All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Israeli army jails two new conscientious objectors | +972 Magazine

Tamar Alon and Tamar Ze’evi, who are asking to perform civilian national service instead of military service, see things differently. “From a young age I met my parents’ Palestinian friends — I met people who are supposed to be my enemies who smiled at me, played with me, and spoke with me,” wrote Tamar Alon in a declaration ahead of her refusal. “I can’t accept the claim that the oppression of another people, the denial of basic human rights, and racism and hate are necessary for the existence of State of Israel.”Alon added that she finalized her decision to refuse serving in the army after hearing the speeches of two bereaved brothers, an Israeli and a Palestinian, at a joint memorial day ceremony in which they both asked others to learn from their personal tragedies and instead work for peace.“On the one hand, it’s my legal and societal obligation, which I always intended and expected to fulfill — the right to safeguard the security of my home and the people most dear to me,” Tamar Ze’evi wrote in her declaration. “But on the other hand, is a childhood in the shadow of terror attacks and wars real security? What about the security of those human beings on the other side of the walls? Am I, as a daughter of the people controlling the another people, responsible for their well-being? Where is the line where we stop collaborating, have we already crossed it? I am not willing to lend a hand to a situation in which two peoples are living in fear of each other, and are paying such a heavy price for dozens of years. Out of love for this land and the human beings who live in it, I want to believe, and I do believe that there is a different path and that we can effect change.”

Source: Israeli army jails two new conscientious objectors | +972 Magazine

Giving Tuesday for CincySmiles Foundation

CincySmiles Foundation was established in 1909, and our mission is to ensure that all members of our community have access to oral health education, disease prevention and treatment services with a special emphasis on those who are at risk due to poverty.Our programs served over 15,000 men, women and children last year and we continue to expand our impact as we move forward into the future. CincySmiles has 4 programs that include the Dental Road Crew, McMicken Dental Center, Discounted Donated Services, and our Workforce Development Program. We are asking for support for our first Giving Tuesday Campaign.  Giving Tuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday and is a movement to create an international day of giving. To get involved with this movement, we have asked several of our employees, volunteers and supporters to participate as Ambassadors.  Our Ambassadors are helping us raise awareness about our organization and this event all month long.  The event will begin on November 2nd and will run until Giving Tuesday, November 29th. On November 29th, we will celebrate and announce the funds raised from the campaign!Please support our event and help us continue to bring smiles to the Greater Cincinnati area.

Source: Giving Tuesday for CincySmiles Foundation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kTcjXhGbxU&feature=share night train best version ever – Louis Prima – Sam Butera on sax

Israel’s biggest paper ignores anti-Semitism of senior Trump advisor | +972 Magazine

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis will have no idea that a bonafide anti-Semite is going to be the next U.S. president’s left-hand man. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Sunday he will be appointing Stephen K. Bannon, a white nationalist anti-Semite and one of the faces of the pro-Trump alt-right movement, as the new White House chief strategist. But you wouldn’t know any of that if you leafed through Israel Hayom, Israel’s most widely-read newspaper on Monday.

Source: Israel’s biggest paper ignores anti-Semitism of senior Trump advisor | +972 Magazine

Swedish politician suspends Twitter account over ‘hate’ – The Local

A former Social Democrat MP and one of the party’s most outspoken feminist and anti-racist campaigners on Tuesday said ‘lies and hate’ had prompted her to take a break from Twitter.Racist and sexist trolls target Sweden’s Twitter account (06 Oct 16)Veronica Palm, a former member of parliament and chairwoman of the centre-left Social Democrat party’s local branch in Stockholm, said the increasingly hostile social climate on Twitter was behind her decision to suspend her account.”As you have noticed I’ve been tweeting less and less. The reason is simple: it actually bloody hurts,” she wrote in a tweet on Tuesday morning.”I simply don’t have the energy. I am human and want to continue to be human. Not switch off my feelings about what other people say. And in that case, lies and hate hurts. It gets under my skin, every day,” Palm, 43, continued.”I have promised that I won’t be silenced by hate and threats. I know that the democratic conversation and free speech is the foundation of democracy, but right now I just can’t do it. I won’t stay quiet, but I’m taking a break from Twitter.”

Source: Swedish politician suspends Twitter account over ‘hate’ – The Local

A Message from GeoNet’s Director: Responding to the Monster – Latest News – GeoNet – New Zealand – God save you.

Kiwis: we’re a unique type of toughI just want to say a few words about people.  This is a painful time. People have died and we mourn with their family and friends. I can only imagine how people are struggling right now in Kaikoura, Ward, and Waiau and the other affected regions.  Also, people in Christchurch are experiencing reminders of an earthquake nightmare they might have thought was over, only to realise that sadly, earthquakes are part of the standard operating procedure here in New Zealand.  In the Wellington region, we are now experiencing intense flooding, complicating our ability to recover from this earthquake.  This combination of hits from nature is exhausting and upsetting. Damage from the M 7.5 Kaikoura EarthquakeBut here is the upshot. One thing I know about us Kiwis, we are prepared, tough, and able to cope with almost anything. It is perfectly acceptable to be scared by this earthquake but we will get through this by doing what I think Kiwis do best: helping each other. We saw this with the Canterbury earthquakes and we are seeing this again.  We are also good at taking care of our visitors and our new Kiwis as well.I can’t relieve anyone’s anxiety about future earthquakes; more will come.  What I can say is that preparedness, that old Civil Defence and Emergency Management mantra, is the best solution to being ready for these events. Please visit our friends at the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management to find out how you can prepare.  To learn more about your tsunami evacuation zones and advice, visit your local and regional council.  To learn how to keep your china, house and other precious items safe, visit our friends and funders, EQC.

Source: A Message from GeoNet’s Director: Responding to the Monster – Latest News – GeoNet

Trump-Branded Buildings Being Renamed After Complaints | Hollywood Reporter

Tenants learned on Tuesday from the company that owns and manages the New York skyscrapers, which hold 1,325 rental apartments, that the huge gold letters spelling out “Trump Place” would be removed from the sides of the buildings within days.”We’re all very excited and thrilled, and it’s about time,” said Marjorie Jacobs, who has lived in one of the buildings for five years. “We’re disgusted with the results of the presidency.”

Source: Trump-Branded Buildings Being Renamed After Complaints | Hollywood Reporter

A declaration of defeat

Continuous defeat, is a very real sense… but you are still standing, you are still Palestinian. The thousands of Israeli’s working everyday to imprison you are themselves imprisoned in that task rather than building a peace for the seventh daughters and sons and their seventh daughters and sons of Palestinian and Israeli peoples.

نادية حرحش

When the declaration of the Palestinian independence was announced in 15 November 1988 in Algeria, the dream of liberation became a step closer. We were in the middle of the first Intifada and the stories of of our heroic resilience were impressive even to us. We really believed that it was time for liberation. After living a whole life, (I was fifteen back then) under occupation, only commemorating one misery after another, it was time that we have a good Palestinian day.

With its good and worse, this day became a symbol.

However, independence never came even though a state has been declared in a similar symbolic empty setting, this time in the UN.

As I am looking at myself , three times older than that day when the independence was first declared , I bow down my head with disappointment that continued to impose itself on the Palestinian living…

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