Month: June 2009

Are British Jews ending their affair with Labour?

David “I am a Zionist” Cameron, leader of the opposition, said recently, at the Conservative Friends of Israel (CfI) annual business lunch, that his belief in Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself was “indestructible”. No surprises there.  He did however refer to old supporters giving a special thank you to some of the party’s biggest donors and, more importantly, he welcomed new arrivals such as Victor Blank.  Victor, former chairman of Llyods Banking Group and one of Gordon Brown’s favourite businessmen, is more commonly associated with Labour Friends of Israel (LfI) and this switching of sides seems to have prompted the Guardian podcast show Sounds Jewish to ask “are British Jews ending their affair with New Labour and returning to the Tories?”

Stuart Polak, director of Conservative Friends of Israel (13:35): MP3

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Iraq Inquiry: Freedman & Gilbert

Notorious propagandist Martin Gilbert
Notorious propagandist Martin Gilbert

The Iraq war was driven by the neo-conservative, Israel firsters, as the beginning of a plan to reshape the Middle East in Israel’s favour. In the Independent, Richard Ingrams explains that by having at least two Zionists, on a committee of five, the Iraq war inquiry is unlikely to explore this.

For more on Freedman and Gilbert see Michael Crick’s Newsnight blog where he opines that “critics of the war might argue Sir Lawrence was himself one of the causes of the war!”

Sir Martin Gilbert, the allegedly distinguished historian who is one of those appointed to investigate the Iraq war, has let it be known that one day in the future Bush and Blair might be seen in the same light as Roosevelt and Churchill. A good example of the rule that when it comes to talking nonsense it’s hard to beat a historian.

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Joe Klein on Iran’s Election

TIME Columnist Joe Klein discusses his 10-day trip to Iran to cover the election. It is interesting to note that even mainstream journalists like Joe Klein are offering much more sober and nuanced analysis than people like Juan Cole (and Pepe Escobar who basically reproduces as original analysis whatever he reads on Cole’s blog) who have opted for partisan, emotive propaganda.

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The Shock Doctrine and the Economic Crisis

Naomi Klein, interviewed by Bob McChesney, on her book the Shock Doctrine with respect to the financial crisis.  Klein goes on to explain her current project, writing a piece on America’s boycott of the UN Durban II review conference on racism, and is critical of the US anti-war movement for ignoring the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Naomi Klein on the Shock Doctrine (52:45): MP3

Iran’s Election — A Debate

The only independent nationwide poll in Iran prior to the election was conducted by the New America Foundation and Terror Free Tomorrow. In the light of the developments since division has emerged among the various analysts at NAF. Yesterday NAF organized a forum where the two camps debated their respective positions. I have yet to watch the whole thing, so I’ll watch it with you all and post comments latter. However, I didn’t like the fact that Steve Clemons posted on his Facebook page a rather silly piece by a woman disparaging Flynt Leverett. (You can find stats on the elections here.)

Iran’s recent elections have sparked riots in the streets of Tehran and intense debate in the media and policy communities around the globe. Join us as some of the world’s leading experts share their varied views on how to interpret current events in Iran, and what they mean for US policy toward Iran going forward.

Aid Agencies Slam Gaza Blockade

http://israelsbirthday.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/latuff-gaza-blockade.jpg

Today marks the second anniversary of the criminal siege of Gaza. Here is a statement signed  by over 40 NGOs, humanitarian and UN organizations denouncing Israel’s blockade:

We, United Nations and non-governmental humanitarian organisations, express deepening concern over Israel’s continued blockade of the Gaza Strip which has now been in force for two years.

These indiscriminate sanctions are affecting the entire 1.5 million population of Gaza and ordinary women, children and the elderly are the first victims.

The amount of goods allowed into Gaza under the blockade is one quarter of the pre- blockade flow.  Eight out of every ten truckloads contains food but even that is restricted to a mere 18 food items.  Seedlings and calves are not allowed so Gaza’s farmers cannot make up the nutritional shortfall.  Even clothes and shoes, toys and school books are routinely prohibited.

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Where Is My Vote?

The Editor: In these parlous times it becomes imperative to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate solidarity. The following is based on principle and respect for the Iranian people, and its demand for transparency and accountability is one we share even if our own reading of the elections is different.(Also see Khatami and Moussavi‘s statements on the elections which have been translated by our good friend Naj).

The aim of the following appeal is to declare our support for the Iranian movement in its call for a new election and our opposition to any violent intervention on the protesters. We do so as independent academics and not as representatives of our many respective governments. We do so in the hope that the historical appreciation and respect of higher learning in most of traditional Iran will make our voice of solidarity heard within Iran.

Iranians participate in the democratic process
Iranians participate in the democratic process

June 21, 2009 — A week ago, Friday June 12, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the Iranian presidential election. Immediately after, all other candidates, Mir-Hossein Moussavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and even the conservative Mohsen Rezaei, disputed the official results. So did some people who started several demonstrations to express their anger. More news fueled the suspicion of fraud at an unprecedented scale. On Monday June 15, and to the amazement of the world, millions of people – of all ages, classes, and backgrounds – were in the streets of Tehran demanding another election in what was the biggest demonstration since the revolution in 1979. A week later, despite the threats and beatings issued and ordered by the government, millions of people are still demonstrating, and the movement is growing and spreading to other cities.

Continue reading “Where Is My Vote?”

In praise of … John Berger

Even the Guardian  editors’ encomiums can’t escape the characteristic wishy-washiness. So they praise John Berger, in their usual weasly manner of course, and yet denigrate the politics which animates his fiction and gives it its distinctive edge.

John Berger
John Berger

John Berger’s most tangible influences were that tiny band of intellectuals who combined fine-art criticism with a social conscience: John Ruskin; Oscar Wilde; Walter Benjamin. Great writers all, and 82-year-old Berger is their equal. Indeed, that was true as early as 1972, when he published Ways of Seeing, the classic work of art criticism that became a founding text of cultural studies and still has a huge influence on art teachers and their students. What is most gratifying about the report we publish today is that Berger still holds to the humane, generous values set down in that book, rather than make that long, cliched voyage to being a reactionary with a dessicated heart. The archive of one of the greatest thinkers in postwar Britain – a Booker-winning novelist, an artist, a critic – would have fetched a usefully-high price from any number of American universities, but Berger has given it for free to the British Library. All he wants is for the BL’s representative to help him with some farmwork. That is a typically bit of puckishness from a man who, when he claimed the Booker for his novel G, delivered a tirade of an acceptance speech against the event’s corporate sponsors and promptly handed over half his prize money to the Black Panthers. Gestures like that distracted (how could they not?) attention from his aphorisms such as “Nobody had ever sworn in paint before Picasso”. A sharp, bold statement – but it is also generous, helping the reader see the work under discussion. Those same qualities are true of its author.

Guevara asks you to join the vegetarian revolution

PETA Lydia_Guevara

A bit of levity — though many of us take our vegetarian cause very seriously — to balance out the grim crises in Iran and elsewhere we’ve covered here in PULSE. Pictured is Lydia Guevara, granddaughter of Ernesto “Che”, in a campaign for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Yes, those bandoliers are of baby carrots. Launched first in Argentina, where Che Guevara was born, the campaign is PETA’s first for South America. And lest we forget, the biggest reason behind deforestation in the mighty Amazon is beef, a large chunk of it for export.

Death

*Warning – disturbing footage.*

Neda Soltani was killed by the Basij. This is cowardly and despicable. I hope the perpetrators are brought to justice and dealt with severely. It was reported the other day that some of the Basijis were being arrested. I hope that is true.

Death — by Harold Pinter

Where was the dead body found?
Who found the dead body?
Was the dead body dead when found?
How was the dead body found?

Who was the dead body?

Who was the father or daughter or brother
Or uncle or sister or mother or son
Of the dead and abandoned body?

Was the body dead when abandoned?
Was the body abandoned?
By whom had it been abandoned?

Was the dead body naked or dressed for a journey?

What made you declare the dead body dead?
Did you declare the dead body dead?
How well did you know the dead body?
How did you know the dead body was dead?

Did you wash the dead body
Did you close both its eyes
Did you bury the body
Did you leave it abandoned
Did you kiss the dead body