Sailing aid’s not enough; break blockade ─ REMEMBER Rafah

Barred

 Break through passivity ─ Remember PALESTINE

Blockaded

Excerpt, editing by 

Carolyn Bennett

No one wants dependency

The passivity of the world, the passivity of the European Union, Western world passivity and support for Israel are central to the problem.

The siege of Gaza and especially the maritime siege of Gaza is an abomination. It is illegal and should be stopped immediately — Dror Feiler

European activist Dror Feiler with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was on the Freedom Flotilla 2010, the Freedom Flotilla 2011, on the French boat Dignity, which succeeded in breaking the siege, coming close to Gaza, and most recently “on the Estelle” Swedish mission to Gaza.

“What we were doing is trying to send the message of solidarity,” he said. “What we were trying to do is to tell the people of the world that —

[t]his is not the question of ethnicity,

[t]his is not the question of nationality,

[t]his is not the question of religion.

We are together with Muslim, Christian, Jews, and atheist on the mission for human rights and international law.

 

Woman and child in the rubble

“If a terrorist or extremist is to defend international law, human rights, Geneva Convention, then, okay, we are extremists ─ if this is extremism. But I do not think it is. I think this is mainstream international policy and Israel’s policies are the extreme.”

The flotilla missions, Dror Feiler said, put the focus back on the Gaza and Palestine problem.

We put the focus on the fact that people should not be silent when others are suffering injustice — even if they live in countries far away from one another.

We put international solidarity on the map again and we will continue.

But sailing alms ─ many boats carry varieties of “aid” from crayons for children to wheelchairs ─ do not reach the heart of the problem.

Despair

“No Palestinian I have met wants to be dependent on aid,”  journalist Hassan Ghani says. “That is not a long-term solution.”

“The primary objective of these flotillas is not about taking aid,” he says. 

“The main objective of flotillas headed for Gaza is to break the siege so that Palestinians can trade with the world, access the international waters; and then, through commerce, lift themselves out of the [oppressive] situation.”

Import of flotilla missions

Though Palestinians are not yet at the point of starvation, Ghani says, they are “slowly being dragged to that point by the Israelis.

The Israeli siege is expanding. From their implementation on land, the Israelis are extending the siege to the sea — whether the Rafah border or the border with Israel — they are extending into the sea, where they have no legal right.

The young in rubble of Rafah

“Wave upon wave of boats” put the situation “back into the headlines and set precedent,” he says. Flotillas keep what is happening in Gaza — “the slow collective punishment of the Palestinian people” — on the news agenda.

REMEMBER Rafah, Remember PALESTINE

Sources and notes

Press TV interviews with

Independent journalist and documentary maker Hassan Ghani

Co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement from Paris Greta Berlin

Representative of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition from Sweden Dror Feiler

“‘Flotilla message was Palestinians not alone,’” (Interview), November 3, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/03/270286/flotilla-message-was-palestinians-not-alone/

“‘Flotillas after breaking Gaza siege not delivering aid,’” November 3, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/03/270284/flotillas-after-breaking-gaza-siege-not-delivering-aid/

Britannica image

“Gaza Strip: Palestinians crossing the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt: Palestinians crossing the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt at Rafaḥ, southern Gaza Strip (Mohammed Saber—epa/Corbis)

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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World Citizenship pledges allegiance to human family

 Matter of conscience

Excerpt, editing by Carolyn Bennett

From thoughts by “World Citizen” Ken O’Keefe

“I disagree with paying into a tax system that spends more than every other nation combined (more than 1 trillion dollars annually) at the behest of the ‘military industrial complex’ with a ‘global spectrum dominance’ agenda. I reject war except in legitimate self-defense (meaning the enemy is coming over your border). I would rather be imprisoned than pay for the murder of my brother and sister no matter how distant they may be.“

“I despise secret agendas and I am fully aware of the New World Order agenda seeking to establish a ‘one world government.’ I reject and denounce this agenda and want no part of any system that concentrates power in the hands of a minority at the expense of the majority. My goal is to effect a better world in which the will of the people is sacrosanct and the way of the world citizen is commonplace.“

“ Citizenship is a social contract. Within this contract, each person has rights and obligations.

“Citizenship is a reflection of one’s conscience, thus world citizenship (as I understand it) best reflects my ultimate allegiance to my entire human family and to planet Earth.

“World citizenship transcends rather than renounces the nation/state system which is inherently divisive. The philosophy behind world citizenship is a uniting force that respects one principle above all others: ‘The Golden Rule.’ You need only to understand the wisdom and necessity of ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ to qualify as a world citizen..“

Sources and notes

http://www.worldcitizen.uk.net/index.html

World Citizen Ken O'Keefe (born Ken Nichols in the U.S. State of California) holds Irish, Hawaiian and Palestinian citizenship; and has worked as entrepreneur, marine conservationist, and Human Rights Activist. In 2002, he founded the Truth Justice Peace Human Shield Action to Iraq. Intended to ‘make it politically impossible for U.S.-led coalition troops to bomb’ Iraq by placing western civilians as ‘shields’ at non-military locations, about 75 activists traveled over land from London to Baghdad in two double-decker buses.

In 2004, he founded the P10K. His website and Wikipedia note that P10K founder Ken O’Keefe joined the Free Gaza Movement which intends to enter Gaza by sea in order to expose and ultimately break the siege of Gaza; that O’Keefe’s intention was to meaningfully contribute to the Free Gaza objectives and complement the goals of P10K.

“P10K Mandate:  Incessant Calls for International Observers”

“‘… The undersigned, citizens of the European Union, declare that we refuse to watch in impotence the atrocities against the Palestinian people that are taking place before our eyes. We demand from the European leaders a decisive action in the face of a crisis of these proportions. We demand urgent and efficient action, according to international law...’”

Also are these notes: “‘P10K: The Palestinian People’ — It is not an exaggeration to say that the Palestinian people virtually uniformly agree that a presence of 1000 International Observers in Palestine would improve conditions on the ground. But it is a long term presence that is needed most, a presence that remains until a ‘just’ peace becomes reality.… If ‘Free Gaza’ is successful, there can be no doubt that the chances of an international observer force within Gaza become more possible. For this reason P10K organizers encourage people to support the Free Gaza Movement in every way possible.” http://www.p10k.net/

 “…Both of these direct actions acknowledge the huge disparity in value placed on life — Western life versus  everybody else’s life: roughly 3,000 lives lost in the September 11, 2011, World Trade Center attacks; Western retaliatory aggression (based on false premises) has left well over a million Iraqis and Afghans dead. Disproportionate does not begin to describe this horrid hypocrisy and injustice.” http://www.p10k.net/

See also http://kenokeefe.wordpress.com/

Kenneth Nichols "Ken" O'Keefe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_O%27Keefe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_shield_action_to_Iraq

END THOUGHT

Who is a World Citizen?

Posted by Patrick Frost, creator, writer, and host of Great Power Politics, June 1, 2009, sourcing a World Public Opinion.org poll taken in the period July 15 - November 4, 2008

“…Most people when asked ‘who are you’ identify by family, friends, and or city/town of origin or are current city, town or state. But what of a higher level of identity: nation, region, world? How do people respond when asked, “Do you consider yourself more a citizen of country, more a citizen of the world, or both equally? In the July 15 - November 4 poll, World Public Opinion.org asked this question of identity (with country, world or both country and world) to 21,307 people in 21 nations (diverse countries with a variety of governments, cultures, sizes, etc.). Some of their findings were these:  

Respondents

AMERICAS

United States (most nationalistic of Western countries)

72 (Country), 5 (World), 22 (Both Equally) 

Mexico (highest “Both Equally” reply, 35; Country, 56; World Citizen, 9)

OTHER WESTERN NATIONS

France, Germany, and Italy (higher rates of World Citizen or Both Equally)

EASTERN NATIONS: China/India

China (Country, 35; World, 6; Both Equally, 44)

India (Country, 40; World, 14; Both Equally, 32)

OTHERS

Several nations with strong histories/cultures, young statehood or autocratic societies polled very high nationalism (e.g., Turkey, South Korea, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Russia). http://greatpowerpolitics.com/?page_id=2

Images

http://greatpowerpolitics.com/?p=1417

Truth - Citizenship is a social contract, within this contract each person ... worldcitizen.uk.net

http://criticalthinking-mc205.wikispaces.com/Social+Contract

commons.wikimedia.org, Palestinian flag on the sail of the Free Gaza boat.jpg
Gaza youths celebrate Egypt revolution, uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com


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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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