This cowardly decision betrays the values the corporation stands for
January 26th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Former BBC Middle East correspondent Tim Llewellyn takes his former employer to task over its disgraceful acquiescence in Israeli efforts to withhold relief from Gaza’s long-suffering population.
On Tuesday, speaking from a pulpit in Westminster Abbey, the director general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, paid tribute to one of the corporation’s greatest journalists and broadcasters, Charles Wheeler, who died last summer at the age of 85.
Thompson spoke in reverential terms of Wheeler: his independence; his dislike of authority, any authority; his relentless search for the truth, in postwar Germany, in the United States of the 1960s and 1970s, LBJ, Vietnam, Nixon; in India, Kuwait, Kurdistan. Thompson was right. Wheeler was a giant among BBC journalists, rightly hailed as one of the best of his generation.
But even as Thompson spoke, the corporation was traducing every tradition that Wheeler, and many of us who still work for the BBC, have tried to live by. The corporation’s chief operating officer, Caroline Thomson, had refused to allow it to broadcast an appeal on behalf of the Disasters Emergency Committee for Gaza. She said that one reason was that “the BBC’s impartiality was in danger of being damaged”. Could the BBC be sure, she added, that money raised for this cause would find its way to the right people?
Winning and Losing in Gaza
January 25th, 2009 § 7 Comments
Richard Falk, the United Nations Human Rights Rapporteur in the Occupied Territories, in The Nation:
Now that there is a cease-fire in Gaza, questions are emerging about what Israel has achieved. Of course, the lopsided casualty figures and Israel’s military dominance certainly make it the battlefield winner. But such a “mission accomplished” assessment is as misleading in occupied Palestine as it was in Iraq. Although Hamas could not come close to matching Israel’s armed might, it may have won a major battle for Palestinian hearts and minds. Reports from the West Bank, Gaza and the Palestinian diaspora suggest widespread anger at the Palestinian Authority for its passivity and a rise in support for Hamas, even among secular Palestinians, in appreciation of its determined resistance to the brutality of the Israeli occupation and military operations. If Hamas becomes the dominant political force in all of occupied Palestine when the next elections are held, Israel will be the loser.
Breaking News: BBC’s Scottish HQ Occupied
January 25th, 2009 § 6 Comments
I have just received news from activists that they have occupied the Glasgow offices of the BBC. The backlash against the BBC has been unprecedented. Having first slavishly followed the Israeli propaganda line, the BBC is now denying the collection of much needed aid for the long-suffering denizens of Gaza . This is not a trivial matter: as Tony Benn put it, people will die as a consequence of the BBC’s choices. And this in this case, its choices have been dictated by the Israeli embassy.
Update: Here is press statement from those occupying the BBC’s Scottish headquarters in Glasgow which I would encourage all to forward to their media contacts:
Around 5pm this evening about 50 demonstrators occupied the BBC Scotland headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow in a protest over the failure of the BBC to broadcast the DEC appeal for Gaza. (Photos here)
Scottish Television (based just next door) have refused to cover the story citing a policy not to cover demonstrations at rival media institutions.
Police were called and threats of arrests were made.
Propaganda shines Bright
January 25th, 2009 § 1 Comment
Note: In the following guest post Paul de Rooij demolishes the latest propaganda screed from Islamophobic political editor of the New Statesman and all round turd Martin Bright (also see this and this):
The New Statesman used to be a leftie magazine, but it has repositioned itself to be yet another vacuous dubious rag. Some of its left-wing writers have been shed – they are incompatible with the current business plan. For an overview of the magazine’s travails see this article by James Robinson. However, if any proof were needed about the New Statesman’s errant ways, then one only needs to appreciate the magazine’s pro-zionist staff writers who applaud the “war on terror”. BICOM, the zionist hasbara organization in Britain, must be very pleased for having sent Bright on an extended all-paid tour of Israel. The indoctrination paid off and certainly his articles will be featured on BICOM’s website.
Martin Bright’s “The horror comes home” is a rather poor article with contorted logic and with no reference to the relevant context. However, despite the fact that it is a crass propaganda piece with many failings, it might still be useful to analyze it.
« Read the rest of this entry »
Pacifism as Pathology
January 25th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
In the following lecture Ward Churchill challenges the left on their tactics and discredits, what he calls, pacifism as pathology. That is not to say he discredits pacifism, quite the opposite, Ward advises that the left shouldn’t be dogmatic in only supporting non-violent movements, and that they should not get non-violence confused with non-confrontation.
In his own words: “the outright lie that I have actively sought to incite ‘violent revolution.’ I have done no such thing. To the contrary, what I have consistently advocated over the years is the rule of law.”
“I would vastly prefer that this happen through nonviolent means. However, I cannot say that nonviolence is the only legitimate response to systemic violence.”
Tony Benn Slams the BBC
January 25th, 2009 § 1 Comment
Tony Benn slams the BBC’s ill-advised decision not to broadcast a Gaza Charity Appeal. He makes the appeal himself. And kudos to Benn for his refusal to reduce this to a mere humanitarian issue; as he points out, Hamas is the elected government of the Palestinian people.
Europe to Join Blockade of Gaza
January 24th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
According to AFP “France, Britain and Germany have offered to help prevent arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip.” Why don’t they offer to help get aid into Gaza? Seeing as Israel has been ramming aid shipments in international waters, a grave act of lawlessness and piracy to quote Chomsky:
BBC’s Shame
January 24th, 2009 § 1 Comment
BBC is finally feeling the heat. Many were angry at the BBC’s propaganda in the service of a foreign state. And now the corporation has chosen to add insult to injury by refusing to allow a charity appeal for Gaza. This has for the first time led to a wave of protests across the country, which are being covered by foreign media. ITV, Channel 4 and Five have already broken with the BBC and decided to broadcast the appeals. The BBC stands in splendid isolation in its refusal
Some have chosen to register it through letters, others through action. My own contribution in this regard, an article highlighting the most egregious cases of BBC propaganda in its coverage of Gaza which first appeared on Electronic Intifada, Counterpunch, Press Action, and Indymedia, is now being published as a front page feature in the next issue of the excellent Adbusters magazine. Some like Jon below have chosen to approach the BBC directly. Others like Corneilius Crowley are reminding the BBC editors of their duties, and their complicity. The indispensable Media Lens has issued a strong action alert which has generated worldwide condemnation for the BBC’s coverage from all across the world.
I would encourage all to lend their voices to this campaign. I’ve highlighted just a few ways this can be done, you can use your creativity to think of more. Here first is Corneilius Crowley‘s letter followed by Jon’s information leaflet.
Letters
January 24th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
I’ve recently written to Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Khaled Mahmood MP to complain about their positions on the massacre in occupied Palestine. I’ve also written to Gerald Kaufman and Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, to praise their calls for an arms embargo on the apartheid state. And I walked into the office of my local MP, Russell Brown, and spoke to Mr Brown’s assistant. A few days later I received a letter from Mr Brown which repeats the usual rubbish about ‘peace’ and the need to disarm the resistance so the oppressor can sleep more soundly at night. At least he bothered to send me a letter. I received responses from Brown, Cameron, Clegg and Kaufman too, but none from Khaled Mahmood. Mr Mahmood was quoted by the Guardian as “dismissing” calls for sanctions and an arms embargo. Mahmood is a Birmingham MP who no doubt receives a lot of votes because he has a Muslim name. Not only is he betraying his Muslim voters who would like to see their representatives develop a peaceful strategy of resisting the murderous British-Zionist alliance, he isn’t even capable of replying promptly to letters.
Here’s my response to Russell Brown’s letter. I won’t publish his letter because I don’t have permission and because it’s on paper, but I quote some of it. You can imagine the rest – it’s the standard New Labour magical incantation.
Gaza in Ruins
January 24th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Gaza in Ruins: A news special from Al Jazeera.
The Gaza Strip is a land in ruins, devastated by 22 days of war. In this news special from Gaza, Al Jazeera focuses on the damage from the war – the human, physical and political damage suffered by people here, people already weakened by an 18-month siege at the hands of Israel.
