Category Archives: Rock on-Peace Out

UK student leaders reject “partisan” anti-Semitism report | The Electronic Intifada

In an open letter, the student leaders condemn an influential parliamentary committee’s “selective and partisan” report on anti-Semitism in the UK, which was published on Sunday.The NUS itself has also criticized the report’s politicized approach to anti-Semitism.The student leaders say that the Home Affairs Select Committee’s report is an attempt “to delegitimize NUS and discredit Malia Bouattia as its president.”The parliamentary committee is dominated by the governing Conservative Party.Despite admitting there is no evidence that Labour under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn is any more prone to anti-Semitism than any other party, the report overwhelmingly focuses on the Labour Party.Corbyn on Sunday hit back that the select committee was guilty of “politicizing anti-Semitism” and neglecting to combat it in the Conservative Party.VilificationThe report has also come in for flak over its call to outlaw criticism of Zionism, Israel’s official ideology.First published Sunday night, the open letter has now garnered the signatures of almost 400 student leaders.The select committee’s report claims that Bouattia’s characterization of the University of Birmingham as an outpost of Zionism “smacks of outright racism.”In a 2011 blog post, Bouattia wrote that the leadership of the university’s Jewish society was “dominated by Zionist activists.”The open letter demands a “revised report that is impartial” and the retraction of what it says are false statements about NUS policy on campus anti-Semitism, “along with an apology to those who have been vilified by the inaccuracies and partisan biases it contains.”The report includes a large section on anti-Semitism in UK universities, which mostly focuses on Bouattia.It criticizes her record as a campaigner for Palestinian rights, saying her “choice of language” suggests “a worrying disregard for her duty to represent all sections of the student population and promote balanced and respectful debate.”Bouattia, an advocate of the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, has faced attack from right-wing media and Israel lobby groups since she was elected NUS president in April.Singled outIn their open letter, the student leaders say they are “alarmed” at how Bouattia “is being singled out for her views on Israel by the [Home Affairs Select Committee] in its report, and depicted as the source of anti-Semitism in higher education.”On Sunday, an NUS spokesperson said the report “fails to address the reality for students” and that it was “partial and inaccurate in relation to NUS work in tackling anti-Semitism.”Bouattia welcomed parts of the report, saying that its “data on increasing anti-Semitism and targeting of the Jewish community is deeply concerning.”She affirmed that “there is no place for anti-Semitism in the student movement.”The student leaders’ letter said that the report’s focus on the Labour Party and the NUS “casts doubt upon its authors’ intentions.”They reject the parliamentary committee’s recommendation suggesting that “legitimate criticism of Zionism … be considered as hate-crimes by the government, effectively equating them with anti-Semitism.”“Zionism is a political ideology that continues to express itself through the actions of the state of Israel. It is one that is held or rejected by both Jewish people and non-Jewish people,” the student leaders state. “As with all political ideologies, it should be open to discussion, scrutiny and debate.”

Source: UK student leaders reject “partisan” anti-Semitism report | The Electronic Intifada

Abbi Jacobson Didn’t Expect Hillary Clinton to Come on Her Show – The New York Times

Clinton appeared on your show in March. Were you surprised to get her? Yeah! We wrote the episode a year before it came out. Hillary was the only person running at the time — not that we would have ever had another candidate on — but we wrote it not thinking we would ever actually get her on. Afterward, I said in some interview that it wasn’t a political statement, which was a stupid statement to make. Of course it’s a political statement! For us, it felt like we were justifying our show in a different way — it felt historic. Plus, before we shot Hillary, Amy Poehler was her stand-in. She didn’t do the impression.WRITE A COMMENTWere you thinking that you had to be on your best behavior? Like, everybody, put down your joints and detox for 48 hours before she shows up? Yeah. Everyone had to be background-checked. There was Secret Service. It was really intense.Do you think she did it because she watches the show herself or because someone advised her that it would help her reach a certain audience? Listen, I don’t think she and Bill are watching our show. Maybe Chelsea would?

Source: Abbi Jacobson Didn’t Expect Hillary Clinton to Come on Her Show – The New York Times

Occupation denial is pushing me out of my Jewish community | +972 Magazine

In the wake of the release of the Movement for Black Lives platform, the opposition of many Jewish organizations — and the silence of progressive organizations, many of whom had profoundly shaped my vision of justice — was stinging. The fervent, public opposition to Black Lives Matter was particularly stark considering how few Jewish organizations have publicly condemned Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. What I found striking about reactions to the platform was what they demonstrated about the Jewish community’s support for the occupation. The Jewish community can no longer acknowledge the full depth of black oppression in this country, fearing that if they do they might reveal how black parents instructing their children to refrain from wearing hoodies around the police is eerily similar to a Palestinian parent instructing their child to wear a cross at a checkpoint.This past year we saw too many in the Jewish establishment continue to support the occupation, publicly reject the Movement for Black Lives, and remain silent in the face of Trump’s rise. This coming year we will witness the 50th year of occupation, a new president, and a emboldened ultra-nationalist community in the United States. I can no longer sit silently in the back of a synagogue or give money and time to progressive Jewish organizations while our community ignores injustice. There is no better time to take action.

Source: Occupation denial is pushing me out of my Jewish community | +972 Magazine

With ‘Tweet Me Your First Assaults,’ a Protest Movement Is Born – The New York Times

But to many victims of sexual assault, Mr. Trump’s words struck a particular nerve. It was not simply that he is the Republican presidential nominee, and that a hot microphone had captured him speaking unguardedly. It was his casual tone, the manner in which he and the television personality Billy Bush appeared to be speaking a common language, many women said, that gave Mr. Trump’s boasts a special resonance.What he said and how he said it seemed to say as much about the broader environment toward women — an environment that had kept many of these women silent for so long — as they did about the candidate. And Mr. Trump’s dismissal of his actions as “locker room talk” only underscored the point.“This is RAPE CULTURE — the cultural conditioning of men and boys to feel entitled to treat women as objects,” Jill Gallenstein, 40, a retail executive in Los Angeles, wrote on Facebook. “It’s women and girls questioning what they have done to provoke such behavior. It’s the dismissing of this behavior because ‘it’s the way it has always been.’ It’s justifying the behavior because other powerful men have done it too. ‘Locker room talk’ normalizes this behavior — what we say matters.”That locker room talk also seemed to create its own momentum online.“I’ve never really thought about these moments cumulatively before,” Julie Oppenheimer of Chicago wrote on Facebook, after listing a few episodes of her own, including being kissed on the mouth by the janitor at her synagogue when she was 13. “In part, because they seem so ‘small’ compared to what many have experienced — not worthy of consideration. That’s because all of us already live in Trump’s world, where these behaviors are commonplace.”Laura Sabransky was one of many women who added to Ms. Oppenheimer’s thread, writing that she had been given date-rape drugs three times between high school and college. “I call Trump a walking trigger alert,” she said in an interview. “He is triggering anxiety and PTSD-like reactions in women, me included.”

Source: With ‘Tweet Me Your First Assaults,’ a Protest Movement Is Born – The New York Times

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day | 3CHICSPOLITICO

 

Native American music is as vast and diverse as the people who create it, and each tribe has its own musical approach and style that has been passed down for centuries. Music is at the center of Native American culture, used in religious rituals, for healing, for accompanying work or games and for social gatherings of all kinds. For most Native Americans, music and song is not a human invention but something given to them by spirits to facilitate interaction between the heavens and Earth.Lyrics are filled with symbolism, and singers sometimes use made-up sounds to help create the stories and rhythmic poetry. Vocals and chanting are ubiquitous in traditional Native American music, and flutes and drums are the most common instruments found throughout the various tribes.

Source: Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Robert DeNiro Announces He’d Like To Punch Donald Trump In The Face: Gothamist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries

 

There isn’t much to it aside from DeNiro savaging Trump, but he seemed to enjoy every second of it:I mean he’s so blatantly stupid. He’s a punk, he’s a dog. He’s a pig, he’s a con, a bullshit artist, a mutt who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He doesn’t do his homework, doesn’t care thinks he’s gaming society. Doesn’t pay his taxes. He’s an idiot. Colin Powell said it best: He’s a national disaster. He’s an embarrassment to this country. It makes me so angry this country has gotten to this point that this fool, this bozo, has wound up where he has. He talks how he wants to punch people in the face? Well, I’d like to punch him in the face. This is somebody that we want for president? I don’t think so. What I care about is the direction of this country and what I’m very, very worried about is that it might go in the wrong direction with someone like Donald Trump. If you care about your future, vote for it.

Source: Robert DeNiro Announces He’d Like To Punch Donald Trump In The Face: Gothamist

Listen to These Ladies Make Fun of Making America Great Again – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

On a day when US presidential candidate Donald Trump defends even more (imagine, even more) misogyny as just locker-room talk, this firmly anti-nostalgia song might be the thing to watch.

Source: Listen to These Ladies Make Fun of Making America Great Again – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

I Was Sick Of Not Seeing Women Running Outdoors Till It Hit Me I Was Part Of The Problem – The Ladies Finger

I, despite being a staunch feminist, was very much part of the problem. All the while that I’d been blaming others for alienating women in public spaces, I’d made sure I made myself invisible every time I stepped out of the house. I’d stopped taking buses and local trains a long time ago. My excuses ranged from “It’s too hot” to “It’s too polluted” to “I’m running late” to “People sweat too much in a bus”. I’d stopped wearing sleeveless clothes so as to not stand out on Chennai roads. A quick visit to the mom and pop store around the corner would see me kick-starting my bike. Even when I walked, it was never a walk. It was always a stride. With purpose. In one direction. Fast.Refusing to perpetuate and give in to the same fear and alienation that haunts most Indian women, I chose the beach as my place of penitence. For the first time ever, I started running to repent and to reclaim. On the first day, it was unsettling but for every person who looked my way, I’d tell myself, “This space, the beach, the breeze, the right to be is as much yours as it’s theirs.” I stopped hunching my shoulders. I stopped making myself smaller. I started taking full breaths. My chest rising and falling with every step I took. It was a liberation I had never felt before. As I ran, people watched. I never made eye contact. As the days went by, people still watched as I ran. But I smiled.I ran for myself and the lady shyly jogging on the other side of the track. I ran because I have every right to. I also ran for a future where my daughter never has to feel like she doesn’t belong. I ran for a playground that will have both girls and boys kicking up dust. I ran for a time when girls can walk down roads whenever they want, wherever they want, wearing whatever they want. And, I will continue to run till that day comes. It’s one of the many small, only seemingly inconsequential things I can do till the day no woman feels the need to write an article like this. Till then I will run. And, you can watch. Or…

Source: I Was Sick Of Not Seeing Women Running Outdoors Till It Hit Me I Was Part Of The Problem – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

IOF Deported all 13 Zaytouna-Oliva Women Boat – PNN

All 13 of the women on the Women’s Boat to Gaza are currently in the process of deportation after being captured by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and detained in a prison at Ashdod.Wendy Goldsmith, a member of the land team working to secure the release of the women stated that, “the deportation was much quicker than in prior flotillas.While we had a great legal team assisting the women, we suspect that the reason for the quick release was because of all the negative media attention Israel has been receiving for its illegal interception.”According to early reports from the women released, the Zaytouna-Oliva was surrounded by two warships along with four to five smaller naval boats.

Source: IOF Deported all 13 Zaytouna-Oliva Women Boat – PNN