Please let me start by telling you this: of a cultural BDS boycott Ramon and I had NO knowledge, none at all. This is where the problem started, for had I known I would have done things differently: the reasons for this boycott are valid.[1]

(Zdob si Zdub before the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf.)

Now Moldavian punkers Zdob si Zdub have announced on their “gigs” page that they will be in Tel Aviv at the Barby on 5 November. [5]

The chances are high that when they contracted to play in Israel, they were not informed of the boycott. Usually, the only way bands can often be contacted are through their booking agents or management. Punk bands are noted for making stands against government oppression. Punk bands are not known for breeching boycotts or crossing picket lines that exist for causes like human rights and justice. It can only be assumed that these punkers from Moldavia are not aware of the boycott because they have not been contacted. The BDS movement has not taken hold in Moldavia or Russia, and apparently it needs much wider exposure in the Netherlands and the USA.

As of this publishing, the contacts we have for these Moldavian punkers, who participated in the Eurovision Song 2011 Contest in Dusseldorf (and placed 12th) are:

on Facebook see http://www.facebook.com/zdobsizdub?sk=wall

myspace comments page for Zdob si Zdub

on twitter @zdobsizdub (tweet to them about the boycott, ask them to cancel their 5 Nov concert in Israel)

emails for the band booking/management:

arina@cuibul.com

concert@zdob-si-zdub.com

Please participate in letting this band know what they are probably unaware of, that there is a cultural boycott on now of Israel. They they are being asked to respect this global call.

Zdob si Zdub, performing in Israel is a clear violation of support for human rights and justice. Punk music and apartheid don’t belong together.

SOURCE

[1] See Jazz artist Denise Jannah’s full letter here http://www.kadaitcha.com/2011/09/18/denise-jannah-and-ramon-valles-now-support-bds/

[2] See letter from tuba Skinny on their cancellation here http://electronicintifada.net/blog/adri-nieuwhof/tuba-skinny-speaks-out-cancellation-show-red-sea-festival

[3] See http://punksagainstapartheid.com/ and http://punksagainstapartheid.com/2011/07/its-bigger-than-jello/

[4] See http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=869

[5] See http://www.zdob-si-zdub.com/eng/concerts/index.html

Grooving on Lowkey’s T shirt – AUSTRALIA HAS A BLACK HISTORY

The track also mentions Ali Abunimah.

US Imperialism

Noam Chomsky on the Dangers of American Empire and Why the US Continues to be Bin Laden’s Best Ally : What Chomsky doesn’t mention: The ruling elite in the US who invest in the defence and associated corporations benefit hugely from increased militarisation and Pentagon budget pursuant to 9/11. The US taxpayers are fleeced by the ruling class, and the scam is reinforced and insured by the existence of defence and allied industries providing jobs in nearly every US state.

In 2010, US arms exports were round $8641m, a small fraction of the US defence budget of $698b. Arms exports are the number 1 US export earner.

How private firms have cashed in on the climate of fear since 9/11
Outsourcing imperialism: Revenue from General Dynamics’ intelligence- and information-related divisions, where the majority of its top-secret work is done, climbed to $10 billion in the second quarter of 2009, up from $2.4 billion in 2000, accounting for 34 percent of its overall revenue last year.
“Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators.”

Palestine / Israel Links

Uncovered: Israel’s role in planned US lawsuit to fight BDS
The Palestinian-Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar (Jerusalem periphery) is fighting for survival.

The 180-strong community faces the threat of imminent displacement if the Israeli authorities demolish their homes and school as planned. This may well destroy the community, one of 20 in the area, who have become victims of creeping settlement expansion and ethnic cleansing. Write Israeli Minister of Defense Barak to demand he refrains from pursuing the demolition of the Khan al Ahmar School.

AN URGENT CALL FOR TRANSPARENCY AND PARTICIPATION by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign
The crime of apartheid : Israel on trial at 3rd Intl Session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in November, 2011 Cape Town
Supporters of Israeli exceptionalism are attempting to override US citizens’ right to free speech
Al-Jazeera calls on Israel to free journalist :

‘According to the statement, Israeli authorities used Allawi’s personal passwords to gain access to Al-Jazeera’s internal news and email networks.’
What have the Israeli ghouls been doing to Samer Allawi?

“Appeal to District Court for Independent Doctor to Visit Al Jazeera Journalist Samer Allawi Detained for 23 Days without Charge by the Israeli GSS (Shabak)”

‘He is currently detained at the Kishon prison, an IPS detention facility in Haifa, and is under interrogation by the ISA, with no charges have been filed against him to date.

Mr. Allawi’s attorney, Salim Wakeem, has voiced concerns regarding the methods of his interrogation, particularly as Mr. Allawi suffers from chronic health conditions. Mr. Allawi’s attorney was denied access to documentation concerning his medical condition and treatment.

Court protocols from Mr. Allawi’s hearing dated 22 August 2011 indicate that Mr. Allawi was not examined by a physician upon arrival in the detention facility, in contradiction of the IPS regulations, which provide that a detainee should be examined by a medic within 24 hours and by a physician within 48 hours of arriving in a detention facility.

According to court protocols, Mr. Allawi stated that since his arrest he has suffered pain that is not treated; that he was not examined by a physician since his arrest; that he has used only medications he had with him upon his arrest, and that the IPS has not supplied him with any further medication. ‘

The 2nd Pillar of Israeli apartheid in practice : Israeli Forces Raze Artesian Water Wells
Israeli Soldiers Demolish Homes near Hebron

Australia Links

Malalai Joya: Australia is making Afghanistan worse

Cheers! our friends have been freed!!!

From Australians for Palestine

Editor’s Note:  As the French boat makes its way to Gaza alone, the rest of
the flotilla is still trying to find ways of leaving Greece.  The captain of
the US boat has been released from prison and the charges have been dropped..  
The passengers of the Canadian boat the “Tahrir” Michael Coleman and Soha
Kneen have also been released from custody and will appear in court in the
morning and will receive suspended sentences.  Although Sandra Ruch has been
released, she faces the charge of allowing the boat to leave port without
proper authorisation. (Sandra, a Jewish-Canadian on the “Tahrir”  is
refusing to surrender the boat’s registration papers.)  Spanish activists
have taken over the Spanish embassy in Athens

Thank you to everyone who wrote or telephoned the Greek embassy and
consulates.  Some managed to get through while others found that some of the
emails bounced back.  The emails and phone numbers were correct, but
embassies/consulates are known for changing their contact details.

Related Links

Navy braced for Gaza-bound French boat sailing from Greece

The Israel Navy is prepared to stop a French vessel that set sail from near Greece on Tuesday and that is believed to be heading to the Gaza Strip in an effort to break an Israel-imposed sea blockade, said government officials.

On Tuesday afternoon, organizers announced that the small French yacht named Dignity had left waters near Greece with eight passengers on board en-route to Gaza.
…

Meanwhile Tuesday, John Klusmire, the captain of the US-flagged ship Audacity of Hope who was arrested last week for trying to sail to Gaza, was released from custody.
…
About 20 Spanish activists, from the ship Guernica, occupied their nation’s embassy in Athens on Tuesday to protest against the ban and demand their government’s support.

====================================================================================

7.35 pm Tuesday, 5th July, 2011.

In the harbour office in detainment on charges are Australian Michael Coleman, with 1 charge, Canadian Soha Kneen on 1 charge, and Sandra Ruch who is faced with 3 charges. Please use the information here to pressure the relevant Greek embassies and consulates, your local and Federal MPs and let’s help our good friends out of this situation and back on their mission.

You can gain up to date information by following @CanadaBoatGaza and @GFFAusGroup on twitter, and their Facebook groups CANADIAN Boat to Gaza and Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia

The French Freedom Flotilla boat is underway, having eluded the Greek Coastguard! to be off Gaza in a day or so.

Edelstein: Israel Ready for Any Scenario in Pro-Arab Fly-In – but is he ready for the French!

=====================================================================================================
Circa 1pm Tuesday, 5th July, 2011.

From Australians for Palestine

Editor’s Note: Australian participant on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza
Michael Coleman has been arrested by Greek Police for attempting to block
their pursuit of the Canadian boat the “Tahrir” as it left port. Michael
and Soha, another Canadian Flotilla team member, were in two kayaks beside
the “Tahrir”. As soon as the boat’s motors started, Michael and Soha
paddled to the immediate prow of the coastguard and managed to stay there
for at least 5 minutes which prevented the coastguard from stopping the
Tahrir from leaving. Eddie O’Loughlin, who has provided this latest update,
says that a Canadian Flotilla team member has assured him that a legal team
is working on freeing Michael. They are still not sure as to what the
specific charges against Michael will be.

Please telephone or write to the Greek embassy in Australia and also the
consulates asking them to pressure Greek authorities to release Michael
Coleman and to allow the Freedom Flotilla to continue its mission to
Gaza. Also letters and calls to our own government representatives are
important asking them to pressure the Greek government to release Michael
Coleman and the Tahrir.

Greek Embassy in Australia
Tel: +61-2-6273-3011
Email: gremb.can@mfa.gr

Greek Consulate (Sydney)
Tel: +61-2-92212388
Tel: +61-2-92211453
Email: grconsyd@telpacific.com.au

Greek Consulate (Melbourne)
Tel: +61-3-98664524
Tel: +61-3-98664525
Email: grcons@bigpond.com.au

Greek Consulate (Adelaide)
Tel: +61-8-82118066
Email: consulgr@picknowl.com.au

Greek Consulate (Brisbane)
Tel: +61-7-32927421
Tel: +61-7-32927422
Email: greekcon@ozemail.com.au

Australian Embassy in Greece
Tel: +30 210 870 4000
Email: ae.athens@dfat.gov.au

Also contact your own member of parliament (you can find their details
here http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/mi-elctr.asp)
and/or
The Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd
Tel: (02) 6277 7500
Email: Kevin.Rudd.MP@aph.gov.au

We need to keep the pressure up on the Greek Government and our own.

Sonja Karkar
Editor
Australians for Palestine

http://australiansforpalestine.com

===============================================================

TWITTER UPDATES

Three @CanadaBoatGaza humanitarians charged: Soha Kneen (1 charge), Michael Coleman (1 charge), Sandra Ruch (3 charges) #flotilla2

RT @CanadaBoatGaza: We can confirm that Sandra Ruch is facing 3 charges. We are working to confirm details of these charges. #flotilla2 #Canada4Gaza

RT @CanadaBoatGaza: We can confirm that Soha Kneen of Canada and Michael Coleman of Australia are facing one charge each. #Canada4Gaza #Flotilla2

RT @GFFAusGroup: DFAT chasing Aussie arrest report in Greece #Flotilla2 http://j.mp/lin4Ct

RT @SoulFya: Canadian ConsulateThessaloniki: 2310-256350 E: petmezas_canada@thessalaw.gr Demand release of Michael & Soha(Canadian citizen)

RT @CanadaBoatGaza: @INTLRevolver We can confirm @SmithSofia (Soha Kneen) is facing one charge, working to get details. #flotilla2 #

RT @Mivasair: @CanadaBoatGaza Met today w Consul General of Greece in Vancouver. Greece will play hardball. Needs $$ from Israel. Very clear abt this. #

RT @GFFAusGroup: A union has organised lawyers for us.Michael and Soha have been detained but not charged #flotilla2

Hurrahh! RT @GFFAusGroup: We’ve been told the local municipal authorities are calling on the harbor master to release our boat. #flotilla2

RT @GFFAusGroup: Journalists are reluctant to leave the boat without assurances their photos won’t be confiscated. #flotilla2

RT @GFFAusGroup: They are also refusing to sign any documents, should they be asked to do so #flotilla2

==========================================================================

Statement of the Greek Government on their site

Foreign Ministry Announcement regarding Greece’s intention to undertake the task of transporting humanitarian aid

Despite the request of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the recommendations of the EU reflected in the conclusions of the European Council, yesterday’s relevant appeal of the Quartet and the Greek Foreign Ministry’s urging not to participate in the flotilla attempting to break the Gaza blockade, certain groups of Greek and foreign citizens, without having received the necessary permission required according to the rules of safety, insisted to go through with the enterprise.

In light of these developments and concerned primarily with the protection and safety of human life, the Greek Government decided to ban the departure from Greek ports of vessels with Greek or foreign flags bound for Gaza.

Greece’s stance regarding the need to lift the Gaza blockade and to improve the humanitarian conditions in the area is known and remains unchanged. Greece’s positions of principle for the need to respect international law and not to resort to the use of force are also well known. Greece, as it is widely known, actively supports the resumption of peace talks, which constitute the only road to a comprehensive and viable resolution of the Palestinian issue, with the creation of a Palestinian state that will coexist peacefully with the state of Israel. These positions have been made clear to all concerned parties.

In this context, Greece reiterates its willingness and proposes to undertake the task of transporting the humanitarian aid, with Greek vessels or other appropriate means, through the existing channels as requested by the Secretary General of the United Nations.

To this avail, Greece will come into immediate and direct contact with the UN and all the concerned parties, in order to render the mission feasible on behalf of our country.

In this critical conjuncture, we should all demonstrate a sense of responsibility or assume entirely and exclusively the responsibility for our actions. The Government will act as it must in an orderly fashion and according to the laws of the State.

Related Links

Why Is Greece Hindering the Gaza Flotilla?
What’s the Impact of Israel’s Natural Gas Find?
DFAT chasing Aussie flotilla arrest report
Canadian activist slams Greece for turning back Gaza-bound vessel
Australian in Gaza flotilla detained: reports

MEMRI is a source for journalists that do not understand Arabic,

but because they do not understand Arabic, they cannot validate the source. When you consider that the source is the brainchild of a former Israeli intelligence officer and has been caught selectively translating Arabic broadcasts that would reflect negatively on the Muslim world, the problem increases ten-fold.

Listening Post’s Meenakshi Ravi looks at an organisation that is out to influence how the Middle East is seen in the rest of the world’s media.

Palestine / Israel Links

September Surprise: Israeli Attack on Iran?

“Palestine is in crisis. Today Palestinians face daily human rights abuse and live in crushing poverty in refugee camps and under Israeli Occupation.

In response to this injustice, a group of international musicians are releasing the song Freedom for Palestine by OneWorld.”

Featuring

Maxi Jazz (Faithless), Dave Randall (Slovo/Faithless), LSK, the Durban Gospel Choir, members of the London Community Gospel Choir, Jamie Catto (1 Giant Leap), Harry Collier (Kubb), Andrea Britton, Sudha (Faithless), Andy Treacy (Faithless / Moby / Groove Armada), Attab Haddad, Joelle Barker and Tony Reed.

Music video features artists on track in addition to comedian Mark Thomas, rapper Lowkey and poet Michael Rosen.

Song written and produced by Dave Randall. Video produced by Andy Marlow. Filming by Alex Forster, Andy Marlow & Henna Malik (UK), Dave Randall (UK & West Bank), Jen Marlowe (Gaza) and Amehlo Video Productions (SA). Animation by the Moth Collective.

Preorder now!

A new animated film released by Gisha challenges the commonly held belief that Israel no longer exercises control over Gaza and does not bear responsibility for what goes on there. The opening of the Rafah Crossing is a welcome improvement in Gaza residents’ access to the outside world. However, it does not detract from Israel’s obligation to allow regular travel between Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinian territory shares a single economy, a single education system, a single healthcare system and countless familial, cultural and social ties.

Today’s Palestine / Israel Links

Israel’s stranglehold on the British media
Obamarama demonstrates he, like Bush, isn’t averse to interferring with the freedom of the press.
Under Israeli Siege: Gaza’s Drinking Water Polluted
Turning the ‘right of return’ into reality – Ben White on the untenable lies and racist excuses the US and Israel use to thwart the inalienable right of Palestinians to return to their lands.
This is ethnic cleansing by stealth: Palestinian and Jewish Neighbourhoods in Jerusalem to be renamed
Israeli raid on Gaza-bound flotilla remembered

Other Links

Twelve children killed in another US massacre in Afghanistan

Stunningly hilarious take on an enormously nauseating theme!

Obamation

“This track is not an attack upon the American people
It is an attack upon the system within which they live
Since 1945 the united states has attempted to
Overthrow more than 50 foreign governments
In the process the us has caused the end of life
For several million people, and condemned many millions
More to a live of agony and despair

[Verse 1]
The strength of your dreamin
Prevents you from reason
The American dream
Only makes sense if you’re sleepin

Its just a cruel fantasy
Their politics took my voice away
But their music gave it back to me

The land where the lumpen are consumed by consumption
Killing themselves to shovel down food and abundance
I guess a rapper from Britain is a rare voice
America is capitalism on steroids

Natives kept in casinos and reservations
Displaced slaves never given reparations
Take everything from Native Americans
And wonder why I call it the racist experiment

Afraid of your melanin
The same as it’s ever been
That aint gonna change
With the race of the president

I see imperialism under your skin tone
You could call it Christopher Columbus syndrome

[Chorus 2x]
Is it Obama’s nation or an abomination?
Is it Obama’s nation or an abomination?
Is it Obama’s nation or an abomination?
Doesn’t make any difference when they bomb your nation

O! Say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming

[Verse 2]
The worlds entertainer
The worlds devastator
From Venezuela
To Mesopotamia

Your cameras lie
Cause they have to hide the savage crimes

Committed on leaders that happen
To try and nationalize

Eating competitions while the worlds been starvin
Beat up communism with the help of bin-laden
Where would your war of terror be without that man
Every day you create more Nidal Hassans

Kill a man from the military, you’re a weirdo
But kill a bloke from the Middle East you’re a hero
Your country is causing screams that are never reaching ear holes
America inflicted a million ground zeros

Follow the dollar and swallow your humanity
Soldiers committing savagery you never even have to see
Those mad at me, writing in emails angrily
Im not anti-America, America is anti-me

[Chorus 2x]
Is it Obama’s nation or an abomination?
Is it Obama’s nation or an abomination?
Is it Obama’s nation or an abomination?
Doesn’t make any difference when they bomb your nation

And the rocket’s red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there,

O! Does that star spangled banner yet wave
O’er land of the free and the home of the brave

[Verse 3]
I don’t care if him and Cheney are long lost relations
What matters more is the policies I lost my patience
Stop debating bringing race into conversation
Occupation and cooperation equals profit makin

Its over – people wake up from the dream now
Nobel peace prize, jay z on speed dial
Its the substance within, not the color of your skin
Are you the puppeteer or the puppet on the string

So many believe that they was instantly gonna change
There was still Dennis Ross, Brzezinski And Robert Gates
What happened to Chas freeman (AIPAC),
What happened to Tristan Anderson its a machine that keeps that man breathing

I have the heart to say what all the other rappers aren’t
Words like Iraq, Palestine – Afghanistan
The wars on, and you morons were all wrong
I call Obama a bomber Cause those are your bombs”

- Lowkey

“Osama Bin Laden Is Dead” – written and performed by David Rovics

It was a commando operation of courage and skill
Navy Seal helicopters flew in for the kill
They had a firefight and they shot him in the head
Now the mastermind of terror, Bin Laden is dead
For all those who love freedom it’s a glorious day
In DC and New York they’re chanting USA
Fatherless children clutching teddy bears
Legless veterans with catheters and wheelchairs

Can all rejoice that the deed is done
And the War on Terror has been won

Now orphans of Afghanistan can look at the skies
They can fill the air with joyful cries
As the call to prayer rings from shattered domes
They can all run out from the rubble of their homes
Now they know their parents didn’t die in vain
When they heard the roar of a jet plane
Now the whole village except the hundred-fifteen
Who died that morning unknown and unseen

(Chorus)

Now folks can have a party in old Baghdad
And the people of Falluja can all be glad
Now they know there is a reason for their poisoned farms
And for the babies born without heads or arms
The widows need not wonder where their husbands went
They can look forward to the future in their tents
Now all the refugees whatever country they’re in
In Syria, Jordan or Michigan

(Chorus)

America, America, God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea

Download David Rovic’s latest album here.

Palestine / Israel Links

Techno music scene dives into the BDS debate : DJ Ewan Pearson supports BDS wholeheartedly : ‘It is not about me deciding whether I should go to Israel or not, but rather whether I am going to listen to the wishes of the Palestinian people at a time when not nearly enough others are doing so.’

Groove Column: on not DJing in Israel (April 2011)

I have always quietly turned gigs in Israel down, appalled by the accounts I’ve read of the Occupation, the mistreatment of its Palestinian population and recently the blockade on Gaza. The systematic manner in which one set of citizens is being de-humanised parallels the South African Apartheid era when I first heard music and political protest linked and became aware of musicians refusing to travel in order to draw attention to a political situation.

But music transcends politics doesn’t it? Not at all. If music is of and about the world it has to engage it. Musicians are not ambassadors with carte blanche to go where we like as we’re spreading an implicit message of love. Too damn easy. Sometimes we have to say tougher and less palatable stuff, in this case that the actions of a purportedly democratic government in the name of a decent people are doing them massive harm, and the rest of us too as we sit idly by.

Art and politics at their best are about imagining yourself in someone else’s place, trying to feel what someone in quite different circumstances is experiencing. This is where solidarity comes from. I have more in common with a left-leaning cosmopolitan raver in Tel Aviv than a Palestinian in the occupied territories, but to go there and DJ is to say the status quo is fine, that it’s OK to forget about what’s happening for a moment. To paraphrase Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, it’s buying an alcoholic friend a bottle of scotch when you should be phoning AA.

House music’s most famous political message – that one day the oppressed will be emancipated and find the Promised Land – is derived from the Torah, from the laments of Jews exiled in Egypt and Babylon. Today it seems more appropriate to the plight of their Palestinian brothers and sisters. Until that’s no longer the case, I have to write stuff like this over playing records, smiling and telling everyone “It’s Alright”.

“We see culture as a propaganda tool of the first rank, and… do not differentiate between propaganda and culture” – Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, spokesperson of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, 2005

Presenters pull out of Australia Limmud abhorring Limmud’s ‘banning of ideas’
Israel company sanctioned by US for ties to Iran
Henry Siegman backs the Brzezsinski et al peace construct, what the US could do to create two states, and notes what will happen if the US fails to insist upon a peace plan delivering rights to Palestinian – ‘an inevitable and unstoppable wave of delegitimization’.
Robert Fisk: ‘Having read all of the “Palestine Papers” which Al-Jazeera revealed, there is no doubt that “Palestine’s” official negotiators will go to any lengths to produce some kind of statelet. Mahmoud Abbas, who managed to write a 600-page book on the “peace process” without once mentioning the word “occupation”, could even cave in over the UN project, fearful of Obama’s warning that it would be an attempt to “isolate” Israel and thus de-legitimise the Israeli state – or “the Jewish state” as the US president now calls it. But Netanyahu is doing more than anyone to delegitimise his own state; indeed, he is looking more and more like the Arab buffoons who have hitherto littered the Middle East.’
Israel has to accept that the Arab Spring changes the game
Can Palestine become a United Nations member state? (dissents from Uniting for Peace res)
Arabs Seek UN Palestine Recognition

UN General Assembly president Joseph Deiss had said that to be recognized at the UN, a Palestinian state will need the support of all five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council.

India pledges support for Palestine
For Zionism, Jewish children are as expendable as Palestinian and Arab children, unless they serve its colonial goals. In light of this, it becomes clear that it is not simply the Jewishness or Arabness of children that makes them expendable or not, but their insertion into a political project as figures that can advance its goals or constitute obstacles to them.
Palestinians Thirsty for Justice : Israel’s water heist

Egypt Links

One of my favourite journalists is in hot water with the SCAF – this goes to illustrate the Egyptian military regime is malign when it comes to legitimate democratic criticism.
What Hossam El Hamalawy and Reem Maged said to be summoned

Other Links

Why the new ASIO bill must be stopped
Derek Barry deconstructs the current filthy Murdercrat tilt at the ABC

Credit: Ellen Rachel Davidson

Credit: Ellen Rachel Davidson

Noelle Ghoussaini from Adalah-NY explains:

“Tonight we sent a clear message to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israeli government’s “Brand Israel” campaign that their music cannot drown out Palestinians’ calls for justice.” The US protests respond to the call from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) to boycott cultural institutions like the IPO that work to normalize Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and whitewash the oppression of Palestinians in Israel, the occupied territories, and in exile.

Hundreds of well-dressed concert-goers paused on the edge of the sidewalk in front of Carnegie Hall, and looked across the street at the protesters’ signs, and listened to their chants and songs. Many were handed a mock IPO program that featured a cover photo of a past IPO performance in front of Israeli tanks for the Israeli army, and, on the inside, the PACBI’s call for an international boycott of the IPO.

Protesters held signs saying, “Israel Fiddles while Palestine Burns,” “Justice Presto not Lento,” “Without Justice There’s No Harmony,” and “Boycott the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra;” and they carried a banner with the words “Don’t Harmonize with Israeli Apartheid,” surrounded on each side by a violin with a rifle barrel as its neck. Protesters chanted, “We love Gustav, we love Mahler, but occupation makes us holler;” “For liberation take a stand, don’t let Is-ra-el rebrand;” and “Muslims, Jews, Atheists and Christians, stand for justice like Egyptians.”

In a street theater skit, a protester­­-turned-IPO conductor asked the crowd, “How can apartheid continue without us promoting the new, positive, aesthetically vibrant and civilized Israel? Don’t forget, there is “art” in “apartheid.” The conductor instructed three violinists to play progressively louder in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to drown out and cover up Israeli crimes against Palestinians that kept welling up behind the orchestra.

View the complete photo collection.

* Raymond Deane’s work “March Oubliee” will feature at a concert with Irish ensemble, the ‘Fidelio Trio’, in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia on the 24th February at 7.30pm.

The Fidelios Trio will also conduct a residency at the University of Illinois on the 27/28 February playing “March Oubliee”.

Other Current BDS Actions to Support

Support BDS in Marrickville – send a Marrickville Councillor a note of encouragement for their important stand for human rights.
CJPP Carry Bags – An environmentally-friendly, Palestine-friendly, ecosilk shopping bag. Strong, light and compact, to fit in your handbag or pocket. A stylish alternative to plastic bags!

Palestine / Israel Links

Fox reverses poll results to portray public as anti-union
This is the occupation: A letter from a reasonable woman
PFLP condemns Gaddafi regime’s massacres against the Libyan people | Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Israeli airstrikes injure 16 Gazans
Army, Settlers, Destroy Palestinian Olive Trees in Al-Jab’a
Netanyahu: Mideast instability could last for years – dreaming of regional conquent still
The emergence of a new Arab world?
Obama’s folly: the human cost of the West Bank settlements

Libya Links

If the tide turns: some pros and cons of military intervention in Libya

Saudia Links

Saudi’s $36bn bid to beat unrest

Other Links

Dozens slaughtered by US forces in Afghanistan-Pakistan air attacks

One village resident told Pajhwok Afghan News that foreign forces intercepted a vehicle taking the wounded father to hospital, halting it for two hours. “The troops beat us and tied our hands,” the man, Psarlay, said. “Meanwhile, Patang died because of excessive bleeding.”

Another resident, 26-year-old Ezatullah, told the Wall Street Journal: “The house was completely destroyed by the strike. Only two children [aged] four and six survived.” He added that “thousands of people attended the funeral of the slain family Monday and are planning a protest against coalition forces Tuesday”.

Deputy AG loses job after tweet drama
Dept. Attorney General Jeff Cox is now Former Dept. Attorney General Jeff Cox and no longer is part of the Indiana AG’s office.
Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama & Neo-Liberalism are the Daleys’ Gifts to Chicago and the Nation. Thanks.
Fox reverses poll results to portray public as anti-union
Ruling on Assange’s Extradition Is Due on Thursday
The origins of the ALP
Egypt May End the ‘Obama Arms Bazaar’ – NOT!
Military budget of the United States

For the 2010 fiscal year, the president’s base budget of the Department of Defense rose to $533.8 billion. Adding spending on “overseas contingency operations” brings the sum to $663.8 billion.[1][2]

When the budget was signed into law on October 28, 2009, the final size of the Department of Defense’s budget was $680 billion, $16 billion more than President Obama had requested.[3] An additional $37 billion supplemental bill to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was expected to pass in the spring of 2010, but has been delayed by the House of Representatives after passing the Senate.[4][5] Defense-related expenditures outside of the Department of Defense constitute between $319 billion and $654 billion in additional spending, bringing the total for defense spending to between $1.01 and $1.35 trillion in fiscal year 2010.[6]

Palestine/ Israel Links

Israel asked Palestinian Authority to kill al-Aqsa commander
Secret Palestine documents expose sham “peace process”
Breaking: 11 year old child arrested in Nabi Saleh
Israel rejects Palestinian capitulation
Warcrim Tony Blair criticised for ‘Israeli bias’ & advocating “an apartheid-like approach”
‘Black Swan’ director against Israel boycott

Other Links

ElBaradei sensing an opportunity for 2011 presidential run? “If the Tunisians have done it, Egyptians should get there too,” the former UN nuclear watchdog chief told Der Spiegel for an interview to be published on Monday.
Egypt’s government forbids more protests
Tunisia asks Interpol to issue arrest warrant against ousted president – where’s the 1.5 tons of gold, Ben Ali?
Healthy man in a sick Europe
Dr. Helen Caldicott : If You Love This Planet : Sundays at 3 pm EST
France deplores protests in Egypt
Demonstrations were held in Cairo yesterday demanding the ouster of President Mubarak and calling for reforms. This was inspired by recent events in Tunisia and by the works of our talented Associate, Carlos Latuff.
Mubarak’s son, family fly out to UK: reports
The Egyptian consulate in Britain was more forthcoming than the UK Home Office (see 12.38pm) on the reports that Gamal Mubarak (son of Hosni) and his family have fled to London amid the protests, my colleague Sam Jones tells me. A spokesman said to him:

We deny it. I assume he is in Cairo, but he’s not in London. That’s the truth of the matter.

The spokesman, who said the reports had originated on the US-based website, Akhbar Al-Arab, would not comment on whether Gamal Mubarak had any plans to flee Egypt.”
Police crackdown in Tunisia meets resistance
Robertson accepts US law award with warning to back off Assange
Aborigines must join in debate, says Aunty Doreen Linda Burney

Couldn’t resist borrowing this O’Really factor from the esteemed Antony Loewenstein blog. Watch it all for best effect.

2010-12-04: NSW Supreme Court solicitor: Letter to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard

by Peter Kemp, Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW, on 2010-12-04

Dear Prime Minister
From the Sydney Morning Herald I note you made a comment of “illegal” on the matter of Mr Assange in relation to the ongoing leaks of US diplomatic cables.

Previously your colleague and Attorney General the Honourable McClelland announced an investigation of possible criminality by Mr Assange.

As a lawyer and citizen I find this most disturbing, particularly so when a brief perusal of the Commonwealth Criminal Code shows that liability arises under the Espionage provisions, for example, only when it is the Commonwealth’s “secrets” that are disclosed and that there must be intent to damage the Commonwealth.

Likewise under Treason law, there must be an intent to assist an enemy. Clearly, and reinforced by publicly available material such as Professor Saul’s excellent article:

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/dont-cry-over-wikil…

…Julian Assange has almost certainly committed no crime under Australian law in relation to his involvement in Wikileaks.

…. More

Contact the Australian Prime Minister here: http://www.pm.gov.au/PM_Connect/Email_your_PM and let her know what you think.

Some Links for Today

Debunked: “Julian Assange is a Traitor (U.S.)”
WikiLeaks cables show surrender is only option offered to Taliban
Wikileaks.org blocked, but mirror sites proliferating
The Wikileaks Manifesto, by Julian Assange
WikiLeaks’ Assange to fight any extradition: lawyer
The Ottoman Empire, 1798-1923
Are You Targeted?
The price of the Treasury’s Policy – how Netanyahu’s fiscal cuts slashed into the Israeli firefighting budget
Ali Abunimah and Ilan Pappe at the Palestine Solidarity Conference in Stuttgart, Nov 27 2010
WikiLeaks cables: Conservatives promised to run ‘pro-American regime’ Leaked dispatch reveals how US diplomats are amused by Britain’s ‘paranoid’ fears about so-called special relationship
No job if you link to WikiLeaks, warns Columbia
Universities Warn Students: Reading/Discussing Wikileaks Could Cost You a Future Government Job
WikiLeaks on the run
Wikileaks on Facebook
Saving Ergenekon through WikiLeaks
Is the Crackdown on Wikileaks and Threats of Julian Assange’s Arrest Exactly What He Was Planning?
Global Gaza, Global Ummah
The Shameful Attacks on Julian Assange
Wikileaks hounded? – Reporters Without Borders
Burden of Proof – for those who need an obvious tool to deal with the all-pervasive conspiracy theorists.
Nepali Maoists on Wikileaks: American “Press Freedom” is Illusion
Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg calls for boycott of Amazon.com
International campaign targets WikiLeaks web site
Rubberhose
Marutukku
Wikileaks: Numerous Reasons to Dismiss US Claims that “Ghost Prisoner” Aafia Siddiqui Was Not Held in Bagram
Is WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange a Hero? Glenn Greenwald Debates Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News
Alliance Online says attacks on Assange & Manning point to ‘dangerous atmosphere of intolerance & persecution’
Cablebgate
Personal message from Julian Assange
Julian Assange under investigation by police in Australia
Evading a shutdown, WikiLeaks mobilizes Twitter supporters
Jeremy Scahill: WikiLeaks Cables Confirm Secret U.S. War Ops in Pakistan
IFJ Condemns United States “Desperate and Dangerous” Backlash over WikiLeaks
Shame on Australia: Australia Should be Behind Wikileaks Founder
Australia shows true colours over Wikileaks (and the look is bad)

A Question to Julian Assange on the Guardian

Any chance you can clarify your remarks about Netanyahu’s consistency between public and private utterances? is consistent lying in public and private to be applauded? Are you aware that ‘peace’ for Israel is code for ‘stalling while we steal more Palestinian land’?

Hoping there’s cable which comes to light illustrating that Barak communicated his (documented) private intention for the Gaza massacre to the US even before he entered with malice aforethought into the duplicitous truce with Hamas.

Julian answers other questions

When new art comes along, the majority who are accustomed to following rather than leading tend to decry it as worthless. History is strewn with examples of this phenomenon, the most famous being Vincent Van Gogh.

To open the senses to the new is to step outside the mundane, to allow oneself to be shocked and shaken. Learning to appreciate this experience is essential to living a full life. Enjoy this atmospheric piece, “Seachanges (with danse macabre)” in the context of these comments.