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Peace of the graveyard

Posted by johnrichardson at 04:37 AM on January 16, 2009

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From Tony Greenstein on the ~~pro-war~~ pro-Israeli rally in trafalgar, attended by about 2000 people:

"...what the demonstration lacked in numbers it made up in chutzpah. All the speeches, especially that of the universally ridiculed Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks were about ?peace?. As the account below demonstrates, when a lone Jewish heckler produced a megaphone during the racist rabbi?s rant, he had objects thrown at him, was attacked by the crowd and manhandled by the CST (of course!) before being arrested by the bovver boys in blue (or nowadays yellow jackets). No doubt this is what they mean by peace!

All the posters talked of Hamas terror as if the children killed in the war had been killed by Hamas rather than Israel. What this demonstrates is that the only terror the hardline racists in the crowd recognise is that directed at Israelis ? Palestinian casualties count for nought. The ?peace? they talk about is the peace of the graveyard."

Young Jew Sings Protest to Chief Rabbi, Gets Arrested
Dovid 11.01.2009 20:27
LONDON - A young Jewish man was arrested today after singing at the Chief Rabbi of GB, Jonathan Sacks, during his speech at today's End Hamas Terror (pro-Israel) rally.
Dovid Von Neumann stood up on the ridge of a Trafalgar Square fountain and sung the well known child's Chanukah song 'Sevivon sov sov sov.' [Spinning-top, spin spin spin] He was pushed into the iced fountain by members of the demonstration and was wrestled into police custody by special Jewish security guards.

Whilst the ongoing Israeli bombing of Gaza began during the festival of Chanukah, Jewish children around the world received the traditional gift of a four sided spinning-top (sevivon in Hebrew, driedel in Yiddish). Jewish children play a betting game on whichever side the sevivon should land on. Today these are mostly made from plastic; once upon a time they were cast in lead - hence Operation Cast Lead, the name given by Israel to its current Gaza incursion.

Dovid explains:

"I wished to highlight the insidiousness of how the current Israeli invasion into Gaza was named after a child's toy made from a highly toxic material, lead, and how Palestinian children have been at the mercy of such randomly falling deathly devices. Hundreds of children in Gaza have been killed by indirect attack, like flying shrapnel or inadequate medical resources, whilst many have died through direct attack. It's as if Israel had the lead sevivon in mind as a metaphorical present to Palestinian children."

Through his red megaphone, Dovid also accused Rabbi Sacks of being unrepresentative of the Jewish community in his claims that British Jews supported Israel's current military action.

As he was being grabbed by a Jewish security guard inside the semi-frozen Trafalgar Square fountain, Dovid was seen kissing the guard on each cheek, a traditional way of greeting another Jew. Nevertheless the guard snapped his megaphone in half and pulled him to the crowd, who assisted to drag him to the pavement. Dovid was screaming "Ani gam Yehudi! "[I'm also Jewish] but he was nevertheless handcuffed and carried away by Police. The on looking crowd, mostly Jewish and Hebrew speaking, was left quite shocked. Dovid, 25, was held for a number of hours by Metropolitan Police until the day's other demonstrations were over. He was released without charge.

The incident is recorded on this vid - starting at about 6.30.

Atheist bus

Posted by johnrichardson at 07:10 AM on January 09, 2009

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Full article

Stephen Green, the national director of Christian Voice, is among those who have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, arguing that the atheist campaign broke the advertising code on the grounds of substantiation and truthfulness.

[...]

Hanne Stinson, the chief executive of the British Humanist Association, which launched the campaign, said she "pitied the ASA if they are going to be expected to rule on the probability of god's existence. However, if they do investigate we will be very happy to respond".

Jewish opposition to Zionism and the occupation

Posted by johnrichardson at 05:04 AM on January 09, 2009

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"Suffering does not ennoble people. One thing we learn from history is that yesterday's victims can become tomorrow's oppressors. To expect better behaviour of Jews than from others because of the holocaust is to apply double standards, and verges on racism. For me, the question is not, how could the Israelis behave like Nazis. Its is rather, how can those who laud the heroic response of the resisters in besieged Warsaw condemn the heroic response of the resisters in besieged [Gaza]?"

Two very different Jews opposed to the war

'I am also against the Gaza War'

Posted by johnrichardson at 04:29 AM on January 05, 2009

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RIP Harold Pinter

Posted by johnrichardson at 07:39 AM on December 31, 2008

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Harold Pinter's Nobel acceptence speech. He was a brilliant artist & a committed and principled socialist.

He died 24.12.08.

Pt 1 (with intro from Amy Goodman):

Pt. 2

On colonialism

Posted by johnrichardson at 07:17 AM on December 31, 2008

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Zionism is directed towards achieving three basic fundamental objectives: the acquisition and conquest of land, the ‘in-gathering’ of the world’s Jews in Palestine and the establishment of an ethnic state for the Jews (Masalha, 2000: 21)

Interviews and commentary from Israelis & Palestinians at the sharp end of these attacks (Democracy Now)

Contains images of dead children, not used on British TV:

Resistance

Atomised

Posted by johnrichardson at 06:51 AM on December 23, 2008

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'this is what's happening: The world out there is terrible. Don't try to change the world, wouldn't you rather just stay home? Stay here. This machine is so pretty. Click, music comes out. Entertainment comes out. It's very seductive. It's the ultimate suburbanisation. Of life.'

Escape from Doncatraz

Posted by johnrichardson at 05:03 AM on December 19, 2008

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The Law locks up the man or woman

Who steals a goose from off the common.

But leaves the greater villain loose

Who steals the common from the goose

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