Category Archives: Apartheid

Meet the Palestinian man arrested for being sarcastic on Facebook | +972 Magazine

Like Ludvik, the protagonist in Milan Kundera’s novel “The Joke,” Anas Abudaabes has discovered firsthand the problems that arise when a regime lacks a sense of humor or irony. Yet Abudaabes, unlike Ludvik, has not lost his own sense of humor, even following his Kafkaesque arrest last week for writing an ironic Facebook post lampooning those who celebrated the fires that were raging across Israel.

Source: Meet the Palestinian man arrested for being sarcastic on Facebook | +972 Magazine

Dutch lawmakers endorse limited burqa ban | NRS-Import | DW.COM | Shame does not count any more for Dutch?

Almost as shameful and ironic as possible where leaders once wore Star of David to give support to Jews hated by Germans. Now, they join those who want to brand all Muslims as people to be feared, hated and distrusted.

The House of Representatives in the Netherlands has voted in favor of prohibiting the face-covering burqa and niqab in some public places. The government has insisted the move is soley for security purposes.

Source: Dutch lawmakers endorse limited burqa ban | NRS-Import | DW.COM | 29.11.2016

Before the fires are out, Israeli politicians blame the Arabs | +972 Magazine

To be clear, it’s entirely possible that not all of the dozens of fires in Israel and Palestine over the past few days broke out accidentally or naturally. It’s fire season — the combination of unusual dryness for this time of year and strong winds make wildfires a naturally occurring threat. And on top of that, Palestinian and Arab towns, cities and villages, have also been evacuated and hit by the fires — they’re not “targeting” Jews.

Source: Before the fires are out, Israeli politicians blame the Arabs | +972 Magazine

Who Are the Millions of ‘Bad Hombres’ Slated for US Deportation? Mostly imaginary people and scapegoats. Next will be whomever opposes Trump – you!

The time for Latin America to resist bigotry and racism has thus arrived. In this task, we must not resort to nationalist discourses that merely mirror, from the other side of the looking glass, the stereotype of evil gringos who hate bad hombres.Rather, Latin American responses to racism should draw both from humanism and an accurate knowledge of the past, as well as of human rights and international law.Two positive steps we could take are addressing the countries’ own crime problems while respecting rights and due process, and treating with dignity the approximately 500,000 Central American immigrants who cross into Mexico each year.Like it or not, history and geography have now made Mexicans the vanguard of resistance, and the world will be watching.

Source: Who Are the Millions of ‘Bad Hombres’ Slated for US Deportation?

Germany supporting ethnic cleansing in Kurdish Iraq – www.german-foreign-policy.com

BERLIN/ERBIL/BAGHDAD (Own report) – In the wake of the war against IS (Daesh), the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, which is supported by Berlin, is forcibly displacing the Arabic-speaking inhabitants, aimed at a consolidation of the Kurdish dominated territory, as was reported by Human Rights Watch (HRW). According to HRW’s investigation, the Kurdish Peshmerga has deliberately destroyed the homes of Arabic-speaking Sunnis in at least 21 villages and towns in northern Iraq, while leaving intact the Kurdish-owned houses. The Kurdistan Regional Government under President Masoud Barzani is striving to incorporate as many areas as possible – particularly the oil rich region Kirkuk – into the Kurdish autonomous region before seceding from Iraq. For decades, Barzani and his clan have been cooperating closely with politicians from the Federal Republic of Germany. Berlin was also promised access to the large oil reserves in the autonomous region. In return, Germany, above all, has been supporting the Peshmerga in its war against Daesh, while refusing similar aid to the Baghdad government. The German government is also ignoring the eviction of the Arabic-speaking inhabitants of the predominantly Kurdish region.

Source: www.german-foreign-policy.com

Lebanon builds wall around Palestinian refugee camp | Middle East | DW.COM | 22.11.2016

“The Lebanese authorities are building an apartheid wall surrounding the Ain al-Helweh camp in Sidon,” tweeted an account called Yarmouk News. Commentators on social media have used the term apartheid to describe the wall, claiming that it isolates and separates the Palestinians in the camp from the rest of Lebanese society.After the war of Arab-Israeli war of 1948, many displaced Palestinians were forced to flee to Lebanon. The majority of these Palestinians remain stateless refugees even today. The United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) provides food, medicine, education and other necessities to the Palestinian population in Lebanon. The Lebanese government bars Palestinians from taking white-collar jobs such as in the law and engineering fields. Palestinian refugees in Jordan, on the other hand, are eligible for Jordanian citizenship.

Source: Lebanon builds wall around Palestinian refugee camp | Middle East | DW.COM | 22.11.2016

The Arizona Tribe That Knows How to Stop a Trump Wall – Intercontinental Cry – Not Really but they hope so.

President-elect Donald Trump says that he will build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. It will stop undocumented immigrants from entering the country. It will stop drugs from entering the country. It will be 50 feet tall. It will be nearly a thousand miles long. And it will cut the traditional lands of the […]

Source: The Arizona Tribe That Knows How to Stop a Trump Wall – Intercontinental Cry

In the short term, when it comes to securing the border, there are no easy answers or solutions. But when it comes to working with tribal nations on the issue, in the eyes of the Tohono O’odham, Trump’s proposed wall represents either gross ignorance or blatant disregard for tribal sovereignty. And if construction begins, it could signal the winding back of clocks on U.S.-tribal relations on the border.

“I can’t even imagine how far it would set us back,” says Tatum. “More than a hundred years.”

{I cannot imagine that Mr. Trump could care a whit about tribal law, or the wishes of the Tohono O’odham – he cares about Trump and that is about as far as his caring goes.}

How Donald Trump Is Building a Fourth Reich | Dame Magazine

It’s been two weeks and already we’ve been inundated with debates and think pieces on how and why our nation’s voters elected a lying, unstable, unqualified, egomaniacal racist and misogynistic candidate as the 45th president of the United States of America. Donald Trump’s victory proves that in America, white men—even the most morally degraded—only have to be fractionally as good as everybody to be successful.Mainstream media outlets, which profited off Trump’s campaign and failed to uphold their basic responsibility of reporting the facts, educating the public and correcting lies, will not act like retrospect experts. Not only are they refusing to be held accountable for their incessant coverage that helped Trump’s winning the election, they are using any backlash that ensues in the streets to build their ratings.Many pundits are already professing their shock, asking how we got here. And the media are quickly normalizing a man who built—and indeed won—on a campaign driven by hate while pretending to push a narrative of “unity.” And they’re not just normalizing him, but his whole chaotic transition team and proposed cabinet filled with far-right henchmen who will enact the white-supremacist, anti-Muslim, misogynist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, xenophobic messages Trump spouted off on the campaign trail.

Source: How Donald Trump Is Building a Fourth Reich | Dame Magazine

George Takei Responds to Trump Surrogate’s “Dangerous” Japanese-American Internment Camp Comments | Hollywood Reporter

George Takei is taking a firm stand against the recent comments by a Donald Trump surrogate that the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII serves as “precedent” for a national Muslim registry now. Takei called the remarks “dangerous” and warned against history repeating itself. “The Japanese-American internment was an egregious violation of our national values and principles, a terrible event for which Congress apologized in 1988,” said Takei. “To invoke that dark chapter as a precedent for any action against any minorities today is a morally bankrupt and dangerous step, completely out-of-bounds with contemporary notions of civil and human rights.”

Source: George Takei Responds to Trump Surrogate’s “Dangerous” Japanese-American Internment Camp Comments | Hollywood Reporter

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