of young children who have been robbed of their father once again, Commissioner Fantino claims the OPP is an apolitical and professional organization, dedicated to upholding the rule of law. The events of the past week indicate it is anything but.
– Sue Collis
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
There’s no wall that can’t be torn down
It really does take a whole world to starve a population. But the Palestinians are not to be counted out. This is a brilliant development… and no one describes it better than Jeff Halper:
“The people of Palestine have done it again, taking their own fate in their hands after being let down by their own “moderate” political leadership and, indeed, the entire international community in their struggle for freedom. Early this morning they simply blew up the wall separating Gaza from Egypt, breaking a siege imposed on them by an Arab government in collaboration with Israel.”
Implementing the Gaza genocide
Not sure what else you can call it when the Israelis prevent food from entering, knock out the electricity, other than deliberately starving people to death. The US, Canada, any other forces that could say something seem to be more interested in supporting murder.
Exchange on the Academic Boycott
http://www.zcommunications.org/exchange-on-the-academic-boycott-by-justin-podur
by Justin Podur and Stuart Murray
On November 28, 2007, Ryerson University in Toronto held a debate on “Academic Boycott and Academic Freedom” in the context of Israel/Palestine. Justin Podur wrote an article on the debate (http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/17261) and one of the debaters, Stuart Murray, replied. An exchange ensued, and we thought it would be interesting to publish the exchange as well.
Murray’s reply to Podur’s article:
Dear Justin,
Me and Stuart Murray on the academic boycott
I sent my article on Ryerson’s academic boycott debate to the debaters and one of them, Stuart Murray, wrote me back. A quite friendly exchange of views ensued, which I thought was itself worth publishing on ZNet. Take a look. I found it (and Stuart) to be more productive and interesting than most such exchanges I’ve gotten into (and made you poor readers suffer).
The academic boycott debate
I mean it very specifically. It took place tonight. I was there. Here’s my report. Also below.
Annapolis
The most succinct bit of commentary about the US/Israel/Palestine talks at Annapolis come from a piece by Laila el-Haddad who is based some of the time in Gaza. She quotes a mother of eight saying:
“We’re already dead, the only thing we need is to be buried, to be pushed into the grave and buried. It’s already been dug up for us.”
Chomsky’s enraged too, though he notes that he’s trying to keep his composure:
“Before saying a word, I’d like to express some severe personal discomfort, because anything I say will be abstract and dry and restrained. The crimes against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and elsewhere, particularly Lebanon, are so shocking that the only emotionally valid reaction is rage and a call for extreme actions. But that does not help the victims. And, in fact, it’s likely to harm them. We have to face the reality that our actions have consequences, and they have to be adapted to real-world circumstances, difficult as it may be to stay calm in the face of shameful crimes in which we are directly and crucially implicated.”
I was in Gaza five years ago now and was amazed by the horror that the Israelis have created there. Every single year it has gotten far worse. It is a complete nightmare. And that makes these sham talks a complete farce.
They would be funny if they were not so tragic. The Toronto Star had a little chart yesterday, with four key issues for the talks – Refugees, Jerusalem, Settlements, Borders. It stated Israeli and Palestinian positions on each of the issues, and “possible solutions” – the possible solutions were the most amusing – each “possible solution” involved the Palestinians giving everything up.
The way the discussion plays out in the media is like an advertisement for the benefits of bad-faith bargaining. Seven years ago the discussion at Camp David was about the same issues, trying to get Palestinians to declare they are happy with their ongoing destruction. Today the destruction is seven years more advanced and the Israelis don’t even have to pretend to give up as much.
Nothing will come out of this summit. Israel doesn’t want anything from it. The US doesn’t want anything from it. The Palestinians can’t get anything from it. Everyone understands that what matters is what the US/Israel do and what they are doing is the same genocidal program that has been unfolding for years. It might help if the media would stop insulting everyone’s intelligence covering this as if it were anything but a sham.
Gaza
It might be better to wait until I know more, but I wanted to say something about what occurred in Gaza on Monday, when a demonstration organized by Fatah to commemorate Arafat was fired upon by the Hamas-controlled police, with seven people killed including one child.
The police claim the shooting was started by someone in the crowd. But this is what police everywhere say when they fire on demonstrators and kill people, so there is no reason to automatically believe it. The stories I read or have seen do not have any explanation of what happened by Hamas.
Knowing a bit of the context might help understand what is going on. Remember that until earlier this year, there was an armed conflict between Hamas, which had won parliamentary elections in 2006, and Fatah, which had traditionally led the Palestinians under Arafat and which was now getting support by the US/Israel to try to oust Hamas. Hamas won the confrontation in Gaza but Fatah won in the West Bank, which caused many remarks about a “two-state solution”, “Gazastan/Hamastan” and “Fatahland”, that would have been clever if they weren’t talking about an unfolding tragedy. The confrontation at the time took the form of an contest between two armed bands.
What might be happening now is that Fatah may have changed its tactics and is trying to topple the Hamas government using political mobilizations and demonstrations, invoking Arafat’s memory and, now, provoking repression which will reveal Hamas to be callous to people’s suffering and to be acting like a repressive government rather than the leaders of a liberation movement. Such tactics could be much more successful, especially if Hamas responds as it has been doing, with not only firing on the demonstrations, but also arresting Fatah members, etc.
What makes this so much more painful to witness is that it is all going on at the same time as Israel’s tortures, destruction of villages, arrests, kidnappings, all continue without any interruption, as a glimpse at IMEMC will show.
From the Nazis at BBC
Khaled Mishal of Hamas in the foreground, and a Nazi swastika in the background. Click on the story and you won’t see anything Nazi. That’s because there’s nothing to do with the Nazis, other than the desire by the BBC and so many others to link the travails of the starving, besieged, imprisoned, tortured, slaughtered Palestinians with the genocidal Nazi regime, the better to continue starving, besieging, imprisoning, and torturing them. To do so subliminally, through disgusting and crude photos like this one, might or might not be what one expects of the BBC. Certainly I will expect much less of them in future. As sick as it is to have this picture on my blog, I want readers to see what the BBC is peddling on its website today. One hopes they are forced to take it down, but it should be here so they can’t erase the memory of what they’ve done. Did some British skinhead Nazi working at BBC just want to put a swastika on the website, and think he could get away with it if he put it behind an Arab?
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