Did alakhbar join the Arab dictatorships family of censors and opinion grinders?

As'ad Abukhalil, Marxist-Leftist and feminist intellectual, who writes a weekly column in the leftist Lebanese newspaper Alakhbar wrote an article this week that was not allowed to be published. It is about the Ba'ath party, criticizing it, which Alakhbar's administration did not agree to publish. It is entitled 'The Ba'ath party: The Process of Long Death'. He published it on his blog instead. Many attacks have been launched on Alakhbar and its editor, but I think it has to do with those who fund it. I mean, who funds a newspaper like Alakhbar in Lebanon? This has not only to do with Abukhalil. There are many (marginalized) opinions who could also fall victim to this as well. If there was one newspaper that represented the marginalized voices, it was Alakhbar. It represented the alternative, and challenged (supposedly) the mainstream. It was thought to be radical, principled and championed those silenced voices. This is a HUGE dissapointment and the readers of the paper deserve more than this ambiguous and untelling apology.

Zionist crimes against humanity this week

A Palestinian worker from Hebron was wounded and arrested by IOF while trying to have access to Israel for work. IOF continued to target Palestinian workers, farmers and fishermen in border areas in the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian farmer was wounded in the northern Gaza Strip. IOF fired at Palestinian fishermen at sea and no casualties were reported. IOF continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank. Six protesters, including a child and a Spanish human rights defender, were wounded. IOF arrested 5 protesters, including a child and three international human rights defenders. IOF conducted 25 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and two incursions into the Gaza Strip. IOF arrested 8 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children. IOF raided Tareq Ben Zeyad Secondary School in Hebron. IOF bulldozed eight tin-made stores owned by PADICO. Israel has continued to impose a total siege on the Gaza Strip and tightened the siege on the West Bank. IOF have totally closed off the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for Passover for the second week. IOF arrested at least four Palestinians, including two children, at military checkpoints in the West Bank. IOF maltreated a Palestinian worker and sniffer dogs bit him.
Source: Palestine Centre for Human Rights Week of April 21-26

mushkele

AngryArab posted the following letter on his blog: " A leftist comrade who I trust sent me this (I cite with his permission but I will keep him anonymous): "Hi As’ad,

I have been going to Syria for several months now due to my work….i am ...; So part of my work is to go to the client’s company.... I have been to Aleppo, Rakka, Hasaka Damascus and also the rural part of Aleppo and Damascus.

Except for Damascus and the Christian neighborhood of Aleppo you would think you are in Kandahar under the rule of Taliban (especially in the rural parts_…As’ad what you see there is scary…burqa3 everywhere…women are barely seen in the streets and the overwhelming majority is covered from head to bottom.

Now I have been thinking about what is happening in Syria…and I have been trying to support the protesters…but I cannot…those people will only bring Taliban alike into power…Saudi Arabia will have the upper hand in the region and Syria will be divided between sects in the best case scenario. (Not to mention that the arms route toward Hezbollah will be cut).

Yesterday in doma the chants were “Alawiyye bi eltabout…w masi7iey 3a Beirut”!! how can we ever support those guys….

I agree that there is another Syrian opposition but these are a minority….those leading the demonstrations are islamists – Saudi style….

All I am saying is that are you sure you want the Syrian regime to collapse…because the more I look at the “rebels”….the more I doubt the whole future of the region…..for the first time in my life I am doubting my decision to live in the region."

don't use bullets, tear gas and water cannon is more useful

The Aljazeera English news broadcaster asked a 'political analyst' from Beirut a so-called pathetic Kamil Wazne (more of a Syrian regime propagandist who continues to chirp love chants to Bashar and the security fascist regime in Syria, along with the Alqaeda, and Taliban-blaming narratives and those arguments of western conspiracies), why doesn't the security forces use tear gas and water cannon, 'do they have to use bullets', she asked!

Just Remember

And this role [the intellectual’s] has an edge to it, and cannot be played without a sense of being someone whose place it is publicly to raise embarrassing questions, to confront orthodoxy and dogma (rather than to produce them) to be someone who cannot easily be co-opted by governments or corporations, and whose raison d’etre is to represent all those people and issues that are routinely forgotten or swept under the rug (Edward Said, Representations of the Intellectual, p9 )

The Daughter of Frantz Fanon and Palestine

An interview with Mireille Fanon in the Electronic Intifada: 'And as a solidarity movement, we should work at these two levels, national and international. The same counts for the boats to Gaza. I would prefer an international flotilla of boats from several nations. We have to work together to achieve the right of self-determination for all peoples, the right of peoples to use their natural resources. We have to respect the choice of the people. We are not working for ourselves. We want to uplift humanity.'

Perry Anderson in the New Left Review

This is a very interesting article by Perry Anderson in the New Left Review about the revolutions in the Arab world. However, I do not agree with all that Anderson says particularly when he writes (check his article on the Oslo accords linked on the left) that there are two nationalisms in Palestine, that of Jews and that of Arabs. Judaism is not a nationalism it is a religion and Zionism's narrative changes it into a nationalism, also Palestinian nationalism did not exist as we know it but as a means to claim political rights since the British mandate. When many western writers deal with nationalism in so-called Third World countries they treat nationalism as a 'Europe's gift' to the latter (check The Nations and its Fragments by Chatterjee, also read more on this in Khalidi's work on Palestinian nationalism). Saying that, I am deeply against all nationalisms, but Palestine is exceptional.

Bahrain, what is really happening and what the mainstream media does not want you to know

This is a great report about the situation on Bahrain and its representation on mainstream media in the Arab world (and in western media). This is the work of the GCC, amongst others. It also shows what Mubarak's mouthpieces, or better so, the NDP's mouthpieces manipulated the masses for decades and how that was very obvious to people during the demonstrations in Egypt. Fascism is an awesome mobilizing force, one that is too vigilant and cunning is keen on coercion through force, but one that is ultimately... stupid, all too stupid, partly because it uncovers its own deceptive maneuvers and canniving tactics and hence self-destructive.

Bella Ciao

The slogan reads: "Be Careful, You are in Banias, not in Israel. Down with the Regime"
Photo copyright Reuters, as posted on Alakhbar's site today.

Cultures of Resistance, the movie

This is a great documentary. It is a a carnival, people turning the hierarchy of the world upside down and showing the true meaning of people power through creativity; music, art, and activism.
'Reistance is not a politics but a culture. Resistance shouldn't be against something, but should create something on its own." (shukran to comrade 'sue' whom I never met, but who kindly sent this around)

For your eyes only, habibi

Your eyes are two palm tree forests in early light,

Or two balconies from which the moonlight recedes

When they smile, your eyes, the vines put forth their leaves,

And lights dance...like moons in a river

Rippled by the blade of an oar at break of day;

As if stars were throbbing in the depths of them

Rain Song, Badr Shakir al-Sayyab

Vittorio Arrigoni: Unadeekom

My very good friend and comrade, Vittorio Arrigoni, a very talented and capable freelance journalist and anti-apartheid activist from Italy was abducted today by the 'Jihadist Salafist' group in Gaza. A video was circulated by the abductors and their message was addressed to Hamas. This group is a creation of the state of Israel, the siege and more importantly the genocidal war of 2008-9. It has long been blowing up internet cafes, restaurants, and UNRWA children's playgrounds in Gaza for a while claiming they are corrupt (the UNRWA children's events was destroyed because they thought girls and boys shouldn't mix). Vittorio was previously abducted by Israel, tortured by Israel and deported to Italy. He has been living in Gaza for a few years now, lived the massacre, and was leaving to see his sick father today in Italy as he was abducted. His book which is a compilation of articles he wrote for the Italian Il Manifesto was translated to English a short while ago with a forward by renown Israeli revisionist historian Ilan Pappe.

The Love Police

"Ladies and gentlemen this is a message from the Ministry of Health Propaganda: Swine flu is incredibly dangerous and it is now transmittable through eye contact or smiling at people. Stay miserable, keep reading newspapers, keep watching mainstream media on TV. You are a consumer, go back to sleep. Your government is in control." "Thinking is boring. Thinking is hardwork and is not worth the energy. If you ever get tempted to think for yourself, quickly destruct yourself. Buy a newspaper, watch television." "I do not want to think for reality, I like to stay infantile and read about fashionable things, and Hollywood and Lindsay Lohen and her girlfriend who she broke up with, because these are the important things." "Thank you for choosing to work in a corporate zone, meet corporate friends, drink in a corporate bar and invest money in arms trade. You don't need to worry or have an opinion on killing people because the mainstream media is doing it for you. Go back to sleep, earn your nice salary, everything is fine, you are just a flesh and bone human being. There is nothing more to life, have another bear an carry on." "Ladies and gentlemen, you do look quite relaxed, this is not meant to be. You should be worried. Statistically speaking, the person next to you is either a terrorist or has swine flu. So. please stop looking so happy and relaxed and move quickly to your next shopping experience. you are wasting shopping time by standing here madam" "You are not divine beings, what you are, are consumers. Please consume, consume, consume, before we have no planet left to consume. What you need to do is buy things that you don't need, that's the best way to support the economy. Smiling is bad for the economy. Please do not smile. Sir, wipe that off your face!" "Swine flu is an illusion. Terrorism is an illusion. If you are not scared, you will not contract swine flu. you are not swine, you are divine human beings" "Thank you all city drones for working for big corporations, very soon we'll bring about the corporate dream where every person will look the same, dress the same, feels the same, thinks the same, earns the same money." "Shopping is what you are here to do. You were born to shop and you will die to shop. Please move swiftly to your next shopping experience and don't hang around here."

Zionist crimes against humanity this week

18 Palestinians, including 9 civilians, were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip. The victims include a women and her daughter and two children. IOF warplanes launched a series or air strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip. A number of training sites were destroyed and dozens of houses were damaged. IOF continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank. Two Palestinian civilians, including a child, and an international human rights defender were wounded. IOF arrested 5 Palestinian civilians.IOF conducted 58 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. IOF arrested 37 Palestinian civilians, including 8 children and two women. Israel has continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.IOF closed the major commercial crossing of the Gaza Strip. IOF positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested at least 5 Palestinian civilians. IOF attacked Palestinian workers using dogs. IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. IOF destroyed two road, two barracks and two rooms in al-'Aqaba village in the Jordan Valley. A Palestinian civilian was injured and a car was burnt by Israeli settlers near Nablus. Source: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

how many casualties are enough for you?

A letter from Gaza about the latest Israeli massacres(released April 9):

A New Israeli Massacre in Gaza Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine, The latest round of Israeli massacres committed against the people of Gaza has resulted in the brutal killings since Thursday afternoon to sixteen, including a mother and daughter, 4 children and an elderly man. Over the last 5 days, Gaza City has been bombed by Apache helicopters and F16 and E15 fighter planes. These terrible massacres come only one day after a statement issued by the disgraced Ehud Batak, the Israeli Minster of War, in which he calls upon his generals to intensify the attack against Gaza . The slow motion genocide itself has killed more than 600 patients far. We condemn in the strongest possible terms these heinous crimes and reiterate our call upon all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately in any possible way to put pressure on their governments to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it. Gaza has been enduring Israeli policies of extermination and vandalism since June.2006. We equally condemn the international conspiracy of silence and impotence in the face of these continuous Israeli crimes. Not a single action against Israel has been taken by the UN. The failure of the United Nations and its numerous organizations to condemn such crimes indicates complicity. We therefore reiterate our urgent appeal, not to the United Nations and the sanctimonious international community, but rather to all civil society organizations and solidarity groups to intensify the anti-Israel sanctions campaign to compel Israel to end to its aggression against Gaza. We also reiterate our call on all Arab revolutions to compel their governments to sever their diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel. This was the demand of thousands of Egyptian men and women who demonstrated opposite the Israeli embassy in Cairo yesterday. We ask, how many more dead corpses of Palestinian children and women does the international community need to see in order to act? What more do Arab governments need to see to translate their words of support into action? What would convince the UN and its Security Council that Palestinians are also human beings?

Signed by: One Democratic State Group Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel University Teachers’ Association in Palestine Association of Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information