Americans in Lebanon march for Palestinian right of return, April 1973

This is an AP wire photo that I purchased off of ebay a couple years back. I don't know whether the photo ever showed up in any news report on the event. A group of Americans, I don't think belonging to any particular organization, put on this event, a two-day march to Sidon. The following year they organized another march, from Sidon to Tyre. (That's me in the middle, with the headband.) I was too involved in marriage preparations to go. The following spring, 1975, no march was organized, it was the early days of the civil war. Two things I notice here: (1) the woman next to me (whose name I forget) is wearing a kufiya, reminding me that expats in Beirut would do this in the early 70s, and (2) I'm carrying a plastic bag from the Rebeiz record store, one of the two best record stores in Beirut at the time. It should be noted that the march proceeded just a few days after Israeli special forces entered West Beirut and assassinated three PLO officials: Muhammad al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser.

more kufiyas from Kanye and Hova

I never got around to posting about Jay Z & Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild" video from May 2012.

It is full of kufiyas. The video is all street confrontations between police and a mixed-race, all-male bunch who look like (or are made to look like) anarchists. Since it's from corporate rappers, I think it's all about a commercialized exploitation of the energies of Occupy Wall Street and street battles in London. And aestheticizing the hell out of it, while at the same time trying to show just a little bit of sympathy for the rioters who get beat up by the cops. I don't know whether I'll have the energy to spend much more time thinking about it. Here are some kufiya shots. The vid is below.

Gaza Rally at University of Arkansas; Arkansas' Complicity in White Phosphorus Attacks on Gaza

Israel, Stop Bombing Civilians
Originally uploaded by tsweden

Demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Gaza and against the deadly Israeli assault continue to occur all over the globe, including the Ozarks. Yesterday about 50 people braved the very cold weather (only slightly above freezing) to protest Israel's bloody attacks on Gaza.

Abel Tomlinson, Amjad Faur, and yours truly addressed the crowd.

Here's an excerpt from my remarks:

I want to add that as Americans, and as Arkansans, we have a special responsibility in this regard. Israel simply would not be able to carry out its murderous attacks without the F-16 jet fighters, the Apache Helicopters, and the high-tech bunker-busting missiles that we supply it. And then there are the bombs containing white phosphorus. White phosphorus is used as a weapon to create a smoke screen hide military operations. But if it hits humans, it can burn the flesh down to the bone.

Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using white phosphorus in areas of Gaza heavily populated by civilians and it has demanded that Israel stop, as such use constitutes a violation of international law. Palestinian doctors treating burned patients in Gaza say that the burns they see are unlike anything they have seen previously. On Monday, medics in Gaza said at least 60 Palestinians, many of them children, had been burned by suspected phosphorus shells. I urge you to look for reports on the internet, to see what children burned by white phosphorus look like. You will be horrified. And yesterday, Israeli bombs started fires in a hospital and in a UN compound, and hospital and UN officials claimed these fires were started by phosphorus bombs.

Friends, we are complicit in these war crimes. Israel gets its white phosphorus shells from the US, and these come Pine Bluff Arsenal, in Arkansas, which is the only active site where such weapons are loaded. We need to demand that the US immediately cease supplying weapons to Israel, until it agrees to live in peace with its Palestinian neighbors, and we should put particular pressure on our elected representatives from the state of Arkansas, as well as President elect Obama and soon to be Secretary State. Please write to them and demand that we stop shipping weapons from our state, weapons that are burning children's flesh, to the bone.

Not in our name. In the words of Jeff Lebowski, this aggression will not stand, man. Peace.

Brian Eno, Annie Lennox at London Protests Yesterday

Yesterday in London, an estimated 20,000 (BBC) or 100,000 (the organizers) marched in protest against the Israeli offensive on Gaza. Among the marchers: the venerated musician, Brian Eno, who is presented as one of the many British Jews who participated in the march.

This is not the first time Eno has been involved in protests of this sort. He played in a benefit concert on the same bill with Rachid Taha, Nitin Sawhney, and Imogen Heap back in November 2005, to support England's Stop the War coalition.

Check out the footage from the BBC, with comment from Brian Eno, here.

Annie Lennox was there, too, like last week, and she addressed the crowd:



The main issue that Annie raises is of the children killed in the Israeli invasion, and she holds up a poster with some of the more grisly photos that are circulating. So beware, when you watch the vid. (They are real, they are not phony.) At the end, she calls what is going on "genocide." Please see Juan Cole's post for a defense of this claim. (I learned about Annie's address courtesy of Juan's post.)

UPDATE:

I've just read John Hutnyk's post on the London demo, and his comment on the Observer's account of the violence that occurred at the Israeli Embassy. As Hutnyk says, the main factor was "anger at the atrocities and at the introduction of riot cops and mounted police." And Hutnyk includes this photo of one of the young protesters, down for some action. (Thanks, John.)

I learn from the article in the Observer that Bianca Jagger was in attendance, again, and that she addressed the crowd. As did Rev Garth Hewitt, canon at St George's Cathedral in Jerusalem. I didn't meet him, but I'm glad to say that when I was in Jerusalem for two weeks this past June, I stayed at the St. George's Cathedral Guesthouse.

March 19 Iraq War Blogswarm

Another reminder that March 19th is the 5th anniversary of the Iraq invasion. Please join the effort to end this madness. In Fayetteville, you can participate in Pancakes for Peace on March 1, and the 5 Years Too Many demo on March 8. United for Peace and Justice is organizing events throughout the country on March 19--go here to find an event. And if you blog, please join the March 19 Iraq War Blogswarm. Information available here.

5 Years Too Many!

And 1 trillion dollars too many [WRONG! As of today, Feb. 19, it's $495 billion too many, according to the National Priorities Project], 1 million (or so) Iraqi dead too many, 4000 (nearly) US soldiers too many...I can hardly believe that the 5th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War is nearly upon us (March 19). Fayetteville's peace organization, the Omni Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology, is planning to mark the anniversary with a demonstration, strung out along College Ave. from College to Township, on March 8. (Not March 19, because that's during spring break for us.) Join us!

And, to raise money for the event, a Pancakes for Peace breakfast on March 1st. With coffee courtesy of Arsaga's!

Anti-War March in Fayetteville

Sunday November 5, on a rainy and gloomy day, Omni Center for Peace, Justice and Equality organized a demo with the theme: Stop the War! March for Change. I guess about 250 people participated, but I'm not sure--there was little media coverage. In any case, it was spirited, the speakers and performers were good. (I spoke as well, and not so sure about my own performance. I argued that the peace movement needed to take on the issue of US support for Israel, stressing that the ongoing disasters in Lebanon and Gaza should be addressed in addition to that of Iraq.) More photos on my flickr account.