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April 2, 2016 - No. 14 Liberals' Program for Real Change The More
Counterfeit the Measures,
Open
Dialogue
Forum
2016
Liberals' Program for Real Change The More Counterfeit the Measures,
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The concerns highlighted in
the Liberal government's Real
Change program and mandate letters to ministers are to
"restore Canadians' trust and participation in our democratic
processes" as well as "make Parliament relevant again and to
ensure that Canadians once again have a real voice in Ottawa."
The Liberal government says it will "restore trust in our
democracy, and that begins with trusting Canadians." They say
"[p]eople know that Ottawa is broken. We have a comprehensive
plan to fix it."
This supercilious effort to
restore an appearance of legitimacy is becoming a main feature of the
Trudeau Liberal government. The Liberals captured
the most seats in the federal election, but despite this the vote
showed a divided polity. Knowing that elections no longer confer
legitimacy, Trudeau clearly feels the need to provide his program for 
The stated aim of the
conference was to bring together "leaders in open government and open
dialogue to share experiences and chart a course towards a more
empowering dynamic between stakeholders and government." Open Dialogue
is supposed to "[transform] the way policy is made in the 21st
century." It is part of the larger umbrella of what is called Open
Government. Open Government theorists claim that its most
successful practitioner is the UK Conservative government and
this is the model proposed for Canada as well. The Liberal
government's enthusiastic endorsement of Open Dialogue and Open
Government shows that these are among the main methods they will
use to claim legitimacy for their decisions and policies.
Despite presenting Open
Dialogue and Open Government as the cat's pyjamas, they are in fact a
pathetic attempt to resuscitate the long discredited neo-liberal Third
Way peddled by the likes of Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and others who
campaigned on the slogan of "Change" in the 1990s. The members of this
trend call themselves "progressive" to cover up the fact that they
represent the failed past, not the future. The current attempt to
revive the Third Way not only calls itself "progressive" but "global"
and also claims to be "bipartisan" (allegedly neither "left" nor
"right") which is a flimsy attempt to divert attention from the fact
that the party system of government is in deep crisis. It panders to
the people's hatred for the sectarian competition for power which has
consumed cartel parties which collude and contend to take power. To
restore "public confidence in government" the government touts an
impossible marriage between "social justice" and a "dynamic market
economy" to deliver "shared prosperity." To think there can be a
marriage between the monopoly interests and the people is a joke. The
monopoly interests have already taken over the public institutions and
reduces them to their police powers only. Third Way proponents Tony
Blair in the UK and Bill Clinton in the U.S., joined today by the
Trudeau Liberals are not champions of the people but of making the
biggest monopolies number one on world markets and making their
countries "great again."
One can only understand
this to mean that the ideas
hawked by
these "progressives" are so cheap, they can be found in every
bargain-basement and flea-market anywhere the monopolies have
established their stranglehold.
However, the choices people make are often shaped by
others.
One example given is a person in charge of a school cafeteria,
who notices that children tend to reach for items placed in
certain areas of the cafeteria shelf. She is faced with a dilemma:
she can arrange the food at random and let the chips fall where
they may, arrange to maximize her profits, arrange things to give
the children what they would ordinarily want, or arrange items in
a way that promotes healthy choices. Many would agree that the
latter option is the best choice for her to make. The philosophy
advocated by the authors, "libertarian paternalism," is an
extension of this principle.
The "Innovation Hub" of the
Privy Council Office (PCO)
held
its first "behavioural economics briefing" on March 8 and 9 at
Ottawa's Shaw Centre. The forum was hosted by Families, Children
and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos; Stephen Lucas,
PCO's deputy secretary to the Cabinet plans and consultations and
intergovernmental affairs; Ian Shugart, deputy minister of
Employment and Social Development; and Andrew Treusch, the CEO of
the Canada Revenue Agency. PCO spokesperson Raymond Rivet said
the use of behavioural economics is "an emerging tool for
governments seeking to improve the programs and services offered
to citizens." He said that "[c]ombining economics with
behavioural psychology" can "help governments make services more
client-focused, increase uptake of programs, and improve
regulatory compliance."
In a March 26 letter, Choi
Kyong-lim, President of the
United
Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) announced that he has
appointed Michael Lynk, an Associate Professor at the
Faculty of Law at Western University in London, Ontario as Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian
territories occupied since 1967.[
Mouthpieces for the state of
Israel and pro-Israel fanatics came
out
fully against Lynk, accusing him of a pro-Palestinian bias and of
being involved in "anti-Israel advocacy" in Canada. Shimon
Koffler Fogel, CEO of the pro-Israel lobby group the Centre for Israel
and Jewish Affairs, "strongly denounced" Lynk's
appointment and called on Ottawa to object, as well. The
opposition Conservative Party has called on Prime Minister
Trudeau to apply pressure on the UNHRC for Lynk to be
removed.[
Since Israel has been found
time and time again to be
violating international law in its occupation of Palestinian
territories and all the crimes contained within it, Lynk's
appointment has raised the ire of the ruling elite for whom a
treatment of the problem on the basis of international law is
anathema.
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I must add, since I am obliged to mention the subject,
and mainly for
the young people, that few people are aware of the importance of such a
condition at this singular moment in human history. I wouldn't say that
time has been lost but I don't hesitate in stating that neither you nor
we are sufficiently well-informed with the knowledge and awareness we
should possess in order to confront the realities challenging us. The
first thing we should be aware of is that our lives are a historical
fraction of a second, that we must also share the necessities of life
of all human beings. One of these characteristics is the trend of
placing too high a value on their role, and this is contrasted on the
other hand with the extraordinary number of persons who embody the
loftiest of dreams.
But nobody is good or bad per se.
None
of
us
are
designed
for
the
role
that
must
be
taken
on
in
a
revolutionary
society. In part, we Cubans
have the privilege of having the example of José Martí. I
even wonder whether he had to fall or not at Dos Rios when he said "Now
is my time" and he charged against the Spanish in their trenches in a
solid line of fire.
He didn't want to return to the United States and nobody would make him
return. Someone ripped some pages from his diary. Whose perfidious
fault was that? No doubt it was the work of some unscrupulous plotting
soul. We know of differences among the leaders but there were no
instances of indiscipline. Our glorious black leader Antonio Maceo
declared: "Whoever should try to take over Cuba will be covered in the
dust of its earth drowned in blood, unless they perish in battle." We
also acknowledge Máximo Gómez as the most disciplined and
discrete military leader in our history.
Looking at it from another angle, how can we not help but admire the
indignation of Bonifacio Byrne when he declared, from the distant ship
that was bringing him back to Cuba and as he saw the other flag flying
beside our lone star flag: "My flag is the one that has never been a
mercenary one....," immediately adding one of the loveliest phrases
that I
have ever heard: "If fragmented into tiny bits it should again be my
flag someday…the raised arms of our dead will be ready to defend it
still!…" Nor shall I forget the passionate words of Camilo Cienfuegos
that night when several dozens of meters away bazookas and machine guns
of US origin and in the hands of counter-revolutionaries were being
aimed at the terrace where we were standing. Obama was born in August
of 1961, as he himself told us. Over half a century would pass since
that moment.
Nevertheless, let's see how our illustrious visitor thinks:
"I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold
War in the
Americas. I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the
Cuban people."
This is immediately followed by a flood of concepts, entirely new ones
for most of us:
"We both live in a new world, colonized by Europeans." The US President
went on: "Cuba, like the United States, was built in part by slaves
brought here from Africa. Like the United States, the Cuban people can
trace their heritage to both slaves and slave-owners."
The native populations don't even seem to exist in
Obama's mind. Nor
does he say that racial discrimination was swept away by the
Revolution; that pensions and salaries for all Cubans were decreed by
the Revolution before Mr. Barack Obama's tenth birthday. The odious
bourgeois and racist custom of hiring thugs to throw black citizens out
of recreation centers was swept away by the Cuban Revolution. This
would go down in history in the battle that was fought in Angola
against apartheid, putting an end to the presence of nuclear weapons on
a continent of over a billion inhabitants. That wasn't the purpose of
our solidarity; we wanted to help the peoples of Angola, Mozambique,
Guinea Bissau and others to rid themselves of Portugal's fascist
colonial yoke.
In 1961, just two years and three months after the Triumph of the
Revolution, a mercenary force, with cannon and armored infantry and
equipped with planes, was trained and accompanied by US warships and
aircraft carriers in a surprise attack on our country. Nothing can
justify that premeditated attack which cost our country hundreds of
casualties, both in dead and wounded. Nowhere is it recorded that the
pro-Yankee assault brigade was able to evacuate one single mercenary.
Yankee combat planes were presented at the United Nations as having
been taken by rebel Cubans.
That country's military experience and power is extremely well-known.
They also thought that Revolutionary Cuba would be easily knocked out
of combat in Africa. The attack through southern Angola of the racist
South African motorized brigades brought them close to Luanda, the
Angolan capital. A struggle ensued there, lasting for no less than 15
years. I wouldn't even be speaking of this unless I had the elementary
duty of responding to Obama's speech at the Gran Teatro de La Habana
Alicia Alonso.
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Nor shall I attempt to provide details, I will just emphasize that over there a glorious page was written in the struggle for the liberation of human beings. In some way I was hoping that Obama's conduct would be correct. His humble origins and natural intelligence were obvious. Mandela was imprisoned for life and became a giant in the struggle for human dignity. One day a copy of a book telling about part of Mandela's life ended up in my hands and, what a surprise, the prologue had been written by Barack Obama. I glanced over it quickly. The size of the tiny letters used by Mandela to specify information was incredible. It is worthwhile to have met such a man.
I have to indicate yet another experience in the South
African episode.
I was really interested to learn more details about how the South
Africans had acquired their nuclear weapons. I only had very precise
information that there were not more than 10 or 12 bombs.
Researcher and Professor Piero Gleijeses would be a trustworthy source,
having written the excellent "Missions in Conflict: Havana, Washington
and Africa 1959-1976." I knew that he was the most reliable source on
what had happened and I communicated this to him. He answered me that
he had not spoken further on the matter because in the text he had
been replying to the questions of comrade Jorge Risquet, a good friend
of his who had been the Cuban ambassador or collaborator in Angola. I
located Risquet; he was involved in some other important matters, in
the final weeks of a course. That task coincided with a rather recent
trip Piero made to Cuba. I had advised him that Risquet was getting on
in years and his health was not the best. A few days later, as I had
feared, Risquet got worse and died. When Piero arrived there was
nothing left to do but make some promises. But I had by that time
gotten hold of information about matters dealing with those nuclear
weapons and
the help racist South Africa had received from Reagan and Israel.
I don't know what Obama would say about this story. I don't know
whether he knew anything or not, even though it is rather doubtful that
he would know absolutely nothing. My modest suggestion is that he
should reflect and not try to elaborate any theories now about Cuban
policies.
There is one important matter:
Obama gave a speech where he used saccharine words to
express: "It's
time, now, to leave the past behind. It is time for us to look forward
to the future together…un future de
esperanza. And it won't be easy,
and there will be setbacks. It will take time. But my time here in Cuba
renews my hope and my confidence in what the Cuban people will do. We
can make this journey as friends, and as neighbors, and as family…
together."
We presume that each one of us ran the risk of having a heart attack
upon hearing those words spoken by the President of the United States.
With a pitiless blockade lasting for almost 60 years, and those who
have died in mercenary attacks on Cuban ships and ports, an airliner
full of passengers exploded in mid-flight, mercenary invasions,
multiple acts of violence and force?
Nobody could be so naive as to think that this noble and
self-sacrificing people would renounce glory and their rights, and the
spiritual richness they have earned with the development of education,
science and culture.
Furthermore I would point out that we are capable of producing the
foods and material wealth that we need, with the efforts and
intelligence of our people. We do not need the Empire to give us any
gifts. Our efforts shall be legal and peaceful because we are committed
to peace and to the sense of brotherhood among all human beings who
live on this planet.
Fidel Castro Ruz
27 March 2016
10:25 p.m.
(Edited slightly for grammar by TML)
Party Congress Less Than a Month Away
Less than a month remains before the 7th Party Congress, which will begin April 16, when the 55th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Revolution will be celebrated, and also marking exactly five years since the opening of the 6th Congress. The Congress will continue through the 19th, thus fulfilling one of the objectives (number 17) approved at the First National Conference: Maintain the time frame established in the Statutes for holding Party congresses.
This past February 29, Granma published
a full
report on
the process of electing delegates to the Congress, and the
following day noted the simultaneous beginning in all provinces
of consultation meetings to discuss the documents which will be
submitted to the Party's maximum authority.
The editorial office of this newspaper has received, by various means, expressions of concern from Party members (and non-members, as well) inquiring about the reasons for which, on this occasion, plans were not made for a popular discussion process, similar to that held five years ago regarding the proposed Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and Revolution.
The fact that such opinions and doubts were expressed is in no way reproachable, much less when they come from people who are genuinely concerned about the work of the Party and the country's destiny. On the contrary, this is a demonstration of the democracy and participation which are intrinsic characteristics of the socialism we are building. Army General Raúl Castro himself, during the closing session of the First National Conference, called for "fomenting a climate of maximum confidence and the creation of required conditions at all levels for the broadest and most sincere exchange of opinions, both in the heart of the organization and in its interactions with workers and the population."
And it has been a tradition (or rather, a political
right won) throughout the long history of the Revolution that the
people have always been consulted, when big decisions are made. The
First and Second Declarations of Havana were adopted in José
Martí Plaza de la Revolución, and with similar popular
participation, that of Santiago de Cuba was approved in the 1960s. The
overwhelming vote of approval of the vast majority provided our
Republic with a socialist Constitution. In the most difficult days of
the Special Period, Workers' Parliaments throughout the length and
breadth of the country reiterated that Cuba would continue being an
eternal Baragua.[1]
Still fresh in the memory of all Cubans is the exemplary fashion in which discussion of the original 291 Guidelines was organized. They were published November 9, 2010, and over a three-month period (December 2010 to February 2011) they were debated by the entire people, in 163,079 meetings with 8,913,838 participants. Some 3,019,471 comments were made, which were grouped in 781,644 areas of opinion. All were analyzed in detail, and as a result, 94 guidelines (32 per cent) were maintained as proposed; 197 were modified or incorporated into others (68 per cent); and 36 new guidelines were added. The resulting 311 were first discussed at the provincial level, and later in Congress sessions by delegates and invited experts. Eighty-six guidelines were modified at that time (28 per cent) and two new ones approved. Thus the definitive 313 Guidelines were written, as a genuine expression of the people's will, reaffirmed with approval by the National Assembly of People's Power.
The Congress agreed on procedures to ensure that the approved guidelines would not simply be filed away, advising the government to create a Standing Commission for Implementation and Development, which, without derogating the roles of Central State Administrative Bodies, would guarantee coordination and comprehensiveness in the complex process of updating the country's model. The Congress likewise indicated that the Party, at all levels, would supervise, promote, and demand the fulfillment of the approved guidelines.
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Since then, both in Central Committee Plenums and the National Assembly, the practical implementation of what was approved has been analyzed twice a year, discussions about which ample information has been provided by different media, as has been the case with Council of Ministers meetings which have approved policies to assure the guidelines' implementation.
It has always been clear that this would not be an easy task, since this was no experiment in a sterile laboratory, but rather a fundamental transformation at the social level, based on the unassailable premise of not applying shock therapies, so common in capitalist countries, or leaving anyone unprotected. All of this set in the context of an international economic crisis and the pernicious, ever-present blockade.
Raúl alerted in the Central Report he presented to the Congress, "We are convinced that the task we have before us, on this and other issues linked to the updating of our economic model, is full of difficulties and interrelations which touch, to one degree or another, all facets of society as a whole, and thus we know that it is not a question to be resolved in a day, not even in a year, and that it will require at least five years for implementation to unfold with the harmony and comprehensiveness needed."
And this is how it has gone. The balance sheet on what has been accomplished in five years reveals that 21 per cent of the guidelines have been implemented, while 77 per cent are in the process. The remaining 2 per cent (five guidelines) have not been carried out for different reasons. It must be taken into account that the implementation of a number of the most complex changes began in 2014 and 2015, and the initial results are just beginning to be seen.
Given all of the above, rather than launching another process of discussion on a national level, half way along the road, what is more appropriate is finishing what has begun -- continuing to carry out the people's will expressed five years ago, and continuing to advance in the direction charted by the 6th Congress.
In this way, the 7th Congress will culminate discussions held in assemblies at the grassroots, municipal and provincial levels. The reports presented in the provinces were published in full in local newspapers, and their content debated in hundreds of meetings around the country.
The documents which will be submitted to the Congress are the result of a collective drafting process, with the participation of dozens of officials, researchers in economics and the social sciences, and professors. They have been analyzed by the Implementation Commission's Scientific Council composed of more than 130 highly qualified experts.
Subsequently, in the Central Committee Plenums of December 2015 and January 2016, the documents were discussed, after several drafts had been perfected. Observations and proposals made by this Party leadership body were taken into account in new versions of each of the six texts which were finally submitted to the consultation meetings of delegates, held simultaneously in all provinces, the first week of March.
Present at these meetings were all delegates, nominated at the grassroots level and elected democratically, representing the Party's membership and the Cuban people as a whole. Women have a significant presence (43 per cent), and while for logical reasons given an event of this kind, many men and women with a great deal of experience were elected, there are 55 young Party members under the age of 35 among the delegates.
Also attending the consultation meetings were more than 3,500 invited guests who likewise made proposals to enrich the documents. Among those participating were all National Assembly deputies, representatives from Central State Administrative Bodies, university professors, researchers from scientific centres, veterans, grassroots leaders of mass organizations, representatives of our civil society, religious leaders, students, farmers, intellectuals and artists, including non-members of the Party.
One of the documents evaluates the national economy's performance during the five-year period, 2011-2015; another, progress in the implementation of guidelines; and a third, an updating of these for 2016-2021.
A fourth document of profound theoretical importance is the conceptualization of Cuba's socio-economic model of socialist development; while the fifth presents the Economic Development Program through 2030. These last two are both focused on the country we want, and constitute an expression of the nation's economic and social strategy -- with the guidelines approved by the 6th Congress serving as the tactical approach to reach our aspirations, reflecting their continuity and development. These documents do not, therefore, represent anything different in terms of the road taken, but rather a higher level expression based on what has been discussed and submitted for consultation to all Party members and the people.
The sixth document evaluates the implementation status of the First National Conference's objectives approved in January of 2012. It includes a generally favourable balance sheet, and projects continued work on these goals.
One can imagine the complexity of drafting these documents, which in some cases required more time than initially supposed.
They are all closely interrelated, analyzing what has been accomplished to date, what remains to be done, and charting the future on the socio-economic and political-ideological planes. They cannot be seen through a static lens; they will be debated at the 7th Congress and, as was the case with their antecedents, they will be submitted to periodic reviews.
The 7th Congress will give continuity to
the
previous
Congress and the First National Party Conference, and provide a
much more precise definition of the path to be taken by our
country -- sovereign and truly independent since the triumph of
the Revolution, January 1, 1959 -- in order to build a prosperous
and sustainable socialism.
TML Note
1. Baragua, in present-day
Holguín province, is the site of the historic Baragua Protest.
On March 15, 1878, General Antonio Maceo of the Cuban Independence Army
met with General Arsenio Martínez Campos, Spain's top colonial
authority in Cuba, to discuss peace terms arising from the Zanjon Pact
that ended the 10 Years' War. Maceo expressed his refusal to lay down
arms without having achieved the aims of the people's struggle --
independence and the abolition of slavery, as stipulated in the Zanjon
Pact -- and stated his intention to continue the fight for Cuba's
independence.
Thus was manifest the intransigent spirit of the Cuban people who did
not want peace without independence, a spirit which carries on to the
present. Referring to this event, José Martí said, "I
have now before me the Baraguá Protest, which is one of the most
glorious pages of our history." (Website of the Ministry of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba)
(March 28, 2016)
Anniversary of U.S.-Backed Military Coup in Brazil, March 31, 1964
Brazilians Say No! to Another Coup
São Paulo
Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took part in
actions across the country on March 31 to defend democracy and oppose
the coup attempt by right-wing opposition forces against President
Dilma Rousseff. The March 31 actions coincided with the anniversary of
the 1964 U.S.-backed coup that overthrew the progressive government of
President Joao Goulart of the Labour Party. That coup ushered in a
military dictatorship which ruled Brazil for more than 20 years and on
this anniversary Brazilians vehemently rejected the possibility of
going back to another coup or anti-people dictatorship.
Social movements, trade unions and student groups mobilized in at least
56 Brazilian cities. In the capital, Brasilia, former President Lula da
Silva presided over an action estimated at 100,000 people strong. The
Communist Party of Brazil estimates that a total of 800,000 people took
to the streets across Brazil. Solidarity actions also took place in
Canada, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and other countries.
Brasilia
Fortaleza
Recife
São Paulo
Porto Alegre
Buenos Aires, Argentina; New York, U.S.
Ottawa, Canada; London, UK
Paris, France; Berlin,
Germany
(Photos: Vermelho, TML)
Japan's Pro-War Security Laws
Japan Broadens Its
Military Alliance
with U.S.
Imperialism
Anti-war
protesters gather outside the Japanese parliament in Tokyo, March 29,
2016 to protest the new security laws that allow its
military to engage in conflicts abroad. More than 37,000
protesters, including members of four opposition parties,
joined the rally. (Xinhua)
The Japanese government's new pro-war security laws, approved in December, came into force on March 29 amidst widespread opposition. The laws allow the military to engage in action overseas, defending allies who come under attack. The new laws are a reinterpretation of Japan's post-war constitution. Many believe the government is distorting the original intention of the constitution to promote the settlement of international disputes peacefully through diplomacy without resorting to force and war, which prohibits Japanese military activity beyond its borders. As with all post-war arrangements throughout the world, so too the constitution imposed on the Japanese militarists after their defeat is under attack.
The government of Shinzo Abe insists external forces are threatening the national interests of the state and its close allies. It says those threats need to be confronted abroad before they reach the homelands of Japan and the United States. The government and its spokespersons suggest that within the military alliance with U.S. imperialism even preventive wars or surprise strikes against declared enemies such as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) may be necessary.
The Abe government says force of arms is needed beyond its borders if the state's national security is to be secured. The self-serving reinterpretation of the constitution is couched in terms of "collective self-defence" in alliance with other friendly states whose national security is threatened, which of course in the present situation is the U.S. military occupiers.
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The ruling elite insist their national interests are so interwoven with those of U.S. imperialism that the Japanese military must respond anywhere when U.S. national interests are attacked or threatened. For its part, the U.S. military supports and even demands this creative or pragmatic reinterpretation of Japan's constitution so that the significant military strength of Japan's military, especially its navy, can be brought to its many active war fronts around the world, and as a show of force to threaten China, the DPRK and others. The U.S. demand for Japan's direct military assistance abroad has become more insistent with President Obama's pivot to Asia of U.S. military forces and ever-increasing war games surrounding the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. military is preparing to launch a major war in East Asia openly threatening and practicing a surprise first-strike nuclear attack against the DPRK.
The broadening of the Japan/U.S. aggressive military alliance to include war games, war preparations and active joint participation in global predatory wars is strongly opposed within Japan and throughout East Asia. Constant demonstrations have taken place outside Japan's Parliament (Diet) in Tokyo since the Abe government announced its pro-war reinterpretation of the constitution and drafting of legislation. Most constitutional experts, scholars and lawyers find the reinterpretation to be grossly flawed and the subsequent war-enabling legislation in violation of the country's basic law. Tens of thousands demonstrated against the pro-war legislation on March 29, completely surrounding the Diet. Thousands more demonstrated their opposition to the new war laws in over 100 cities and towns throughout Japan. Despite the widespread opposition to the pro-war legislation and the consistent popular will not to send troops abroad to wage war, the Abe government used its parliamentary majority to force the reinterpretation into law.
The continuing denial of the Japanese ruling elite of its past war crimes is integral to the pro-war reinterpretation of the current constitution and the wrecking of anti-war public opinion. High school textbooks, the mass media and cinema portray twentieth century Japanese colonial occupation and aggression throughout Asia as benign and even beneficial. Glossed over are the massacres of Korean and Chinese resistance fighters to Japanese war and occupation, as well as the millions of civilians who perished. Particularly heinous crimes such as forced sexual slavery of thousands of captured young women and girls to service the Japanese occupying army are simply flatly denied despite overwhelming evidence. The Japanese ruling elite are poisoning the people's minds especially the youth and preparing them as war fodder similar to the generations killed during the Japanese militarists' wars of aggression and inter-imperialist conflict in the first half of the twentieth century.
Countries throughout Asia have profound memories of Japanese aggression when Japanese imperialism brutalized Korea, China and others during its decades-long military occupation and colonial rule. After the peoples drove out the Japanese aggressors in 1945, the U.S. military occupation force in Japan reinstated the warmongers of the ruling elite whose descendants and inheritors continue in positions of state and economic power to this day. The U.S. military blocked all efforts of the Japanese working class and progressive people from other strata to hold the ruling elite to account for its crimes at home and abroad and to open a path towards a modern and pro-social Japan.
The grip and influence of the U.S. military occupation of Japan is real and evident in bases throughout Japan and in a culture glorifying war and the use of force to settle disputes. In defiance of the U.S. cultural aggression, a growing movement for an anti-war government and the removal of U.S. military forces is surging forward. In Okinawa, almost all elected officials and overwhelming public opinion want the removal of U.S. military forces and bases from their islands. Despite this massive opposition, the ruling elite use their majority in the central Parliament to enforce their imperialist right not only to continue the U.S. occupation but now with the new legislation to extend the alliance to active participation abroad in U.S.-led predatory and inter-imperialist wars.
The Japanese people are determined to find a way forward out of this abyss of war and occupation and to deprive the warmongers of their power to deprive the people of their right to live in peace. The peoples of East Asia want the U.S. military to leave and return to the continental U.S. They want to be left to develop friendly relations amongst themselves without the constant threat of U.S. imperialist interference.
Canadians wish the peoples of East Asia well for their sake and for the benefit of all. Humanity deserves to live in peace free from the constant danger of U.S.-organized regime change, subversion and aggressive wars. Canadians are doing their part organizing for an anti-war government that will withdraw the country from all U.S.-led military alliances such as NATO, NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command.
Note
Previous to this latest reinterpretation of the constitution, the Japanese ruling elite participated actively in providing military equipment, other necessary supplies and essential home ports for the U.S. military in its predatory wars following WWII. Under the Japan/U.S. military alliance, Japan played a particularly aggressive role in aiding the U.S. brutal wars in Korea and Vietnam.
The U.S. occupying force after WWII reinstalled the defeated Japanese militarists who became a significant factor contributing to the Anglo-U.S. aggressive containment of communism and to their wars to suppress the peoples everywhere fighting to free their countries from colonialism and imperialism.
The Japanese militarists and U.S. imperialists are using conflicting territorial claims over islands throughout East Asia and the mineral riches their monopolies want to exploit as a means to stir up tensions amongst Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Russia and as an excuse for U.S./Japan military actions throughout East and Southeast Asia.
China has warned Japan over the launch of a radar station in the East China Sea that gives the Japanese militarists a permanent base to gather intelligence on the surrounding areas. The base is situated on the island of Yonaguni at the western extreme of a group of Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea thousands of kilometres from Japan's main island.
Now "we can keep watch on territory surrounding Japan and respond to all situations," said Daigo Shiomitsu, a lieutenant colonel in Japan's army who commands the new base. According to Nozomu Yoshitomi, a professor at Nihon University and a retired military major general, the base can also be used for conducting military operations in the region. Japan plans to expand its military forces in the East China Sea over a period of five years, increasing its personnel to 10,000 and adding to its missile batteries there to be able to draw a defensive curtain along the island chain. This will make navigating difficult for Chinese ships which sail from their eastern seaboard since they must pass through this barrier to reach the Western Pacific. According to some policy makers, Japan's move is part of a larger strategy aiming to keep China at bay in the Western Pacific.
In addition to perceived
U.S. intrusion into the
South China
Sea affair, China is apprehensive about the installation of an
advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
system on the Korean peninsula. According to Chinese Vice Foreign
Minister Zheng Zeguang, during a meeting on the sidelines of the
Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC on March 31, Chinese
President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Barack Obama that China was
"firmly opposed" to the U.S. deployment of THAAD. In an online
commentary titled "Japan's excessive nuclear materials pose threat to
world," China's Xinhua news agency writer Sun Ding accuses "warlord"
Prime Minister Abe of threatening peace in the region following the
passage of war enabling legislation and calls Tokyo a "pawn of the
United States."
(With files from news agencies)
Bombing in Pakistan
The Need to
Strengthen the People's
Political
Movements All
Over the World to
Counter Terrorist Assaults
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
denounces the bombing carried out at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore,
Pakistan on Sunday, March 27. Seventy-two people were murdered, news
agencies report, most of them women and children. In the absence of a
strong independent political
movement of
the people which opens the path to progress, state terrorism,
anarchy and violence prevail.
Who carries out such acts and for what purpose? What is the aim?
All evidence from past experience has shown beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are sponsored by this or that state to justify police rule and the concentration of power in fewer and fewer hands. The purpose is to pursue the economic interests of competing monopolies in the name of "national interests." Who defines these "national interests" is an important matter worthy of consideration. One finds it is sections of the financial oligarchy which operate under the auspices of whatever state they belong to or of the police forces which dominate the imperialist system of states as a whole. Both the acts of state terror and individual terrorist acts are the result of the fact that the financial oligarchies in power are blocking society's path to progress. They have taken politics out of the political institutions, arrangements and organizations, and in lieu of strengthening civil society to eliminate all vestiges of power in the hands of privilege, the opposite is the case -- all features of the enlightenment movement which eventually led to universal suffrage and the involvement of the citizenry in determining the affairs of state have been obliterated. The alleged clash of civilizations and tribal wars between religions, beliefs and values are not a product of the people's resistance and political demands for justice, equality and the enforcement of rights. All of it is done to smash the political movement of the people for their own empowerment and justify police rule in the name of rule of law. Police rule is always outside the law and this has to be kept in mind.
CPC(M-L) calls on the citizens and residents of Canada to take a principled political stand in response to the heinous terrorist attacks conducted by states competing on the basis of so-called national interests. The anarchy and violence imposed by the imperialist system of states on the peoples of the world must not pass! Maximum ideological mobilization is required to work out the response and stands which favour the interests of the people. This must be coupled with maximum political mobilization so that, led by the working people who are favoured by the stands they themselves work out, the people are united in action to open society's path to progress.
News from Pakistan
A review of the news coverage on the suicide bombing in Pakistan March 27 reveals once again how state terrorism operates to justify the further imposition of police rule. Newspaper reports indicate the bombing was a suicide attack "claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban. However, it was not clear which of the numerous banned groups in Punjab were being targeted in the ongoing operations." Note the use of the word Pakistan when it comes to police takeover and Punjab when it comes to identifying the "hotbed of religious extremism and militancy."
According to news reports on March 29, soldiers and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers personnel "have carried out five operations in Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan since [March 27] and arrested a 'number of suspect terrorists and facilitators' and recovered a 'huge cache of arms and ammunition,' chief military spokesperson Lt Gen Asim Bajwa said. 'Operations continue with more leads coming in,' he said."
Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported "there were clear indications that a decision had been taken by the military high command to expand the operation throughout" Punjab.
The Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying that the crackdown had commenced from southern Punjab, "long believed to be a hotbed of religious extremism and militancy." The operations in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Muzaffargarh targeted seminaries and other targets linked to terrorist and extremist groups, Dawn reported. Raids were carried out "on the basis of technical evidence and information gathered by intelligence agencies," it said.
The army had been "long pushing the government to initiate action against Punjab-based extremist and terrorist groups, but the civilian government was dragging its feet on the matter," the report said. The government had "asked the military to identify the problem and leave it to the provincial law-enforcement agencies to neutralise the threat," it added.
Dawn quoted an intelligence source as saying that "orders had been given for expanding the scope of the crackdown to all parts of the province and against all groups involved in acts of terror without any discrimination."
Anniversary of Palestinian Land Day, March 30, 1976
Long
Live Palestine's Heroic Resistance!
End the
Occupation!
Palestinians
celebrate
Land
Day
in
the
Gaza
Strip.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Land Day, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) sends militant greetings to the heroic Palestinian people who continue their steadfast defence of their right to be and their resistance to the Zionist occupiers.
|
|
On March 30, 1976, Palestinians living in villages in the Galilee region declared a general strike and protested against land confiscations. At that time, Israel had embarked on a national project to construct new Jewish-Israeli localities in the region that included lands of Palestinian citizens. Israel responded with state violence, killing six Palestinians. A total of 20,000 dunams (2,000 hectares) were confiscated at that time.
Since then, the land confiscations and other heinous crimes against the Palestinians have continued. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics informs that Israel now illegally controls more than 85 per cent of historical Palestine, an area of about 27,000 square kilometres. Palestinians comprise 48 per cent of the total population but utilize only 15 per cent of the land, it notes.
This
year's Land Day actions come amidst
intensifying land
confiscations, state terrorism and other violations of rights
that Israel carries out with impunity.
Click to enlarge
Earlier this month, Israel declared 2,342 dunams of land to the south of Jericho "state land" to pave the way for the construction of 358 housing units in the illegal settlement of Almog. This land confiscation followed another of around 5,000 dunams of Palestinian land in Bethlehem district in 2014.
Arab Member of the Knesset Aida Touma-Sliman explained to Mondoweiss at a Land Day action in the Negev that "50,000 Arab houses are under demolition orders, villages are ordered to be evacuated and demolished." In the northern region near the site of the first Land Day protest, confiscations often take place by way of bureaucratic zoning procedures -- "it's village by village, and it's house by house," Touma-Sliman said. "All that can be confiscated [in the north] is almost all already confiscated, that's why we are focusing on the Negev now," she added.
The High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel urged citizens to join rallies and other Land Day activities, including a major rally in the village of Um al-Heiran in the Negev and another in the village of Arraba al-Batouf in the Galilee.
This year, Land Day marches were held in the West Bank opposing a land grab near the Jordan Valley, with a main march held in Bethlehem. Israeli military forces harassed and attacked demonstrators at checkpoints throughout the occupied Palestinian territory.
CPC(M-L)
calls on all justice-loving people to take
part in
actions to mark Land Day and defend the Palestinian people's
right to be.
Meeting March 26, 2016 in Galilee marks 40th anniversary of Land Day.
Land Day Calendar of Events
Montreal
The
Day
of
the
Land
Saturday,
April
2
--
5:00
–
8:00
pm
Concordia
University,
Hall
Building
H110
Organized by: Palestinian
Cultural Club of Montreal
Facebook
Mississauga
Annual
Commemoration
of
Land
Day
Saturday,
April
9
--
7:00-11:00
pm
Capitol
Banquet
Hall
--
6435
Dixie
Rd.
For information:
Palestine House, 905-270-3622
Click to enlarge.
Edmonton
Day
of
the
Land
Potluck
Dinner
Sunday,
April
3
--
5:30
pm
Edmonton
Islamic
Academy
14525
127
Street
For information: CPCA
website
Vancouver
Picket
the
Jewish
National
Fund
JNF
Dinner
Sunday,
April
10
--
4:45
pm
For
information:
Facebook
Sponsored
by:
BDS
Vancouver-Coast
Salish
and
Canada
Palestine
Association-Vancouver
(With
files from Maan News,
Palestinian
Central Bureau of Statistics, Mondoweiss. Photos: Palestine Info, M.
Asad, Anadolou Agency)
Israeli Settlement Expansion and Settler Terror
Land Day 2016 marked in Burka village, Palestine. (Xinhua)
The following is a letter sent by Dr. Riyad Mansour, Ambassador, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the President of the United Nations General Assembly on March 22.
***
Excellency,
I regret to inform you that the situation in the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, continues to deteriorate as Israel, the occupying Power, continues with its illegal and provocative practices, which includes its settlement colonization enterprise, which brings with it the element of a racist, radical and violent settler population numbering 650,000, that has been illegally transferred to the occupied territory by the occupying Power and that continues to attack Palestinian civilians with barbarity and with the military protection of Israeli occupying forces.
The occupying Power also persists with all of its other policies and measures that are in violation of international law with complete impunity. This includes the killing and injuring of innocent Palestinian civilians, among them women and children, as well as collective punishment measures against the entire Palestinian population living under Israel's military occupation. Such illegal policies and measures are exacerbating the volatile situation on the ground and heightening tensions between the two sides, with dangerous ramifications.
Firstly, I must draw
attention to the heinous crime
committed
on 20 March 2016 by Israeli settler terrorists in the village of
Duma in the West Bank, where Israeli arsonists set ablaze the
home of a cousin and a key Palestinian witness scheduled to
testify against settlers charged with firebombing the home of his
relatives in Duma last summer. It is to be recalled that in
July 2015, Israeli terrorist settlers threw firebombs into the
home of the Dwabasheh family, burning alive an 18-month old baby,
Ali, as he slept in his bed and severely burning his mother and
father, Reham and Sa'ad, who later died from their wounds, and
leaving their son, Ahmed, only 4 years old, severely injured with
burns all over his body and orphaned. In the attack on Ibrahim
Dawabsheh's home [20 March], every room in the home was charred
with black smoke and the bedroom was significantly damaged and
Ibrahim and his wife had to be taken to hospital for smoke
inhalation.
As Israeli settlers continue their rampages, terrorizing and traumatizing Palestinian families, we call again for immediate measures to hold accountable all settlers committing crimes against the Palestinian people. Impunity for Israeli settlers cannot continue to be the norm and the international community must demand that Israel uphold its obligations to investigate all such crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable. Terrorism in all its forms must be unequivocally condemned and ceased.
The presence of these extremist settlers on our land is the direct result of Israel's illegal settlement colonization all throughout the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, an illegal campaign that Israel, the occupying Power, persists with in grave breach of its legal obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Palestinian property continues to be confiscated and destroyed and settlements continue to be expanded by the occupying Power at an accelerated pace, changing the landscape every single day both geographically and demographically as Palestinian civilians continue to be forcibly displaced in high numbers.
Israel carries on with this illegal project in flagrant defiance of world opinion and contempt for international law, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which classifies settlement building as a war crime. Without doubt, the lack of accountability has fostered this Israeli impunity. It is long overdue for the international community, particularly the Security Council, to confront Israel's illegal settlement building as a matter of a legal, political and moral responsibility, with full knowledge that such illegal actions have and continue to obstruct the achievement of a peaceful settlement of the conflict and are destroying any possibility of the two-State solution.
It is in this regard that the Palestinian leadership condemns yesterday's decision by the Israeli government to take over 1,200 dunums of Palestinian-owned land outside the villages of Sawiya, Lubban Al-Sharqia, and Qaryout, south of Nablus, and declare it as "state property." The land to be confiscated is close to the so-called settlements of "Eli" and "Shilo", two illegal Israeli settlements located along Nablus-Ramallah highway.
This decision came on the heels of the Israeli announcement on 15 March 2016, to seize large tracts of land in the occupied West Bank near the Dead Sea and the Palestinian city of Jericho. The occupying Power brazenly declared 579 acres, shockingly comprising more than 2,343 dunums of land, as so-called "State lands." This illegal act constitutes one of the largest land confiscations in the West Bank in recent years, further destroying the contiguity, integrity and viability of our State. We call on the international community to go beyond condemning and to act to compel the occupying Power to rescind and reverse this dangerous decision. As we approach the monthly Security Council briefing and consultations in this regard, we call the Security Council members to go beyond mere verbal expressions of condemnation of these Israeli decisions and with urgency and responsibility to take serious measures to halt once and for all such grave breaches of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention. A firm, unified position against settlements is needed now more than ever in order to resurrect the belief that a two-State solution is still possible.
In this regard, we recall the reaction by Your Excellency in which you urged Israel to reverse this illegal decision, describing the decision as "an impediment to the two-state solution." Moreover, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric has correctly stated that "such actions appear to point toward an increase in settlement activities and demonstrate that Israel is continuing to push forward in the consolidation of its control of the West Bank", and that "settlements are illegal under international law and the Secretary-General urges the government of Israel to halt and reverse such actions in the interest of a just and comprehensive peace and a just final status agreement."
The Palestinian leadership has repeatedly cautioned that Israel's illegal settlement campaign is undermining and fragmenting the contiguity and territorial integrity of the State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, and physically threatens the viability and prospects for the physical realization of the two-State solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders. It should be noted that over the past nearly five decades of occupation, Israel's confiscation of Palestinian land and natural resources has forcibly displaced thousands of Palestinian civilians and resulted in colonization and de facto annexation of massive areas of Palestinian land, in flagrant breach of the law. The time has come for the international community to act. Enough is enough. No more evidence can be provided to prove that lack of action by the international community has emboldened the occupying Power, along with the settlers it transfers to our land, to act without fear of punishment.
In addition to illegal settlement activities, the occupying Power continues to commit grave violations against the Palestinian people, violating nearly every human right, including the right to life. Palestinian civilians, including children, continue to be killed or seriously injured as the Israeli occupying forces continue to use excessive, indiscriminate force against our defenseless, occupied people. It is clear that without protection for the Palestinian people, more and more Palestinians will be killed while trying to fight for the realization of their freedom and rights. Further, Israel persists with collective punishment measures, such as home demolitions, mass arrests and detentions, along with its illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposing policies clearly intended to make the lives of Palestinian civilians as miserable as possible, affecting every man, woman and child.
In this regard, I must highlight the fact that children in specific continue to being placed in Israeli prisons and detention centers and are being subjected to widespread and systematic ill-treatment, including being punished harshly for alleged acts of resistance, including stone throwing. On 16 March 2016, a so-called Israeli court sentenced seven Palestinian children to jail time ranging from 12 to 39 months for alleged stone-throwing. The children included three boys aged 14 years old, two aged 16, one aged 17, and another whose age was not specified. We reject such so-called legislation by Israel that allows for the jailing, for up to 20 years, of Palestinian children for throwing stones, greatly impacting child rights and violating various tenets of international law.
As for the illegal Israeli blockade on Gaza, which continues to affect the entire population of 1.8 million Palestinians, there is no doubt that children, who comprise half of the population, continue to bear the brunt in nearly every aspect. Take for example the fact that more than 44,000 children remain among the over 90,000 people still displaced as a result of Israel's war on Gaza in 2014. Moreover, even as our people in Gaza continue to grapple with the war's aftermath, they are continuously subjected to further violence by the occupying Power. On 19 March, a Palestinian boy, Yassin Abu Khoussa, age 10, and his sister, Isra'a Abu Khoussa, age 6, were tragically killed while in their home in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza and their brother, Ayoub Abu Khoussa, age 13, was injured when their home was hit by a missile fired from an Israeli war plane. The occupying Power must be held accountable for these deaths of Palestinian children as well as all the other Palestinian children who have been killed by Israel's war machine.
In this regard, before concluding, I draw attention to some of the most recent crimes perpetrated by Israel, the occupying Power, in the period since our last letter to you:
11 March 2016:
- In a pre-dawn raid, Israeli occupying forces stormed the headquarters of two media outlets, "Falastin Al-Yawm" (Palestine Today) and TransMedia Production Company in Al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah, confiscating property, and [detaining] two journalists ... and issuing orders for the offices to be shut down. They also detained head of Falastin Al-Yawm, Farouq Elayyat, from his home in Birzeit, near Ramallah.
12 March 2016:
- Occupying forces launched aerial attacks against Gaza, killing two Palestinian children, Yassin Abu Khoseh (age 10) and his sister Isra'a (age 6), and injuring their brother Ayyoub (age 13).
- Israeli naval boats targeted Palestinian fishermen's boats with missiles, despite the fact that they were sailing within the permitted fishing zone offshore northwest of Gaza City.
13 March 2016:
- Israeli occupying forces detained at least 15 Palestinians in West Bank raids.
- A Palestinian child, Adi Kamal Salameh (age 14), was shot and seriously injured by a live bullet to the chest in Al-Mazraa Al-Gharbiya village, northwest of Ramallah.
14 March 2016:
- Occupying forces shot and killed three Palestinians, Qassem Jaber (age 31), Ameer Juneidi (age 22), and Yousef Tarayrah (age 18) outside the illegal "Kiryat Arba" settlement east of Al-Khalil.
- Occupying forces issued demolition notices to two Palestinian-owned buildings in Al-Issawiya, on the outskirts of Occupied East Jerusalem.
- Occupying forces raided the family homes of two Palestinians who were shot dead by the occupying forces earlier in the day.
- Israeli occupying forces detained 13 Palestinians from the West Bank overnight.
15 March 2016:
- Occupying forces broke into the campus of Qaduri University in Tulkarem and raided the College of Engineering and other offices, damaging contents and seizing students' belongings.
- Israeli occupying forces notified Palestinians in Bethlehem district to stop the construction of several residential structures, under the pretext of construction without an Israeli permit.
- Palestinian students suffocated from teargas inhalation, while a teacher was injured by a teargas canister, when occupying forces fired towards a school in Hosan village, west of Bethlehem.
- Nahed Mteir (age 24), succumbed to wounds sustained two weeks earlier during an Israeli raid into Qalandiya refugee camp.
- Israeli occupying forces demolished four Palestinian-owned stores and the foundations of a building in Beit Hanina, on the outskirts of Occupied East Jerusalem.
- Israeli bulldozers demolished a Palestinian house and an agricultural structure in Al-Sharafeh locality and Wadi Rahhal village, in Bethlehem.
16 March 2016:
- Israel, the occupying Power, rendered a decision for the expropriation of over 2,343 dunums of Palestinian land south of Jericho in the West Bank for the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.
- The occupying Power issued and renewed administrative detention orders against 43 Palestinian detainees. 19 of the detainees received administrative orders for the first time, while the rest received renewed administrative detention orders.
- Israeli occupying forces overnight detained 10 Palestinians from Al-Khalil, Nablus and Salfit.
17 March 2016:
- Occupying forces killed two Palestinian youth, Ali Abdulrahman Al-Kar (age 19) and Ali Jamal Taqatqeh (age 19), near the illegal settlement of "Ariel" near Salfit.
- Israeli occupying forces detained 15 Palestinians from the West Bank.
19 March 2016:
- Israeli occupying forces shot and killed a young Palestinian man, Abdullah Al-Ajlouni (identified as in his 20s) at an Israeli checkpoint, near Al-Ibrahimi Mosque.
- At least five Palestinians were detained by occupying forces and a truck was seized from Wadi Burqin and Yaabad town, west and south of Jenin.
20 March 2016:
- Terrorist Israeli settlers set fire to the home of Ibrahim Dawabsheh, the sole witness to the Duma crime, which was carried out by terrorist Israeli settlers in July 2015 and killed a mother and father, Reham and Sa'ad Dawabsheh, and their 18-month old son, Ali Dawabsheh, and left their 4-year old son, Ahmed Dawabsheh, an orphan.
- Israeli occupying forces detained a Palestinian in Al-Khalil and summoned four others from Bethlehem for interrogation.
21 March 2016:
- The occupying Power punitively demolished the home of Mohammed Ja'abis; the brother of Isra'a Ja'abis, who is currently held in Israeli jail. The home was located in Jabal Al-Mukaber neighborhood, southeast of Occupied East Jerusalem.
- The occupying Power decided to take over 1,200 dunums of Palestinian-owned land outside the villages of Sawiya, Lubban Esh-Sharqia, and Qaryout, south of Nablus.
- Israeli occupying forces raided and wreaked havoc inside the premises of the Husan Village Council, west of Bethlehem, destroying all contents and removing pictures hung on the wall of Palestinians killed by occupying forces.
- A Palestinian was shot and injured by Israeli occupying forces and several others suffocated due to tear gas inhalation in the village of Beit Rima near Ramallah.
The Palestinian leadership condemns all of Israel's illegal, inhumane and destructive actions and calls on the international community, including the Security Council, to demand an end to all illegal Israeli policies and practices in the Occupied State of Palestine, including in East Jerusalem and including all settlement activities and other violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law. Left without the protections of international law, Palestinian lives will remain endangered by this illegal occupation and their future ever more uncertain as the situation on the ground further declines and destabilizes. The international community cannot remain silent as the cruelty of the Israeli occupation and subjugation of the Palestinian people continues. Salvaging the prospects for peace and stability and, equally, salvaging the credibility of international law and [the] international system itself require urgent collective action to bring an end to this unjust, unlawful situation. It can no longer suffice to condemn or simply be appalled by Israel's illegal actions and settler terrorism; real international action is needed to bring an end to all such illegal policies and actions. Israel's occupation that began nearly a half-century ago in 1967 must come to an end. The Palestinian people yearn for freedom and the realization of their long-overdue inalienable rights and look to the international community to fulfill its duties and obligations to make this a reality.
This letter is in follow-up to our 578 previous letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine. These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 10 March 2016 (A/ES-10/715-S/2016/236) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators be brought to justice.
I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter distributed as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
How
Impunity Defines Israel and
Victimizes
Palestinians
Israeli security forces confront Land Day protest near Nablus, March
30,
2016.
Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif was killed. In the style typical of Israeli aggression against unarmed Palestinians, he was first wounded after allegedly attempting to stab an Israel occupation soldier in the occupied city of Hebron.
He lies on his back, his arms stretched across the road, and his head moving about. A soldier confers with his superior officer, before moving to "confirm the kill" -- a term used by the Israeli military in reference to field executions of Palestinians.
The soldier walks to Abed, lying on the ground and clearly posing no threat to anyone -- and, in full view of onlookers, shoots him in the head.
The above scene would have been relegated to the annals of the many "contested" killings by Israeli soldiers, were it not for a Palestinian field worker with Israel's human rights group, B'Tselem, who filmed the bloody event.
Culture of Impunity
The incident once more highlights a culture of impunity that exists in the Israeli army which is not a new phenomenon.
Decades ago, there was no equivalent to media such as B'Tselem, Breaking the Silence, or Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, no social media to spread the news, and few international groups that cared to report on Israel's violent birth.
Instead, thousands of Jewish militiamen roamed Palestinian towns and villages, armed with a mandate to ethnically cleanse an entire nation within months.
Thousands of Palestinians were killed in the "cleansing" process, so Israel could proclaim itself independent. Israeli poet, Natan Alterman, attempted to convey an instance of the horror inflicted by Jewish gangs, which later formed the Israeli army, proclaimed by some as the "most moral army in the world":
"Across the vanquished city
in a jeep he did speed --
A lad bold and armed, a young lion of a lad!
And an old man and a woman on that very street
Cowered against a wall, in fear of him clad.
Said the lad smiling, milk teeth shining:
'I'll try the machinegun' and put it into play!
To hide his face in his hands, the old man barely
had
time
When his blood on the wall was sprayed."
The poem entitled "About This" was published on November 19, 1948, when Israel had almost completely secured the self-imposed borders of its new state, assigning Palestinians to perpetual exile -- a journey of pain and blood that is yet to conclude.
Natan Alterman, tried, although [he] failed, to "break the silence" on Israeli impunity.
No Accountability
Land Day mural in Gaza, depicts life and resistance of the Palestinian
people.
Since then, despite their insistence on embracing life with hope, Palestinian history continues to be delineated by charts crowded with endless bloody statistics.
Palestinians are under attack -- systematic, government-led, ordered, or encouraged attacks that point at only one unmistakable conclusion: Israel strives to perpetuate violence and war.
This is grounded in the fact that Israel has been created through war, and has convinced itself that it can only survive through war.
The result is a terrifying culture of violence and impunity -- of men and women armed with machine guns, and children who are taught that violence is the only language that their Arab enemies understand. The Palestinian, for them, only exists to be subdued, controlled, "cleansed" and -- when necessary -- killed.
Recently, Israel's chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef had called on Israelis to kill any Palestinian they believe poses a threat, with no regard for the law or the High Court of Justice.
But, for Yosef, the "High Court of Justice", is already on his side. Indeed, it was Israel's judiciary that had approved "targeted killings" of Palestinians suspected of allegedly committing or planning to commit acts of violence.
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), between September 2000 and March 2008, 500 Palestinians were assassinated by the Israeli army; 228 Palestinian civilians were also killed in what was consigned as "collateral damage." Among those pulverised by Israeli missiles were 77 children.
No one was ever held accountable for those murders.
If one is to list the crimes that are committed routinely by the Israeli army, the list would be endless. The above statistics are a mere glance at a culture that has no regard for Palestinians, thus violating every written or implied rule of war of military ethics or occupation under international law.
Armed settlers rampage through villages of occupied West Bank and the neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. The number of their violent crimes [has] grown tremendously in recent years, and even doubled since 2009.
In August 2015, months before the current uprising, Human Rights Watch senior researcher, Bill Van Esveld, wrote:
"Settlers attack Palestinians and their property on a near-daily basis; there were more than 300 such attacks last year, but few attackers faced justice. In the past decade, less than two percent of investigations into settler attacks ended with convictions."
These settlers complete the violent rule expected of them, alongside the more violent Israeli army.
In December 2015 Israel's 972Mag wrote about the hundreds of violent incidents of Israeli forces targeting Palestinian medical staff. Palestinian rights group, Al-Haq, documented 56 cases in which "ambulances were attacked", and 116 assaults against medical staff while on duty.
No One Is Immune to Violence
In Palestine, no one is immune to violence. Young and old are shot for the mere suspicion that they may pose danger to the life of Israeli Jews; and Israelis who dare report on these very incidents are shunned by their own society.
Israel's Defence Minister, Moshe Yaalon, recently accused Breaking the Silence of committing treason. The supposedly traitorous act of that small Israeli NGO -- powered mostly by volunteers -- was collecting testimonies by Israeli soldiers and whistle-blowers as evidence that the army is violating Israeli and international law.
Meanwhile, the government is itself actively pushing for yet new laws that criminalise dissent in Israel. One of such bills, championed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, would allow elected members of the Knesset to vote to oust their own elected peers.
While Israel's culture of license to do as it pleases is older than the state itself, it is fed by a right-wing ruling elite that incessantly promotes fear and disseminates a confining siege mentality.
"At the end, in the State of Israel, as I see it, there will be a fence that spans it all,"said Netanyahu in February. "In the area that we live, we must defend ourselves against the wild beasts."
Netanyahu is, of course, never a fan of the truth or common sense. His last war on Gaza in the summer of 2014 had killed a total of 2,251 Palestinians -- including 1,462 civilians, among them 551 children, according to a report prepared by the UN Human Rights Council.
During that war, only six Israeli civilians were killed, and 60 soldiers. Who, then, is truly the "wild beast"?
The majority of Israelis have long been sold on the idea that their country, despite its brutality is a "villa in the jungle." According to a recent Pew survey, nearly half of Israelis want to expel Palestinian Arabs -- Muslims and Christians -- from their ancestral homeland.
In the government, the judiciary, the army, society and the country's highest moral authorities, which advocate violence and ethnic cleansing and promote genocidal activities, what options are left for Palestinians? The danger of impunity is not merely the lack of legal accountability, but the fact that it is the very foundation of most violent crimes against humanity.
This impunity began seven decades ago, and it will not end without international intervention, and concerted efforts to hold Israel accountable and bring the agony of Palestinians to a halt.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His books include 'Searching Jenin', 'The Second Palestinian Intifada' and his latest 'My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story'. His website is: www.ramzybaroud.net.
(Palestine Chronicle, March 28, 2016. This article was first published in Al Jazeera. Photos: Xinhua.)
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