“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”

– Nancy Pelosi

Kill Bill

By DAVE LINDORFF | March 10, 2010

When Obama came to my neighborhood this week to press for public support for his health “reform” bill, he wasn’t just greeted by teaparty hecklers. Speaking to a large group of mostly supportive students and local residents at Arcadia University in Glenside, the president at one point mentioned that “people on the left” want “single-payer.” But before he could add that that approach wasn’t going to happen, he found himself drowned out by cheers calling for Medicare for all and single-payer.

That kind of says it all.

I’m with Marcia Angell, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. The Obama plan for health care “reform”, as well as the two versions passed by the House and the Senate, are all devious disasters that do nothing to solve the nation’s burgeoning health care crisis, and in fact, will make it worse.

The only thing to do at this point is to take the whole stinking pile of paper and put it in the compost heap. Kill it.

This whole effort was never about reform from the day last March when the new president called on Congress to begin deliberations on health care reform. It was about catering to the wishes of the big players in the Medical Industrial Complex–the big pharmaceutical multinationals, the hospital companies, the physicians and, most of all, the insurance industry. People and their health care needs had little or nothing to do with this.

That’s why we’ve ended up with proposals that would do nothing to control costs, that would force healthy young people to buy unregulated, high-cost and high-profit plans that would be money in the bank for the insurance industry, and that would finance any subsidies for the poor by cutting back on benefits for the only group of Americans who currently have a form of single-payer insurance–the elderly with their Medicare.

President Obama began this whole obscene nightmare with a lie, when he said that even though single-payer systems clearly work to open access to all and keep costs down while providing better overall health results in places like Canada and some European countries, they cannot be applied in America “because that would mean starting over from scratch.” He knew when he said it that this was a lie. America already has a well-run and successful single-payer healthcare program in place that is bigger than the entire Canadian health care system, and that’s Medicare, which was established in 1965, and which currently finances the care of 45 million Americans. You just have to be 65 or disabled to be eligible for it.

As Dr. Angell pointed out on a recent Bill Moyers Journal segment, the simplest way to solve America’s health care crisis would be to just start a gradual expansion of Medicare, say by lowering the age of coverage to 55, and then 45, and then 35, until everyone was covered and the insurance industry was pushed out of the health sector. The right-wing couldn’t use their scare tactics about a “government takeover of your medical care,” because the elderly love Medicare, and besides, far from “inserting a government bureaucrat between you and your doctor,” Medicare gives the elderly a freer choice of physician and treatment than any but the most gold-plated private insurance executive health care plan.

Obama continued this lie when he claimed, in his last mention of the issue during his State of the Union address to Congress, that he and Congress had considered every idea. In fact, he and Congress have for the last year, carefully prevented any consideration of the idea of single-payer, or of expanding Medicare to cover every American. Bills that would do that, authored by Rep. John Conyers D-MI in the House and Sen. Bernie Sanders I-VT in the Senate, were in fact blocked from hearings or votes in both Houses by Democratic leaders, at the White House’s urging, while the White House itself barred single-payer advocates from any of its discussions.

Instead the president met behind closed doors with the lobbyists of the various health care industries, to cut deals with each sector in order to gain their support for his “reform” plan. It was as if the Department of Justice had called meetings with the various crime families of the Cosa Nostra in order to cut deals before developing a plan to “tackle” the Mafia.

The plan being proposed to “reform” health care–actually they long ago stopped calling it health care reform, acknowledging that this was never even contemplated, and started instead referring to what is being contemplated as health insurance reform–is, we are told, going to cost about $100 billion a year. That wouldn’t be bad if what we got in return was universal health care, but we don’t even get that. Instead we have a measure that will reduce access to health care for the middle class by taxing benefits and encouraging higher deductibles, that will force the poor, the young and the self-employed to buy terrible, over-priced plans offering minimal coverage, that will chip away at the coverage provided to the elderly, and that will ultimately lead to higher costs for everyone, and that will still leave nearly 20 million people with no coverage. The US currently devotes 17.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product to health care, and if this “reform” in any of its guises is passed, that share of the economy devoted to health care will quickly rise past 20 percent, with no end in sight.

This is madness. Expanding Medicare to cover everyone, as I have written earlier, would actually save everyone money immediately, and the country as a whole. Consider that the most expensive consumers of health care–the elderly–are already in the system. Adding younger, healthier people to Medicare would cost incrementally much less. That’s why the Canadians spend about 9 percent of their GDP on healthcare, while covering every Canadian, while we spend nearly twice as much and leave 47 million of our citizens uninsured and unable to visit a doctor. How could it be cheaper to add everyone to Medicare? Expanding Medicare to cover everyone would probably cost somewhere between $800 billion and $1 trillion a year. That sounds like a lot of money, until you consider that we already spend $100 billion a year to care for veterans through the Veterans Administration, and $400 billion a year to care for the poor through Medicaid. We also spend $300 billion a year subsidizing hospitals that have to provide “free” charity care to the poor who don’t qualify for Medicaid, too. Since all those people would be covered by Medicare under Medicare-for-All, that’s $800 billion a year in current expenditures saved right there.

So even if my higher figure of $1 trillion for adding everyone to Medicare were correct, we’d only be talking about an extra $200 billion annual expense. And that could be covered by increasing the Medicare tax paid as a payroll deduction. You don’t want to pay more taxes? Well wait. If you were covered by Medicare, you and your employer would no longer have to pay for private insurance, which would mean a savings to workers of thousands of dollars a year, and even more to employers who currently pay the majority of health insurance premiums for employees. The net savings would be enormous.

Nobody has talked about this.

Universal Medicare would make American companies more competitive in the global marketplace, where other companies are not responsible for health care costs of their workers. It would make Americans wealthier, because they would no longer be paying for health care out of their own pockets. It would make everyone more secure, because they would no longer have to fear losing access to health care if they lost their job, and would eliminate most bankruptcies, which are reportedly caused by medical bills.

So we know what needs to be done.

And we know that the current “reforms” on offer don’t do it.

So Dr. Angell is right. Obamacare needs to die.

There is reason to hope that it will die. Republicans oppose it, though not for any decent reason. They want unregulated private insurance and unlimited profits for health care industries. Ditto some conservative Democrats, who are also anti-government ideologues whose wallets are stuffed with health industry swag. But their reasons for opposing the health bill don’t matter. All that is needed is for a few progressive members of the House and Senate to admit that the health bills being considered are not reform, but the antithesis of reform, and to also vote against it, and Obamacare will be dead.

At that point we can start seriously demanding that the Congress and the President act to bring us real health reform in the way that really works: expanding Medicare to cover everyone.

JERUSALEM - While some Holy Land archeologists support that version of history - including the archeologist behind the dig, Eilat Mazar - others posit that David’s monarchy was largely mythical and that there was no strong government to speak of in that era.

Yeah, turns out there never was a Jewish Temple there as the Khazar converts claim.

JERUSALEM - Israeli riot police dispersed a crowd of masked Palestinian youths throwing stones in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City yesterday, in a violent reminder of tensions at the holiest site in the contested city.

In the past, even seemingly minor incidents at the hilltop compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary have ignited clashes and protests throughout the region. A Palestinian official warned that yesterday’s incident could undermine efforts to resume peace talks.

And CUI BONO?

Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, said police dispersed some 20 masked protesters who had holed up overnight in the compound’s Al-Aqsa mosque and then pelted tourists with objects and threw rocks at police officers who showed up at the scene.

That doesn't sound like Muslims to me! Sure it wasn't masked zettlers?

The police quickly restored calm and tourists were allowed to continue visiting the compound, one of Jerusalem’s main tourist sites, Rosenfeld said.

Huh.

But sporadic clashes between small groups of masked Palestinians and police continued in the Old City’s back alleys. No serious injuries were reported.

Uh-huh.

The holy compound has been under Israeli security control since the 1967 war, but Israel has left its day-to-day management in the hands of an Islamic administration known as the Waqf.

Yeah, and EVERYONE KNOWS ISRAEL is DIGGING ALL AROUND IT in hopes of bombing or damaging it so they can rebuild the Temple, blah, blah, blah.

As in similar incidents in the past, yesterday’s protests appeared to have erupted because of rumors that Jewish extremists planned to enter the holy compound, according to the Waqf’s director, Abdul Azim Samhadana.

Yeah, one of the few times you will see "extremist" associated with Jews in the Zionist newspaper.

He blamed Israeli police for provoking the youths.

Wouldn't surprise me if they did.

--more--"

Further on down the road:

"Mayor’s Housing Offer Sets Off Row in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — The mayor of Jerusalem is offering 120 Palestinian families in a jumble of houses scheduled for demolition a deal he believes they can’t refuse: new apartments atop shops and restaurants, a day care center, boutique hotels and a huge park.

Israel does it to Palestinian homes all the time.

Tourists and income will flow. It is — as the mayor likes to say — win-win.

But as Ziad Kawar, a lawyer representing the families, likes to say, this is Jerusalem, not Zurich. Here there seems only to be win-lose. “The whole situation is impossible,” Mr. Kawar said. “It is a political problem, and I am being asked to treat it like a legal one. I am walking between the raindrops.”

The negotiations offer a window into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — the mistrust, the missed signals, the clash of cultures, the unequal power balance. The mayor, Nir Barkat, says he has the interests of the Palestinians in mind. They say he is lying. The residents say they have been living there for decades. Mr. Barkat says they are lying. If the two sides reach agreement soon, it will be a miracle. If they do not, tensions will accelerate.

Mr. Barkat, a secular rightist who made a fortune in the high-tech industry, says the proposal for the neighborhood, known as Al Bustan near the walled Old City, is a pilot for what he hopes to do throughout East Jerusalem. “It can be a mini-Tuscany,” he said in an interview.

He added that with or without the cooperation of the residents, the plan would be put into effect. “They think what I say is not what I mean,” Mr. Barkat said. “They are not used to a professional rather than a political approach.”

Welcome to the LIFE of a PALESTINIAN!

But he is DOING IT FOR THEM, huh, the lying f***ing....

In fact, no utterance escapes politics. All labels and names here are contested. The mayor calls the neighborhood not by its Arabic name of Al Bustan but by a Hebrew one — Gan Hamelech, or the King’s Garden, a reference to the spot some believe King David wrote psalms. He speaks of “illegal” housing.

Remember, ANYTHING ISRAEL ACCUSES ANOTHER OF is something THEY are GUILTY of THEMSELVES!

The Palestinians — indeed the rest of the world — do not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over East Jerusalem.

Yes, INDEED!!!!!!!

He wants them to yield their houses.

Yup, EITHER WAY the BULLDOZERS are coming!

They say they own the land.

“For us, the occupiers cannot tell us what is legal and illegal,” protested Jawad Siyam, a community activist.

Mr. Barkat says he has no hidden agenda.

Which means he does.

C'mon, folks, it is the ISRAELI TAKEOVER of JERUSALEM unfolding before your eyes!

But on either side of the Bustan neighborhood there are disputes over recent Jewish settlement, and residents fear a pincers operation.

Al Bustan is a section of Silwan, and in northeast Silwan there is a seven-story settler building that the courts have ordered evacuated. Mr. Barkat wants to allow the settlers to stay and increase the height of Palestinian buildings so that both benefit.

I'm sorry, but I don't see it that way.

To the west, also part of Silwan, is what has been recently called The City of David, an archaeological park with a Jewish theme run by a settler group.

Who are in effect running Israel because this goes on and on and no one stops it.

Mr. Barkat says his plan has nothing to do with the City of David or the settlers. But few Palestinians believe him.

Why would they?

Ahmed Rweidi, a Palestinian Authority official speaking on Palestinian radio, accused Mr. Barkat this week of a plan for “ethnic cleansing” because he wants to demolish houses in Al Bustan.

Yeah, THAT was the TAKE I HAD on it all given the LAST 60 YEARS!!

This Israeli government the MOST EXTREME and RADICAL YET!!

One of the neighborhood’s residents, Abdulkarim Abu Sneineh, accused Mr. Barkat and the Israeli government of wanting to isolate the nearby Aksa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest shrine, to build a Jewish temple.

Related: Netanyahu and the End Times

Yeah, nothing to it all, right?

The threat of demolitions in Al Bustan is part of a larger issue drawing international concern — Palestinians being driven from East Jerusalem and replaced by Jews.

Well, that IS ETHNIC CLEANSING!

After what has happened to them the Zionists of Israel should be ashamed of themselves.

But they are not. It's not in the genetic make-up.

But Mr. Barkat says the trend is actually the opposite.

Then the Palestinians are correct and he confirmed he is a liar. Unreal.

Israeli Jews are leaving Jerusalem for parts of Israel where incomes are higher. By contrast, he says, Palestinians are migrating from the West Bank into Jerusalem for economic reasons. Nonetheless, the Bustan plan, he says, is about improving the city, not the demography.

“The mayor thinks he will come with American ideas and they will hug him,” said Efrat Cohen-Bar, who works for Bimkom, an Israeli group focused on human rights and urban planning. “He chose a spot for his pilot where there is a war going on.”

Since taking office a year ago, Mayor Barkat has vowed to oppose any division of Jerusalem in any deal with the Palestinians. But he said he would be the mayor of all. That includes the city’s quarter million Palestinians, who live with cracked, litter-strewn streets, too few schools and the fear that many of their houses will be taken down.

Can't imagine why they would feel that way.

There are 20,000 illegal Palestinian housing units in East Jerusalem, according to Bimkom.

Illegal according to who? Israel? Ha! Find another judge.

For the past year, the mayor has had architects and urban developers work on a new approach to Al Bustan at an expected cost of between $50 million and $100 million, to be raised partly abroad.

From rich AmeriKan Zionists of course.

He chose Al Bustan, he said, because nearly every house there dates from the past 20 years and was built without a permit, and because it has high tourist potential.

The area was historically an uninhabited greenbelt with annual winter flooding, fixed in the early 1990s. As the other parts of Silwan grew crowded, residents built in Al Bustan. The municipality looked the other way.

Translation: Palestinians were driven to settle there by Israel's annexation policies! And now they are being given the boot again.

Mr. Barkat wants to return at least half of the neighborhood to its original state of parkland.

Oh, and MAKE IT ALL PALESTINE AGAIN, sure!!

He wants a place where visitors can contemplate the kings of Judea, with water flowing along it to the Kidron Valley nearby. There would be small hotels, lovely restaurants. About eight million visitors go to the holy sites every year, he said....

And the Palestinians living there?

Fakhri Abu Diab, an accountant, said that he had three separate municipal demolition orders against his house. He said he was willing to beautify Al Bustan, increase the greenery and build hotels, but not at the expense of losing his house for an apartment.

Would YOU like THAT DEAL, American?

Then WHY WOULD the Palestinians?

In the end, he and the other residents may make a deal with the city. But right now, tensions are high.

“I want my grandchildren to play soccer with the mayor’s grandchildren,” he said. “But when he goes home to sleep at night, he rests calmly knowing no one is going to take his home. I don’t have that comfort. I am not against history, but what is more important, history or my home?”

I know the immediate answer to that one besides, the houses are a part of history when you think about it .

--more--"

I guess the PR flap made the mayor pull back a bit.

"Jerusalem mayor to delay demolition plans" by Bloomberg News | March 3, 2010

JERUSALEM - Mayor Nir Barkat said yesterday that the municipality is putting off a plan to demolish homes built without permits in an Arab neighborhood slated to be the site of a new archeology park.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had asked Barkat yesterday to “allow more time for efforts to reach an understanding with the residents’’ and warned of “elements which are interested in sowing strife and discord’’ over the city’s plan.

That would be Zionist Israelis, yeah!

What an arrogant crowd, I mean really!

“This is a plan that takes into consideration the needs of the residents,’’ Barkat said at a City Hall news conference. “There are extremists who whatever we do will try to twist the plan and accuse us of wrongdoing.’’

Yeah, yeah, we know who they are.

The demolition of unauthorized Arab construction in parts of Jerusalem has been a source of tension between Israel and the international community, including the United States and European Union....

Yeah, but somehow Israel is never held accountable.

Ir Amim, a group that advocates on behalf of Arab property rights in the city, said in an e-mailed statement that demolishing homes in the East Jerusalem Silwan neighborhood “to clear the area for an archeological garden will be a dangerous step, which could ignite one of the most volatile areas and damage the stability and political future of Jerusalem.’’

Isn't that what ISRAEL WANTS?

Gives 'em an EXCUSE to MOVE IN and CRACK DOWN, cui bono!

Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and subsequently annexed it, a move that has not been recognized by the international community.

Gee, that was over 40 years ago. Iraq was rolled out of Kuwait in months!!!

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Palestinians never seem to get what they want, ever notice that?

--more--"

Of course, the EVICTIONS CONTINUE!

"Untie knot of Palestinian evictions" by James Carroll | February 22, 2010

JERUSALEM

TODAY, AS on every Friday for months now, several hundred Israelis gather here in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood in Arab East Jerusalem, to stand in vigil as a protest against the eviction of Palestinian families from homes they have lived in for decades.

If the show were on the other foot the world and its mouthpiece media would be screaming bloody murder!!!

In August, seven families - about 50 people, including 35 children - were forced out of their homes, and immediately replaced by eight families of Jewish Israelis, members of extremist settler groups.

Yeah, it is GOVERNMENT POLICY!

The Palestinians have been living in tents across the street from their house ever since.

Yeah, so is that!!

Some have lived in refugee camps across the Middle East for GENERATIONS!!!

Six other nearby families have received eviction notices.

Is that why we get the park flap?

To take our attention away from the every day disrespect the Palestinians must endure?

I spoke with one of the evicted fathers, Fouad Ghawi, who had lived in the house since 1954, when he was 8. He and his family were Palestinian refugees from Jaffa during the 1948 war, and his father traded in his UN refugee card, which guaranteed him basic support, for the right to move into the house the UN Relief and Works Agency and Jordan were building on vacant land. In return for finishing the house, the Ghwai family would get the legal deed.

Why do I feel a "but" coming?

Three generations of the Ghawi family had lived there ever since - until last August, when an Israeli court ordered them out. They had no deed because, he told me, “the Jordan government would not put it in our name until we had proper plumbing, and then the 1967 war broke out.’’ Jordan’s authority ended.

One of the organizers of the protest vigil, Zvi Benninga, a 24-year-old Israeli medical student and Jerusalemite, told me, “It is so blatant because they were expelled for a second time by Israel - first in 1948, and now again.’’

Don't Palestinians ever organize anything?

The protest engages several critical issues. The government evictions depend on cloudy questions of pre-1948 ownership rights which, in most of Israel, have been simply deleted.

???????

Equivalent enforcement of “absentee property’’ laws elsewhere in Israel would lead to evictions of tens of thousands of Jewish Israelis.

And that will NEVER HAPPEN!

No wonder Palestinians are boiling mad and why the chances for peace are nil.

The evictions also raise the larger question of Israel’s “creeping annexation’’ of East Jerusalem, not only through the expansion of settlements, which Benjamin Netanyahu, defying President Obama, refuses to freeze, but also through legally dubious removal of Palestinians from other Jerusalem neighborhoods like Silwan, just down the slope from the old city.

Yeah, that is WHAT the PLAN is, Jim!

That other key Arab neighborhoods, like Abu Dis, have been cut off from Jerusalem by the so-called “security barrier’’ points to the even larger question - whether, as far as the current Israeli government is concerned, the hard-won consensus that the promised Palestinian state would have its capital in East Jerusalem no longer applies. “This will stop any peace agreement,’’ Benninga told me.

We call it an APARTHEID WALL around here!!

The weekly demonstrations are being led by younger Israelis, although veterans of the Israeli peace camp have shown up, too - including prominent figures like the novelist David Grossman, the philosopher Moshe Halbertal, and the literary critic Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi.

Well, maybe there is some hope.

“J Street,’’ the American Jewish lobbying group, has sent a petition of support signed by 10,000 Americans. Today, Avrum Burg, the former speaker of the Israeli Knesset, is here to support the evicted families. When I asked him what the vigil meant, he said, “This is an iconic group. Intellectuals, blue collar people, Jews, Arabs, old, young - representing thousands of people. This is a permanent reality.’’

"J Street" sounds great; however, it is just AIPAC-lite because of the toxicity of that organization.

Are they STOPPING the EVICTIONS and EXPANSION of SETTLEMENTS?

Untie this knot in the nearly hopeless Israeli-Palestinian tangle and many others could be untied as well. The demonstrators are not interested in being valorized as champions of a vibrant Israeli democracy. Instead, they look to be bolstered by the broader world against the once-marginal figures who have more and more power in Israel. The foreign ministry is headed by the far-right Avigdor Lieberman. This week, his deputy snubbed five US congressmen, including William Delahunt of Massachusetts, while Tzipi Livni, the opposition leader, warned “The Jewish state has been taken hostage by the ultra-orthodox parties.’’

Related: Israel Dumps on Delahunt

This guy go along did he?

A critical stage has been reached, with the government-encouraged status quo showing up as disaster in the making, as much for Israel as for Palestine.

See, when it starts becoming a problem for Jews then it is a problem for everyone.

Jamalat Ghawi, a mother of four, told me from her place in the ad hoc tent across the street from her house, “I feel frustration and anger, and worry for my children. They dream of their house at night. They are terrified. They have no idea where they are going.’’ Today, they are not alone.

No, they are not.

Muslims throughout the region are suffering under the same assault considering all the refugees our wars have created.

--more--"

And WATCH WHERE YOU STEP, Joe!

"Biden condemns new Israeli settlement plan" by Aron Heller, Associated Press Writer | March 9, 2010

JERUSALEM --Vice President Joe Biden condemned an Israeli plan to build hundreds of homes in disputed east Jerusalem on Tuesday -- a disagreement that tarnished a high-profile visit that had been aimed at repairing ties with the Jewish state and kickstarting Mideast peace talks.

Related: West Bank Moment of Silence

U.S Vice President Joe Biden, left, shakes hand with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 9, 2010. Biden said there is a "moment of opportunity" for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. AP Photo/Ariel Schalit

Yeah, he looks real upset.

Israel's Interior Ministry said late Tuesday that it had approved construction of 1,600 new apartments, an embarrassing setback for Biden after a day of warm meetings with top Israeli officials.

Although ministry officials said the announcement was procedural and unconnected to the visit, a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was blindsided and tried to contain the damage at a late-night dinner with Biden.

PFFFFFFT!

What BULLS***!

He didn't know!!

And quite a MARKED CHANGE in attitude from the DAY BEFORE, 'eh, readers?

Nonetheless, Biden issued a harshly worded statement after the dinner, saying its timing was especially troubling by coming on the eve of a new round of U.S.-mediated peace talks.

Yeah, every time they do something someone says that and yet they keep on doing it.

Think they survived the harsh words, readers?

"The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now," Biden said.

I'm sure that is why they did it.

Israel's doesn't want a peace deal, it wants a piece of Syria, Lebanon, and all of Palestine.

"We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them," he added, warning that "unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations."

Unless Israel issues preconditions.

That is what we will take to the Palestinians for "negotiating."

Relations between Israel and the Obama administration have been chilly precisely because of the settlement issue, and one of Biden's main goals had been to try to patch up ties.

I notice the checks keep getting signed.

Biden is the highest-level member of the Obama administration to visit Israel.

And they CRAPPED IN HIS FACE upon arrival!!

The U.S., like the Palestinians and the rest of the international community, believes that Israeli settlements built on lands claimed by the Palestinians, including east Jerusalem, undermine peace prospects.

Then it would seem that ISRAEL is ISOLATED on this, although the Zionist AmeriKan newspapers would never describe it that way.

President Barack Obama has been more outspoken on the issue than his predecessors....

Really? When?

Israel Answers All Questions

Oh!

Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war and subsequently annexed east Jerusalem. Israel considers its east Jerusalem neighborhoods to be part of its undivided capital, but the annexation has never been internationally recognized and the neighborhoods are widely seen as settlements.

But hey, is Israel under sanction? Nope.

Nice to be above it all, 'eh, readers?

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said the new homes would be built in Ramat Shlomo, an existing neighborhood for ultra-Orthodox Jews. She noted that there is a 60-day appeals period, indicating that the decision could yet be changed.

It won't be.

This is who this Israeli government is and serves.

That's what happens when you allow so many terrorist Jews to congregate in one place.

At Tuesday's dinner, Netanyahu told Biden he was caught off guard by the ministry's announcement, a top Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the dinner was closed.

So not only did he crap in Joe's face, he gave him a fart for a chaser!

While Netanyahu considers east Jerusalem to be part of Israel, he acknowledged the timing of the announcement was poor and said he had no intention of sabotaging Biden's visit.

Yeah, the ACT ITSELF was NO PROBLEM -- as if we believe him on the timing and sabotage.

That is EXACTLY WHY you COLD-BLOODED and CALCULATING -- yet naive -- CREEPS did it.

We are NO LONGER FOOLED by your lies and manipulations, Israel.

Never again.

He stressed that there are no plans to begin construction anytime soon.

Uh-huh.

But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the move soured the negotiating climate.

Yeah, it SURE DID!!

The two sides agreed this week to begin indirect negotiations under the mediation of U.S. envoy George Mitchell. Peace efforts have been stalled for 14 months, in large part because of Palestinian anger over settlement activity.

Yeah, it is the FAULT of the PALESTINIANS, right, Zionist MSM!!!

Face it, folks, IF ISRAEL WANTED PEACE THERE WOULD BE ONE ALREADY!!!

"With such an announcement, how can you build trust? This is destroying our efforts to work with Mr. Mitchell," Erekat said. "It's a really disastrous situation. I hope that this will be an eye-opener for all in the international community."

Trust? With a Zionist Jew? Out of the question.

As for opening the world's eyes, nice thought, but those remain clenched tight.

**************

And now, for what my PRINTED PAPER CUT:

Biden was scheduled to remain in the area for two more days, meeting with international Mideast envoy Tony Blair and Palestinian leaders in the West Bank on Wednesday before delivering a policy speech at Tel Aviv University on Thursday.

Biden had spent the day trying to calm Israeli concerns that Obama has been less friendly to the country than past U.S. leaders.

Gee, that SURE WASN'T the TONE I got from the printed paper!!!!

So much for being angry or irritated with Israel, blah, blah, blah.

Yes, the AmeriKan government is OWNED BY ISRAEL, folks!!!!

Earlier in the day, Biden assured Israelis they can count on strong U.S. backing as peace efforts finally resume. The resumption of talks, albeit indirect, is the first concrete achievement for Obama in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.

Oh, this is making me ill, readers!!!

The relationship between the two allies, Biden told reporters as he stood beside Netanyahu, has always been a "centerpiece of American policy."

HOW MUCH MORE CONFIRMATION do you need, readers?

"Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel," Biden said.

Now unzip Bibi's fly and start sucking, Joe!

No wonder EVERYONE over there HATES US!!

"The United States will always stand with those who take risks for peace," Biden said, telling Netanyahu, "you're prepared to do that."

Can we get a mental health evaluation for the VP please?

The insistence on a total settlement freeze is seen by many in the region to have backfired.

Seen by "many in the region?"

Polls show that Israelis have largely come to see Obama as overly sympathetic to Israel's enemies, making it difficult for the administration to get Israeli public opinion behind any difficult peace moves.

Then CUT the MONEY OFF to those UNGRATEFUL and DELUDED ASSHOLES!!!!!

Why are WE so worried about what BACK-STABBING ISRAEL thinks anyway!?

Biden offered assurances that the U.S. remained committed to Israel's security. Iran appeared to loom large in Biden's discussions with Netanyahu....

But NOT according to my PRINTED PAGE!

It is what we fondly refer to as CENSORSHIP around here.

"We are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons," he said.

Yeah, well, GOOD THING they are NOT MAKING ONE, Joe!!!

Israel has been pushing for stricter international sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program, and has refused to rule out a military strike if sanctions fail.

So WHEN is the ATTACK, Joe!?

--more--"

Oh, you webbers got the NYT in place of AP like it matters :

"Biden condemns Israeli push for more settlements; News on homes deals setback on eve of talks" by Ethan Bronner, New York Times | March 10, 2010

JERUSALEM - Hours after Vice President Joe Biden vowed unyielding American support for Israel’s security yesterday, Israel’s Interior Ministry announced 1,600 new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem, prompting Biden to condemn the move as “precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now.’’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was clearly embarrassed at the move by his interior minister, Eli Yishai, leader of the right-wing Shas Party, who has made Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem one of his central causes.

A statement issued in the name of the Interior Ministry but distributed by the prime minister’s office said that the housing plan was three years in the making and that its announcement was procedural and unrelated to Biden’s visit. It added that Netanyahu had just been informed of it himself....

Actually, I've had enough Zionist bulls*** for one day.

It was emailed to me and at the time of writing I could only find one source for it on the internet though it could now be picked up via the Just Peace UK list. The document purports to have been written by Dr Mitchell Bard and Professor Gil Troy, both of whom, if you follow the links, have form for Israel advocacy.

The link to the document traces back to the so-called Global Forum on Antisemitism which was hosted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and chaired by the encumbent minister, Avigdor Lieberman. I think the document has come out of the last meeting rather than being a paper for the meeting but I don’t know.

Now read on…..

Delegitimization of Israel: “Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions”

This position paper summarizes the discussions of the Working Group on Delegitimization at the 2009 Global Forum against Anti-Semitism. Our task was to generate specific action plans to respond to the BDS – boycott, divestment, sanctions – movement, to reframe the issues in our favor and to set a new proactive agenda. If there was one clear conclusion that emerged from the two-day session in December, it was THERE MUST BE FOLLOW UP. There is a need in the Jewish world today for more coordination, for more sharing of best practices, for more LEADERSHIP in the fight against anti-Semitism. Activists in the field feel alone. Those who succeed are not sharing their successful tactics and strategies; those who are less experienced flounder, wasting precious time, resources, goodwill. Everyone was honored and excited to participate in the Global Forum; no one wanted it to be limited to a two-day meeting, and many volunteered to keep the global conversation growing.

Beyond that, this paper will spend less time on definitions and narratives, and instead serve as an initial brainstorming document. Through the use of a Wiki set up with the assistance of Dr.Andre Oboler, task force members helped edit these two papers. The first was initially authored by Gil Troy, the second on taking offense, by Mitchell Bard. We thank all the participants for all their time, passion and expertise – and look at this as the start of an ongoing process, which we hope will continue.

BDS AS A CLEAR TARGET:

There is a clarity in fighting against BDS that could provide traction in the Jewish world and beyond. In the current climate, Israel advocates are always going to lose a fight over “settlements” and “occupation,” or at best get mired in stalemate. BDS shifts the terrain, making the battle one over Israel’s right to exist, over the legitimacy of Zionism, over the anti-Semitic tropes shaping the anti-Israel movement, and the rank anti-Semitism behind the disproportionate, obsessive focus on Israel. It is also a battle about freedom of speech and of open discourses, given the BDS attempt to shut down normal flows of learning and commerce with Israel. This is a battle we can win – and shhh, don’t tell anyone have been winning so far, in many ways, in many communities.

We also should recognize that BDS is a part of a broader campaign to delegitimize Israel. This campaign of delegitimization, Dr. Joel Fishman writes, has been “a central motif of Palestinian propaganda in international bodies” and reflects a strategy of a “People’s War,” as full blown political, economic, cultural, ideological struggle against the very existence of Israel.

The Foreign Ministry can help centralize the fight against BDS and delegitimization, coordinate responses to what is a coordinated attack, share information, take a moral stand against the human rights hypocrites, engage diplomats in a fight for Israel’s basic rights, and train Israeli diplomats about the BDS movement. But the fight also has to be local not international, rooted in particular community norms, and necessarily somewhat distanced from the Foreign Ministry which is, naturally, perceived as a biased party, and whose involvement in all facets would help our enemies argue that we are fighting for Israel using the fight against anti-Semitism as camouflage.

PUT BDS IN CONTEXT:

Part of the fight against BDS is an educational one. And central to that is explaining that

1. as mentioned before BDS crosses the line into traditional bigotry, both by resurrecting traditional anti-Semitic tropes, and by following the traditional ways of all bigots in attacking the essence of Israel and the Jewish people rather than constructively seeking to change particular policies or actions.
2. BDS is part of the “Durban Strategy” adopted by NGOs during the infamous Durban Conference that was supposed to be against racism in late August, early September 2001. Good liberals on campus and elsewhere who think they are just fighting for “justice” need to be confronted with the fact that they are advancing a particular agenda with a particular – and quite problematic – pedigree.
3. BDS is also part of the broader Islamist strategy to undermine the West. Especially in North America, activists need to understand how positions they are taking are aiding the same people who support shooting up Fort Hood, trying to down commercial jets on Christmas, and succeeded in killing nearly three thousand people on September 11, 2001.

Strategy / Vision A 5 Year Plan

All too often, we get mired in the tactics of the day-to-day battle and are too reactive. The group decided that before plunging into a more detailed discussion of some dimensions of the problem, we should step back and think about our vision, about our strategy and about what tactics will achieve our broader goals, five years from now.

Our Vision:

Includes: Israel being a cause to celebrate

Humanization of Israel using a vibrant proactive approach making the Zionist case while emphasizing Israel’s many positive accomplishments and appealing characteristics

Driving a Wedge between Soft Critics and Hard Delegitimizers

Strategy

To have in place legislative prohibitions vs. BDS which can then be applied in different communities, acknowledging the different legal traditions

Creating “Best Practices” which can be modeled and taught

To have in place institutions centralized, or ‘hub within network’ institutions that can share information. Committee members disagreed whether the bulk of the work should be from the government or from the community/civil society .

Institutions: To have in place Affinity Groups – lawyers, accountants, academics etc who can help fight BDS from within

Israeli intellectual ‘buy in’ – mobilizing Israeli academics and other professional who understand the seriousness of the threat and fight it

Encouraging more Israel Studies on campus as part of a broader rebranding and reversing of the current wherein enemies of Israel on campus are rewarded and friends are punished

Debranding the NGOs Non-governmental Organizations – naming and shaming

Pursuing a strategy of ridicule and satire – especially on the internet

Here are some steps we should follow to achieve those goals:

1. Let’s Reframe to Name and Shame:

BDS means very little to most people – and sounds like a communicable disease which in some ways, like anti-Semitism itself, it is… The awkwardness of the language, and the venom behind the sentiments, together provide a double opportunity. We can rename and reframe their movement. We need to point out how BDS crosses the line from legitimate criticism to historically-laden, anti-Semitic messaging. We should note that BDS fails the “Sharansky Test” of Demonization, Double Standards and Delegitimization” because it singles out Israel for special condemnation, speaking for example about the “apartheid nature of the state” rather than specific policies. We could reinforce this by adding a 2-E Test – “exceptionalism” and “essentialism” – which again focuses on singling out Israel and, in the nature of traditional bigotry, condemning the actor not the act.

In that spirit, in Toronto, the Jewish Federation re-christened the movement the Blacklist, Demonize and Slander movement. In addition to exposing the animus of the movement, the label cleverly filtered the BDS movement through the correct cultural framework when the BDSers targeted the Toronto Film Festival. Jane Fonda, initially, was happy to sign a petition bashing Israel. When she found out that she supported a “blacklist” – a major no-no in post 1950s Hollywood culture, she felt ashamed and retracted. Similarly, the leading academics fighting boycotts have been scientists, because free exchange is the lifeblood of the scientific community and the thought of risking that for mere politics is appalling to many. At the same time, there are some, not enough voices in the gay community denouncing groups such as “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid,” because they know how much more liberal Israel is than any other Middle Eastern country the major international association of gay travel agents held its annual meeting in Israel in 2009 .

These examples suggest we need to think, case by case, about how to frame the BDSers in the way that most emphasizes the gap between their actions and the democratic ideals they pretend to espouse. Recasting the campaign as a blacklist is a powerful way to demonstrate what the movement is really about. We should think of other strategies that help delegitimize the delegitimizers.

More broadly, we need to think about what the right messaging for an anti-BDS campaign could be – “Let Israel Live,” for example, may make Israel sound pathetic and may sound too 1940s – kind of begging the world’s permission for Jewish survival. But, given the culture of crisis in the Jewish world, that is the kind of slogan that just might work. We invite other suggestions.

It is also important to determine the need for a response on a case by case basis. Some people argue that every BDS initiative must be fought out of fear of a domino effect; however, it may not be to our advantage to do so. Sometimes, we may give a trivial exercise greater meaning.

1.1 Ensuring tactics don’t defeat strategy

The campaign against the University and College Lecturers’ Union’s boycott attempt in the UK was a signal success, mainly due to a classic job of re-framing. The BDS crowd wants the debate to be about Israel and the pro-Israel crowd made it about academic freedom. Although this is an exquisite tactic it runs the risk of leading to a strategic defeat.

What happened was that the “bad guys” talked about how bad Israel is and the “good guys” talked about how bad boycotts are. In the end the only messages that anyone heard about Israel were how bad she is. The boycott motion was handily defeated, but such a triumph contains the seeds of a Pyrrhic victory. Perhaps it’s natural to glory in any kind of victory we can obtain in this fight, however, “Israeli policy makes me sick, but boycotts make me sicker” as stated as a typical progressive view in the BDS fight is hardly the ringing endorsement of Israel we would all seek!

To quote Charles Jacobs late of the David Project , students are often reduced to arguing that “Israel doesn’t suck.” This is only a slight exaggeration. Unless we can come up with a way to produce a new meta-frame for discussing the Middle-East the BDSs will keep us on the run until we are worn out.

Emendation, post conference: Wes Streeting President of the UK’s National Union of Students argued that this concern was somewhat ill-founded. In the working group session he stressed that the argument against boycotts in general had opened the way to substantive discourse on why a boycott was particularly unjust when focused on Israel. If that’s an accurate depiction of what happened, then it’s a good example of what we need to do to ensure that strategy is not eclipsed by tactics.

2. Dig Deep to Undermine

When the Student Society of Concordia University in Montreal was overtaken by Palestinians and anarchists in the late 1990s, early 2000s, rumors were rife about activists just enrolled in one course per semester to keep their eligibility for the Student Society, about money from outside the university being pumped into the pro-Palestinian activities and about money from the Student Society being diverted both for personal gain and for unauthorized political use. Surprisingly, neither the Jewish community nor the journalistic community undertook the kind of Edwin-Black-style investigation the whole mess deserved, for various cultural and political reasons. Investigative journalism is an underutilized tool in the fight against coordinated movements like the BDS movement.

Similarly, we need to do more historical research, showing the polluted origins of the Zionism is racism, Israel apartheid, and BDS movements. In October 1976, just under a year after the 1975 Zionism is Racism resolution passed the UN General Assembly, Professor Bernard Lewis published an article “The Anti-Zionist Resolution,” in Foreign Affairs Vol. 55, No. 1 Oct., 1976 , pp. 54-64 , uncovering the Soviet and Nazi roots of the resolution. Lewis’s research remains relevant today – as does his example.

3. We Need a War Room

The BDS movement is well-coordinated and well-financed . The Jewish community needs a war room, tracking this movement, sharing best practices, coaching communities. All too often and most especially on campus , when an anti-Israel initiative is launched the few who care act as if such a thing never occurred elsewhere and start working on their own strategy – rather than relying on a broad network and a collective memory that should be helping them.

The War Room could also provide the necessary intelligence and background that could be useful in the kinds of grassroots fights necessary to defeat BDS. Whether this War Room should be linked to the Ministry, or to the Global Forum, or to another Jewish organization, or stand on its own, is an important subject we should debate.

In describing this much-needed body of activists and academics we debated the nomenclature – some call it a clearinghouse, others a hub – but we need to share information, coordinate strategy, learn from each other, and push certain lines, taking offense, not just playing defense. In North America, the Federation system is talking about launching a coordinating body to fight BDS. England has “Fair play” functioning as a hub. In France the CRIEF coordinates. All these initiatives should be coordinated globally – through Israel, the target of the attack and the center of the Jewish people.

To be specific:

o Our guiding principle is that the first people to fight are the people on the ground – this is added value not a command center
o The mission is to be informational and tactical – a clearinghouse of information and like the town crier of old – a spur to action with weekly updates, particular tactics
o Like an iceberg, partially submerged – we need to make some public points to shape the narrative against BDS, delegitimizing the delegitimizers, but we also need ome private initiatives. We should not share all our strategies and tactics for the enemy to see
o Broadcast and narrowcast – having some messages that work globally, but also customizing our messages for campus, unions, civil society

Professor Irwin Cotler spoke at the Global Forum about “the globalization of the indictment” and our need to take back the narrative, to become the plaintiff…. How can we do this is we don’t coordinate strategies, if there isn’t a central body for information sharing, with a great website, but also engaged experts, representing the different countries, helping to shape this battle, sending out weekly updates, helping people who want to get involved, and, as one of our participants suggested targeting the bad guys, using the blogosphere to mock them, to embarrass them, to name and shame?

Each community should of course have its own structures but this war room should act as a hub. It should start simply by coordinating a proactive, integrated structure against BDS and delegitimization – if it works, it could be a crucial resource when crises develop,and it truly could be a global forum against anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and delegitimization, but for now let’s keep it focused.

4. BDS Draws a Line in the Sand

BDS Draws a Line in the Sand – Either testing or recruiting progressives. By implicitly shifting the debate from Israeli policy to Israel’s right to exist, BDSers have provided what we could call the J-Street Test or the test for J-Street . Progressives, no matter how critical of Israel, who condemn the BDS movement, prove their “pro-Israel bona fides.” And Tal Shechter of J Street U recently sent out this message: “We should be investing – not divesting – in our campus debate, in our communities and in the people who will bring about change in the region. That’s why J Street U is launching an ‘Invest, Don’t Divest’ campaign today to raise money for two organizations — LendforPeace.org, a Palestinian microfinance organization set up by students like us, and The Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development, which promotes Jewish-Arab Economic Cooperation in Israel.”

Critics of Israeli policy can in fact be particularly useful in this fight – note how much of the British academic boycott was repudiated by people who were from the left but recognized the boycott threat as a great threat to academic freedom. So fighting BDS can help heal some of the rifts in the Jewish community, assert a big-tent Zionism, and invite left-wing critics of Israel who nevertheless believe in Israel’s existence to stand up for Israel on this defining issue.

The argument should be made – and this is true, not a mere tactic – that BDS harms the peace process. Whatever one thinks of Oslo, it is not coincidental that Israel entered into the Oslo Peace Accords only after the UN lifted its odious Zionism is Racism resolution in 1991 and that Israel made peace with Egypt only after Sadat came to Jerusalem. A nation under threat of boycott, a nation that feels its very existence and international legitimacy are threatened, is less likely to make peace, which makes the Palestinian strategy particularly self-defeating at this point not to mention the fact that Israeli academics are among the most outspoken peace advocates .

5. BDS merits a double ju jitsu move

BDS merits a double ju jitsu move: First, the BDS response to Israel is so over the top, it should be an opportunity to delegitimize the delegitimizers. Second, the Toronto community has been particularly effective in turning the lemons of BDS into lemonade – going from “Boycott” to Buycott – with the results being sold-out Israeli movie nights at the Toronto Film Festival, record-ticket sales for the targeted Dead Sea Scrolls, and a run on kosher wine when BDSers attacked Israeli wine. More broadly, the second paper offers many interesting ideas for getting off the defensive, becoming pro-active and taking the fight to the BDSers.

6. Make this the New Soviet Jewry Movement

A “Let Israel Live” anti-BDS campaign, if done right, could provide the kind of community-wide unity, continuing passion, and identity-building activism, last seen during the Soviet Jewish movement. The threat is intense enough, the moral issue is clear enough, all we need is the motivation, leadership, and organizational sophistication to make it happen.

7. Make the fight Horizontal, Hip, and Hysterical…

While we do need some central coordination via a “war room,” we must not forget the importance of the netroots in combating BDS. The fight needs to be horizontal not hierarchical – what we use to call “grassroots” empowering college students to get involved using their skills, their media, their networks to push back. In the same spirit, the fight should be “hip,” rooted in the language and mores of the 21st century, presenting an updated, exciting, relevant celebration of modern Israel. And, as already mentioned, the fight should be hysterical – we forget just how powerful a tool ridicule can be as a weapon in politics, especially in our “Jon Stewart” culture.

8. Speak to Israelis about their roles as ambassadors and dangerous role as enablers

The fight against anti-Semitism, against BDS, and for Israel begins at home, in the homeland. Israelis can be the most effective ambassadors and activists in the fight against BDS – this should be the kind of fight for survival that transcends most political divisions and harnesses the kind of ingenuity and passion Israelis bring to more conventional battlefields. Israelis need to understand that, for all their much vaunted, “Start-up Nation” Hi Tech inventiveness, if the European Union decides to boycott Israel, the economic impact would be devastating. The threat is real – but not well known, and usually seen, unfortunately, through a left-right prism.

At the same time, Israeli critics of Israeli policy need to understand that in an age of instant communication, what they say “within the family,” echoes throughout the world. The Norman Finkelsteins and Noam Chomskys of the world quote Israelis incessantly. No Israeli should feel compelled to change their politics, no matter what Chomsky and Finkelstein would choose to do. But ALL Israelis should watch their language, understanding that false Nazi/Apartheid/Racism analogies feed Israel’s harshest enemies, who wish to wipe out the state. There is a rich bank of historical analogies and words Israeli critics can use to criticize Israel. There must be an awareness of how harmful the Nazi and Apartheid analogies are, and how they are used – the slogan “Never Again” should apply to false, offensive, analogizing, not just the mass murder itself

Note the analysis of Uri Avnery of the BDS. Avnery has a long record of harshly criticizing Israel, but distinguishes between his ultimately loving criticism and the exterminationist agenda underlying much of the BDS Campaign. He writes: “Reading some of the messages sent to me and trying to analyze their contents, I get the feeling they are not so much about a boycott on Israel as about the very existence of Israel. Some of the writers obviously believe that the creation of the State of Israel was a terrible mistake to start with, and therefore should be reversed. Turn the wheel of history back some 62 years and start anew.

“What really disturbs me about this is that almost nobody in the West comes out and says clearly: Israel must be abolished. Some of the proposals, like those for a “One State” solution, sound like euphemisms. If one believes that the State of Israel should be abolished and replaced by a State of Palestine or a State of Happiness – why not say so openly?

“Of course, that does not mean peace. Peace between Israel and Palestine presupposes that Israel is there. Peace between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people presupposes that both peoples have a right to self-determination and agree to the peace. Does anyone really believe that racist monsters like us would agree to give up our state because of a boycott?” Other Israelis – and other critics outside of Israel – should be appealed to on these terms, understanding that the BDS-Apartheid-Nazi-language is anti-Israel and anti-peace. See [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Quote/Avneri1.html]

9. Ally, Fraternize, and Build Coalitions

Far too much of the fight against anti-Semitism and for Israel occurs within a Jewish community bubble. The Foreign Ministry can be a particularly useful force here in helping build alliances with academics, business people, politicians, anti-terror/national security types, Christian Zionists, civil libertarians – creating a broad coalition that is against demonization. Moreover, we learn from the anti-academic-boycott movement in England, whose guiding principle is that “the first people to fight BDS should be the people in the sector,” self defense is the best defense.

9.1 Labor unions

Universities or other institutions that invest in Israel seldom do so for reasons of Zionist sympathy. If they have put money into Israel or Israeli companies it’s because their investment advisers have told them that it’s the right thing to do in order to grow their endowment. Hence, divestment would be financially inadvisable.

If, in the midst of a divestment campaign, campus unions that represent technical, administrative and janitorial staff were convincingly informed that the divestment campaign might well lead to job cuts and not amongst the tenured academics pushing for BDS they might easily be persuaded to condemn such a campaign. How embarrassing for the “progressive” academics pushing BDS to be opposed by the representatives of the lowest paid workers on campus?

9.2 Students

We need to do a better job of empowering and educating Jewish and pro-Israel students. Specifically through advocacy training programs, like hasbara fellowships and many others, which bring students to Israel and give them the knowledge, skills and confidence to advocate on campus. Too many students are too intimidated to express their views. They need quick and easy answers to the most common criticisms thrown at them, and the confidence to deliver those messages. Jewish community organizations need to invest in these programs, and send their students to Israel to learn. Setting up one hour seminars on campus don’t work, students need to go to Israel, learn the situation, and practice the responses.

We also need a major push to educate non-Jewish student leaders. Specifically, more money needs to be spent on the programs that already exist in countries like Canada to send non-Jewish student leaders members of student government, campus organizations, campus newspapers etc . to Israel to learn the facts on the ground. They are the future leaders off-campus and in the media, and we are losing this battle.

9.3 Reporters

We need to adopt a radically different approach to media relations: ‘embracing the journalist’, building relationships to go beyond the two traditional approaches of giving information to the press and monitoring/criticizing the media for ‘getting the story wrong’ – and instead helping them to ‘get the story right in the first place’, as MediaCentral does here in Israel. Reaching out to all levels of the media – local and national – to engage rather than criticize, without the “Hasbara” agenda but instead promoting accuracy as Israel’s best ally, widening the lens and helping to reframe the MidEast situation and to affect the tone and terminology used . Working to win the ‘battle for hearts and minds’ through the heart rather than the head, using Dale Carnegie’s approach to “win friends and influence people” or to put it another way, “rather than fighting your enemy, make the enemy your friend….”

9.4 Bloggers

We need a creative, edgy, systematic outreach to pro-Israel bloggers, who are willing to target BDSers and delegitimizers, exposing their tactics, ridiculing them as necessary, and, as much as possible putting them on the defensive.

9.5 Professional Organizations and Communities

Dr. Jonathan Rynhold, who was involved in combating the proposed British academic boycott of Israel, suggests applying some of the lessons from that experience more broadly. He proposes forming and informing groups of Jewish/pro-Israel professionals within various national and international professional association/organizations/unions. Their first order of business should be passing anti-discrimination by-laws within the organization that are general in nature, and that do not mention Israel per se, but rather oppose discrimination on the basis of race, religion, nationality etc. This would put the onus on the boycotters to prove they are NOT discriminating, instead of pro-Israel forces having to prove Israel’s innocence. He also suggests offering a positive alternative to the boycott, such as engaging Israelis and Palestinians through the particular professional framework of the organization. Israeli organizations should take the lead in seeking international partners and preparing the groundwork for these general denunciations of boycott resolutions. All too often we wait until the crisis is upon us, rather than laying the foundation before trouble erupts. And considering that the specter of boycott already has arisen in various academic contexts, it is particularly important to re-establish and fund an organization of Israeli academics to work with the Israeli Academy of Science against the boycott, where Bob Lapidot has been the contact person.

10. Zero in on a moment to raise awareness of the BDS threat and start delegitimizing the delegitimizers

Beyond Israel and the communities of Israelis abroad , even many ardently pro-Israel activists do not quite know what to do with Yom Hazikaron, Israeli Memorial Day. Perhaps this year is the time for a mass, international, cross-community teach-in about BDS on Yom Hazikaron, remembering the fallen soldiers and victims of terror by learning that words can kill or heal , that demonization has facilitated violence and undermines peace. An added bonus is that after this sobering, somewhat defensive day of learning, one can simply celebrate Israel’s birthday, with Yom Ha’atzmaut immediately afterwards.

11. Meet “lawfare” with “lawfare.”

Professor Irwin Cotler has termed the variety of ways in which BDSers have hijacked international human rights laws to hound Israelis as “lawfare.” Many of the French delegates explained that there had been some success in applying the new French penal code outlawing discrimination based on religious or ethnic characteristics against BDSers – who sometimes have very violently ruined Israeli fruit in supermarkets. We should explore this more fully, being sensitive to the different legal traditions in the particular countries involved.

12. Let’s Push More Broadly for a Citizenship 2.0 Campaign

One way of not just wallowing or being defensive, but to take the offensive, is to push a broader, Citizenship 2.0 campaign, deputizing the next generation to fight hate on the Web in general, and anti-Israel material in particular. Part of fighting anti-Semitism should entail enlisting educators, parents and community leaders to envision Citizenship 2.0, teaching students to avoid polluting on line-discourse themselves, to combat on-line hate, to assess on-line information critically, and to use the net’s grassroots power to defend democratic values against the haters. The Internet works democratically, let’s mobilize and deputize young people in Israel, and the world over to fight hate wherever they see it and, of course, never indulge in it . For parents, instead of grumbling about their kids being on “the computer” all the time, perhaps they could start boasting about their kids as modern Judah and Judith Maccabees, striding across the blogosphere, defending the Jewish people, fighting the BDS-ers and standing for truth, justice, civility and democracy.

GOING ON OFFENSE

The time has come to explore ways to put the boycotters on the defensive and to initiate our own campaigns to highlight issues of concern. For example:

1. Seek to have boycotters expelled from international organizations. One condition of Saudi Arabia’s admission to the WTO was that it cease its boycott of Israel. It promised to do so and then, after admission, declared it would not end the boycott. Organizations such as WTO should be pressured to adhere to its rules and other groups e.g., sports federations should be lobbied to adopt anti-boycott provisions.

2. Lobby academic journals to adopt policies barring submissions from anyone who advocates an academic boycott. Journals are supposed to promote academic freedom and intellectual exchange and should not collaborate in efforts to stifle such exchanges. If academic boycotters cannot get published, they will perish.

3. Circulate information on Muslims acting contrary to Islam. If the people of countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia knew their “pious” leaders were really alcoholics, gamblers and perverts, they might hasten regime change.

4. Create a “Student Rights Watch” organization that would seek to counterbalance certain NGOs that have become Israel-bashing specialists. SRW could go in at least two different directions – one would be to make a human rights organization that monitored activities around the world with the emphasis on non-democratic states as HRW once did – another approach would be to have the students focus on rights as students on college campuses with an emphasis on how Israel and Jews are treated, but also monitor other abuses inside and outside the classroom.

5. Launch a Saudi apartheid campaign. It is galling that Israel is tarred with comparisons to South Africa when there is a country that really does merit this comparison. Progressive and women’s groups should be natural allies in such a campaign, which might have a goal of adopting Sullivan-like principles for Western companies doing business in the kingdom.

6. “Buy Israel” campaign. This is already being done is some areas, but it might be adopted as an international program.

7. Buy Israel Bonds. It has been done quietly, but a more aggressive effort might be made to sell Israel Bonds to corporations and other entities there is a danger to raising attention to it as it might create a new target for BDS . It may be a tougher sell given current interest rates at the moment, but one of the best responses to BDS is multimillion dollar bonds purchases made by banks, unions, pension plans, and others.

8. Outreach to mainline Christians. We have spent too little time on educating non-Jews and reacting only at the last minute when some of their leaders try to adopt BDS proposals at their national conventions. These churches bring in a parade of anti-Israel speakers who are rarely countered. Rather than focus so much attention preaching to the choir, greater efforts should be made to speak directly to non-evangelical Christians. The MFA could be especially helpful in this area.

9. Outreach to key minorities. In the United States, Hispanics will become an increasingly influential factor in American politics and, therefore, the U.S.-Israel relationship. Too little effort has been given to educating this community about Israel.

10. Developing Israel Studies as an academic discipline. Most universities have few if any courses about modern Israel and many of those that are taught are usually taught badly. A variety of steps can be taken to enhance the field across the globe. In the U.S., for example, the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise AICE , has brought 65 visiting Israeli scholars to teach for an academic year at more than 40 universities over the last 5 years. AICE also supports graduate students pursuing Ph.D.s in Israel-related fields and postdoctoral fellows. Chairs and centers of Israel studies are being created in the U.S. and, more recently, the U.K. Providing the next generation with a good education about Israel is vital for the future as well as critical to countering present campus-based efforts to delegitimize Israel.11. Try to make inroads at the UN and its associated agencies by targeting small nations. Many of these countries do not give a lot of thought to the Middle East and go with the herd. In fact, we know the UN reps sometimes act with little or no instruction from their governments. It may not be possible to overcome the Arab/Islamic bloc and its allies, but it may be possible to chip away at its majorities so votes are not one-sided and resolutions so biased a small effort along these lines is underway in the U.S. .

12. A priority should be placed on defunding anti-Israel UN agencies, such as the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Efforts should be made to focus the UN on a positive agenda of economic development, health and environmental protection and lobby that funds be directed away from attacking a UN member and toward the mutual interests of all members.

These are just a few ideas that we hope will serve as the basis for discussion and stimulate additional suggestions for proactive measures to improve Israel’s image, delegitimize the detractors and energize everyone committed to fighting anti-Semitism.

AGENDA FOR THE WORKING GROUP MEETING

These were some of the questions we addressed – although it was difficult to cover them all, let alone answer them adequately in two short sessions. Still, we include them as food for thought for future conferences.

I. Should this “working group” evolve into an ongoing task force – if so, what is its mandate, what are its goals, who will participate, what can it hope to achieve?

II. Have we effectively explained why BDS crosses the line from legitimate criticism to historically-laden, anti-Semitic messaging failing both the 3-D, Demonization, Double Standards, and Delegitimization, and 2-E, Essentialism and Exceptionalism, tests?

III. If there is to be a “war room” – who should run it? where should it be? who should participate? who will pay for it? what are its goals?

IV. How can we best harness the comparative strengths of different institutions/communities in order to achieve the most effective response? Where specifically do the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Global Forum fit in?

V. In strategizing regarding the BDS movement, how do we keep the messaging positive – while motivating normally apathetic students, etc?

VI. Who can make the case to Israelis that some of the discourse in Israel is harmful – and how can it be done in an effective manner?

VII. If the idea of a broader anti-BDS/pro-Israel movement makes sense – who will run with it, how do we make that happen? Can we work in some cooperative fashion or will multiple organizations insist on doing it their way with little or no coordination?

VIII. What other ideas do we have for “Going on Offense”: and which ones do we wish to make priorities?

U.S. doctors leave Haiti as Cubans expand care

BY CINDY JAQUITH
With thousands in Haiti still in critical need of medical care, the U.S. government is pulling out the doctors it is responsible for. Meanwhile, the Cuban government is expanding its medical mission to Haiti and urging doctors from other countries to join it.

On February 24 the last U.S. field hospital in Haiti closed. The USNS Comfort, the much-publicized Navy medical ship docked in Haiti, is also pulling up anchor.

An article in the Wall Street Journal noted that an estimated 25 percent to 30 percent of those who had emergency surgery done since the January 12 earthquake will need to have more operations. “New cases of diarrhea, malaria and other diseases are picking up in tent communities crammed with tens of thousands of people who lost their homes,” it added. The dangers will mount as the rainy season produces major flooding.

These facts have not persuaded most doctors from the United States and other imperialist countries who went to Haiti after the earthquake to stay there for more than a few weeks. They are now “back in their antiseptic, high-tech offices,” the New York Times said, “haunted by the experiences.” Cuban doctors, on the other hand, are digging in for the long battle that lies ahead.

“The major challenge begins now, when the press headlines abandon Haiti, the moment of emergency is over, and the supposed ‘threat’ of a wave of emigration is diminishing,” said Cuban president Raúl Castro in a February 23 speech to the Summit of Latin American and the Caribbean Unity, held in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Haiti doesn’t need “a fleeting and sudden gesture of ‘charity,’” he said. It “requires and deserves a major international effort for its reconstruction.”

Castro reported that the Cuban medical mission in Haiti has now grown to about 1,430, spread throughout the country. It is called the Henry Reeve International Brigade, named after a U.S. man who joined Cuba’s independence war in the late 19th century. The brigade includes nearly 800 Cuban doctors and other health-care workers, as well as Cuban-trained doctors from Haiti and more than two dozen other countries.

Since the earthquake, the Cuban mission has treated more than 95,000 Haitians and performed 4,500 surgeries. It is now focusing the medical mission on advancing the long-term health system in Haiti. According to the Cuban daily Granma, the Cubans are building two new hospitals outside Port-au-Prince, the capital, in areas where health care had been practically nonexistent.

Graduates from Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine as well as current students there are at the center of this effort. They number 637 and come from 27 countries.

Granma interviewed one of these graduates, Marcela Vera, from Colombia. As soon as the earthquake struck she wanted to go to Haiti to help. She was turned down by many aid organizations. Doctors Without Borders told her she needed to know French. The Red Cross demanded two years’ experience. But when the Latin American School of Medicine called her, “she was only asked to do her best and do it well,” Granma said. Forty-eight hours later she was on her way to Haiti.

Beyond that, this paper will spend less time on definitions and narratives, and instead serve as an initial brainstorming document. Through the use of a Wiki set up with the assistance of Dr.Andre Oboler, task force members helped edit these two papers. The first was initially authored by Gil Troy, the second on taking offense, by Mitchell Bard. We thank all the participants for all their time, passion and expertise – and look at this as the start of an ongoing process, which we hope will continue.

BDS AS A CLEAR TARGET:

There is a clarity in fighting against BDS that could provide traction in the Jewish world and beyond. In the current climate, Israel advocates are always going to lose a fight over “settlements” and “occupation,” or at best get mired in stalemate. BDS shifts the terrain, making the battle one over Israel’s right to exist, over the legitimacy of Zionism, over the anti-Semitic tropes shaping the anti-Israel movement, and the rank anti-Semitism behind the disproportionate, obsessive focus on Israel. It is also a battle about freedom of speech and of open discourses, given the BDS attempt to shut down normal flows of learning and commerce with Israel. This is a battle we can win – and shhh, don’t tell anyone have been winning so far, in many ways, in many communities.

We also should recognize that BDS is a part of a broader campaign to delegitimize Israel. This campaign of delegitimization, Dr. Joel Fishman writes, has been "a central motif of Palestinian propaganda in international bodies" and reflects a strategy of a "People's War," as full blown political, economic, cultural, ideological struggle against the very existence of Israel.

The Foreign Ministry can help centralize the fight against BDS and delegitimization, coordinate responses to what is a coordinated attack, share information, take a moral stand against the human rights hypocrites, engage diplomats in a fight for Israel’s basic rights, and train Israeli diplomats about the BDS movement. But the fight also has to be local not international, rooted in particular community norms, and necessarily somewhat distanced from the Foreign Ministry which is, naturally, perceived as a biased party, and whose involvement in all facets would help our enemies argue that we are fighting for Israel using the fight against anti-Semitism as camouflage.

PUT BDS IN CONTEXT:

Part of the fight against BDS is an educational one. And central to that is explaining that

1. as mentioned before BDS crosses the line into traditional bigotry, both by resurrecting traditional anti-Semitic tropes, and by following the traditional ways of all bigots in attacking the essence of Israel and the Jewish people rather than constructively seeking to change particular policies or actions.
2. BDS is part of the “Durban Strategy” adopted by NGOs during the infamous Durban Conference that was supposed to be against racism in late August, early September 2001. Good liberals on campus and elsewhere who think they are just fighting for “justice” need to be confronted with the fact that they are advancing a particular agenda with a particular – and quite problematic – pedigree.
3. BDS is also part of the broader Islamist strategy to undermine the West. Especially in North America, activists need to understand how positions they are taking are aiding the same people who support shooting up Fort Hood, trying to down commercial jets on Christmas, and succeeded in killing nearly three thousand people on September 11, 2001.

Strategy / Vision A 5 Year Plan

All too often, we get mired in the tactics of the day-to-day battle and are too reactive. The group decided that before plunging into a more detailed discussion of some dimensions of the problem, we should step back and think about our vision, about our strategy and about what tactics will achieve our broader goals, five years from now.

Our Vision:

Includes: Israel being a cause to celebrate

Humanization of Israel using a vibrant proactive approach making the Zionist case while emphasizing Israel’s many positive accomplishments and appealing characteristics

Driving a Wedge between Soft Critics and Hard Delegitimizers

Strategy

To have in place legislative prohibitions vs. BDS which can then be applied in different communities, acknowledging the different legal traditions

Creating “Best Practices” which can be modeled and taught

To have in place institutions centralized, or 'hub within network' institutions that can share information. Committee members disagreed whether the bulk of the work should be from the government or from the community/civil society .

Institutions: To have in place Affinity Groups – lawyers, accountants, academics etc who can help fight BDS from within

Israeli intellectual 'buy in' – mobilizing Israeli academics and other professional who understand the seriousness of the threat and fight it

Encouraging more Israel Studies on campus as part of a broader rebranding and reversing of the current wherein enemies of Israel on campus are rewarded and friends are punished

Debranding the NGOs Non-governmental Organizations – naming and shaming

Pursuing a strategy of ridicule and satire – especially on the internet

Here are some steps we should follow to achieve those goals:

1. Let’s Reframe to Name and Shame:

BDS means very little to most people – and sounds like a communicable disease which in some ways, like anti-Semitism itself, it is… The awkwardness of the language, and the venom behind the sentiments, together provide a double opportunity. We can rename and reframe their movement. We need to point out how BDS crosses the line from legitimate criticism to historically-laden, anti-Semitic messaging. We should note that BDS fails the “Sharansky Test” of Demonization, Double Standards and Delegitimization” because it singles out Israel for special condemnation, speaking for example about the “apartheid nature of the state” rather than specific policies. We could reinforce this by adding a 2-E Test – “exceptionalism” and “essentialism” – which again focuses on singling out Israel and, in the nature of traditional bigotry, condemning the actor not the act.

In that spirit, in Toronto, the Jewish Federation re-christened the movement the Blacklist, Demonize and Slander movement. In addition to exposing the animus of the movement, the label cleverly filtered the BDS movement through the correct cultural framework when the BDSers targeted the Toronto Film Festival. Jane Fonda, initially, was happy to sign a petition bashing Israel. When she found out that she supported a “blacklist” – a major no-no in post 1950s Hollywood culture, she felt ashamed and retracted. Similarly, the leading academics fighting boycotts have been scientists, because free exchange is the lifeblood of the scientific community and the thought of risking that for mere politics is appalling to many. At the same time, there are some, not enough voices in the gay community denouncing groups such as “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid,” because they know how much more liberal Israel is than any other Middle Eastern country the major international association of gay travel agents held its annual meeting in Israel in 2009 .

These examples suggest we need to think, case by case, about how to frame the BDSers in the way that most emphasizes the gap between their actions and the democratic ideals they pretend to espouse. Recasting the campaign as a blacklist is a powerful way to demonstrate what the movement is really about. We should think of other strategies that help delegitimize the delegitimizers.

More broadly, we need to think about what the right messaging for an anti-BDS campaign could be – “Let Israel Live,” for example, may make Israel sound pathetic and may sound too 1940s – kind of begging the world’s permission for Jewish survival. But, given the culture of crisis in the Jewish world, that is the kind of slogan that just might work. We invite other suggestions.

It is also important to determine the need for a response on a case by case basis. Some people argue that every BDS initiative must be fought out of fear of a domino effect; however, it may not be to our advantage to do so. Sometimes, we may give a trivial exercise greater meaning.

1.1 Ensuring tactics don't defeat strategy

The campaign against the University and College Lecturers' Union's boycott attempt in the UK was a signal success, mainly due to a classic job of re-framing. The BDS crowd wants the debate to be about Israel and the pro-Israel crowd made it about academic freedom. Although this is an exquisite tactic it runs the risk of leading to a strategic defeat.

What happened was that the "bad guys" talked about how bad Israel is and the "good guys" talked about how bad boycotts are. In the end the only messages that anyone heard about Israel were how bad she is. The boycott motion was handily defeated, but such a triumph contains the seeds of a Pyrrhic victory. Perhaps it's natural to glory in any kind of victory we can obtain in this fight, however, “Israeli policy makes me sick, but boycotts make me sicker” as stated as a typical progressive view in the BDS fight is hardly the ringing endorsement of Israel we would all seek!

To quote Charles Jacobs late of the David Project , students are often reduced to arguing that "Israel doesn't suck." This is only a slight exaggeration. Unless we can come up with a way to produce a new meta-frame for discussing the Middle-East the BDSs will keep us on the run until we are worn out.

Emendation, post conference: Wes Streeting President of the UK's National Union of Students argued that this concern was somewhat ill-founded. In the working group session he stressed that the argument against boycotts in general had opened the way to substantive discourse on why a boycott was particularly unjust when focused on Israel. If that's an accurate depiction of what happened, then it's a good example of what we need to do to ensure that strategy is not eclipsed by tactics.

2. Dig Deep to Undermine

When the Student Society of Concordia University in Montreal was overtaken by Palestinians and anarchists in the late 1990s, early 2000s, rumors were rife about activists just enrolled in one course per semester to keep their eligibility for the Student Society, about money from outside the university being pumped into the pro-Palestinian activities and about money from the Student Society being diverted both for personal gain and for unauthorized political use. Surprisingly, neither the Jewish community nor the journalistic community undertook the kind of Edwin-Black-style investigation the whole mess deserved, for various cultural and political reasons. Investigative journalism is an underutilized tool in the fight against coordinated movements like the BDS movement.

Similarly, we need to do more historical research, showing the polluted origins of the Zionism is racism, Israel apartheid, and BDS movements. In October 1976, just under a year after the 1975 Zionism is Racism resolution passed the UN General Assembly, Professor Bernard Lewis published an article “The Anti-Zionist Resolution,” in Foreign Affairs Vol. 55, No. 1 Oct., 1976 , pp. 54-64 , uncovering the Soviet and Nazi roots of the resolution. Lewis’s research remains relevant today – as does his example.

3. We Need a War Room

The BDS movement is well-coordinated and well-financed . The Jewish community needs a war room, tracking this movement, sharing best practices, coaching communities. All too often and most especially on campus , when an anti-Israel initiative is launched the few who care act as if such a thing never occurred elsewhere and start working on their own strategy – rather than relying on a broad network and a collective memory that should be helping them.

The War Room could also provide the necessary intelligence and background that could be useful in the kinds of grassroots fights necessary to defeat BDS. Whether this War Room should be linked to the Ministry, or to the Global Forum, or to another Jewish organization, or stand on its own, is an important subject we should debate.

In describing this much-needed body of activists and academics we debated the nomenclature – some call it a clearinghouse, others a hub – but we need to share information, coordinate strategy, learn from each other, and push certain lines, taking offense, not just playing defense. In North America, the Federation system is talking about launching a coordinating body to fight BDS. England has “Fair play” functioning as a hub. In France the CRIEF coordinates. All these initiatives should be coordinated globally – through Israel, the target of the attack and the center of the Jewish people.

To be specific:

• Our guiding principle is that the first people to fight are the people on the ground – this is added value not a command center
• The mission is to be informational and tactical – a clearinghouse of information and like the town crier of old – a spur to action with weekly updates, particular tactics
• Like an iceberg, partially submerged – we need to make some public points to shape the narrative against BDS, delegitimizing the delegitimizers, but we also need ome private initiatives. We should not share all our strategies and tactics for the enemy to see
• Broadcast and narrowcast – having some messages that work globally, but also customizing our messages for campus, unions, civil society

Professor Irwin Cotler spoke at the Global Forum about “the globalization of the indictment” and our need to take back the narrative, to become the plaintiff…. How can we do this is we don’t coordinate strategies, if there isn’t a central body for information sharing, with a great website, but also engaged experts, representing the different countries, helping to shape this battle, sending out weekly updates, helping people who want to get involved, and, as one of our participants suggested targeting the bad guys, using the blogosphere to mock them, to embarrass them, to name and shame?

Each community should of course have its own structures but this war room should act as a hub. It should start simply by coordinating a proactive, integrated structure against BDS and delegitimization – if it works, it could be a crucial resource when crises develop,and it truly could be a global forum against anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and delegitimization, but for now let’s keep it focused.

4. BDS Draws a Line in the Sand

BDS Draws a Line in the Sand - Either testing or recruiting progressives. By implicitly shifting the debate from Israeli policy to Israel’s right to exist, BDSers have provided what we could call the J-Street Test or the test for J-Street . Progressives, no matter how critical of Israel, who condemn the BDS movement, prove their “pro-Israel bona fides.” And Tal Shechter of J Street U recently sent out this message: “We should be investing – not divesting – in our campus debate, in our communities and in the people who will bring about change in the region. That’s why J Street U is launching an ‘Invest, Don’t Divest’ campaign today to raise money for two organizations — LendforPeace.org, a Palestinian microfinance organization set up by students like us, and The Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development, which promotes Jewish-Arab Economic Cooperation in Israel.”

Critics of Israeli policy can in fact be particularly useful in this fight – note how much of the British academic boycott was repudiated by people who were from the left but recognized the boycott threat as a great threat to academic freedom. So fighting BDS can help heal some of the rifts in the Jewish community, assert a big-tent Zionism, and invite left-wing critics of Israel who nevertheless believe in Israel’s existence to stand up for Israel on this defining issue.

The argument should be made – and this is true, not a mere tactic – that BDS harms the peace process. Whatever one thinks of Oslo, it is not coincidental that Israel entered into the Oslo Peace Accords only after the UN lifted its odious Zionism is Racism resolution in 1991 and that Israel made peace with Egypt only after Sadat came to Jerusalem. A nation under threat of boycott, a nation that feels its very existence and international legitimacy are threatened, is less likely to make peace, which makes the Palestinian strategy particularly self-defeating at this point not to mention the fact that Israeli academics are among the most outspoken peace advocates .

5. BDS merits a double ju jitsu move

BDS merits a double ju jitsu move: First, the BDS response to Israel is so over the top, it should be an opportunity to delegitimize the delegitimizers. Second, the Toronto community has been particularly effective in turning the lemons of BDS into lemonade – going from “Boycott” to Buycott – with the results being sold-out Israeli movie nights at the Toronto Film Festival, record-ticket sales for the targeted Dead Sea Scrolls, and a run on kosher wine when BDSers attacked Israeli wine. More broadly, the second paper offers many interesting ideas for getting off the defensive, becoming pro-active and taking the fight to the BDSers.

6. Make this the New Soviet Jewry Movement

A “Let Israel Live” anti-BDS campaign, if done right, could provide the kind of community-wide unity, continuing passion, and identity-building activism, last seen during the Soviet Jewish movement. The threat is intense enough, the moral issue is clear enough, all we need is the motivation, leadership, and organizational sophistication to make it happen.

7. Make the fight Horizontal, Hip, and Hysterical…

While we do need some central coordination via a “war room,” we must not forget the importance of the netroots in combating BDS. The fight needs to be horizontal not hierarchical – what we use to call “grassroots” empowering college students to get involved using their skills, their media, their networks to push back. In the same spirit, the fight should be “hip,” rooted in the language and mores of the 21^st century, presenting an updated, exciting, relevant celebration of modern Israel. And, as already mentioned, the fight should be hysterical – we forget just how powerful a tool ridicule can be as a weapon in politics, especially in our “Jon Stewart” culture.

8. Speak to Israelis about their roles as ambassadors and dangerous role as enablers

The fight against anti-Semitism, against BDS, and for Israel begins at home, in the homeland. Israelis can be the most effective ambassadors and activists in the fight against BDS – this should be the kind of fight for survival that transcends most political divisions and harnesses the kind of ingenuity and passion Israelis bring to more conventional battlefields. Israelis need to understand that, for all their much vaunted, “Start-up Nation” Hi Tech inventiveness, if the European Union decides to boycott Israel, the economic impact would be devastating. The threat is real – but not well known, and usually seen, unfortunately, through a left-right prism.

At the same time, Israeli critics of Israeli policy need to understand that in an age of instant communication, what they say “within the family,” echoes throughout the world. The Norman Finkelsteins and Noam Chomskys of the world quote Israelis incessantly. No Israeli should feel compelled to change their politics, no matter what Chomsky and Finkelstein would choose to do. But ALL Israelis should watch their language, understanding that false Nazi/Apartheid/Racism analogies feed Israel’s harshest enemies, who wish to wipe out the state. There is a rich bank of historical analogies and words Israeli critics can use to criticize Israel. There must be an awareness of how harmful the Nazi and Apartheid analogies are, and how they are used – the slogan “Never Again” should apply to false, offensive, analogizing, not just the mass murder itself

Note the analysis of Uri Avnery of the BDS. Avnery has a long record of harshly criticizing Israel, but distinguishes between his ultimately loving criticism and the exterminationist agenda underlying much of the BDS Campaign. He writes: “Reading some of the messages sent to me and trying to analyze their contents, I get the feeling they are not so much about a boycott on Israel as about the very existence of Israel. Some of the writers obviously believe that the creation of the State of Israel was a terrible mistake to start with, and therefore should be reversed. Turn the wheel of history back some 62 years and start anew.

“What really disturbs me about this is that almost nobody in the West comes out and says clearly: Israel must be abolished. Some of the proposals, like those for a “One State” solution, sound like euphemisms. If one believes that the State of Israel should be abolished and replaced by a State of Palestine or a State of Happiness – why not say so openly?

“Of course, that does not mean peace. Peace between Israel and Palestine presupposes that Israel is there. Peace between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people presupposes that both peoples have a right to self-determination and agree to the peace. Does anyone really believe that racist monsters like us would agree to give up our state because of a boycott?” Other Israelis – and other critics outside of Israel – should be appealed to on these terms, understanding that the BDS-Apartheid-Nazi-language is anti-Israel and anti-peace. See ]http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Quote/Avneri1.html]

9. Ally, Fraternize, and Build Coalitions

Far too much of the fight against anti-Semitism and for Israel occurs within a Jewish community bubble. The Foreign Ministry can be a particularly useful force here in helping build alliances with academics, business people, politicians, anti-terror/national security types, Christian Zionists, civil libertarians – creating a broad coalition that is against demonization. Moreover, we learn from the anti-academic-boycott movement in England, whose guiding principle is that “the first people to fight BDS should be the people in the sector,” self defense is the best defense.

9.1 Labor unions

Universities or other institutions that invest in Israel seldom do so for reasons of Zionist sympathy. If they have put money into Israel or Israeli companies it's because their investment advisers have told them that it's the right thing to do in order to grow their endowment. Hence, divestment would be financially inadvisable.

If, in the midst of a divestment campaign, campus unions that represent technical, administrative and janitorial staff were convincingly informed that the divestment campaign might well lead to job cuts and not amongst the tenured academics pushing for BDS they might easily be persuaded to condemn such a campaign. How embarrassing for the "progressive" academics pushing BDS to be opposed by the representatives of the lowest paid workers on campus?

9.2 Students

We need to do a better job of empowering and educating Jewish and pro-Israel students. Specifically through advocacy training programs, like hasbara fellowships and many others, which bring students to Israel and give them the knowledge, skills and confidence to advocate on campus. Too many students are too intimidated to express their views. They need quick and easy answers to the most common criticisms thrown at them, and the confidence to deliver those messages. Jewish community organizations need to invest in these programs, and send their students to Israel to learn. Setting up one hour seminars on campus don't work, students need to go to Israel, learn the situation, and practice the responses.

We also need a major push to educate non-Jewish student leaders. Specifically, more money needs to be spent on the programs that already exist in countries like Canada to send non-Jewish student leaders members of student government, campus organizations, campus newspapers etc . to Israel to learn the facts on the ground. They are the future leaders off-campus and in the media, and we are losing this battle.

9.3 Reporters

We need to adopt a radically different approach to media relations: ‘embracing the journalist’, building relationships to go beyond the two traditional approaches of giving information to the press and monitoring/criticizing the media for ‘getting the story wrong’ – and instead helping them to ‘get the story right in the first place’, as MediaCentral does here in Israel. Reaching out to all levels of the media – local and national – to engage rather than criticize, without the “Hasbara” agenda but instead promoting accuracy as Israel’s best ally, widening the lens and helping to reframe the MidEast situation and to affect the tone and terminology used . Working to win the ‘battle for hearts and minds’ through the heart rather than the head, using Dale Carnegie’s approach to "win friends and influence people" or to put it another way, "rather than fighting your enemy, make the enemy your friend….”

9.4 Bloggers

We need a creative, edgy, systematic outreach to pro-Israel bloggers, who are willing to target BDSers and delegitimizers, exposing their tactics, ridiculing them as necessary, and, as much as possible putting them on the defensive.

9.5 Professional Organizations and Communities

Dr. Jonathan Rynhold, who was involved in combating the proposed British academic boycott of Israel, suggests applying some of the lessons from that experience more broadly. He proposes forming and informing groups of Jewish/pro-Israel professionals within various national and international professional association/organizations/unions. Their first order of business should be passing anti-discrimination by-laws within the organization that are general in nature, and that do not mention Israel per se, but rather oppose discrimination on the basis of race, religion, nationality etc. This would put the onus on the boycotters to prove they are NOT discriminating, instead of pro-Israel forces having to prove Israel’s innocence. He also suggests offering a positive alternative to the boycott, such as engaging Israelis and Palestinians through the particular professional framework of the organization. Israeli organizations should take the lead in seeking international partners and preparing the groundwork for these general denunciations of boycott resolutions. All too often we wait until the crisis is upon us, rather than laying the foundation before trouble erupts. And considering that the specter of boycott already has arisen in various academic contexts, it is particularly important to re-establish and fund an organization of Israeli academics to work with the Israeli Academy of Science against the boycott, where Bob Lapidot has been the contact person.

10. Zero in on a moment to raise awareness of the BDS threat and start delegitimizing the delegitimizers

Beyond Israel and the communities of Israelis abroad , even many ardently pro-Israel activists do not quite know what to do with Yom Hazikaron, Israeli Memorial Day. Perhaps this year is the time for a mass, international, cross-community teach-in about BDS on Yom Hazikaron, remembering the fallen soldiers and victims of terror by learning that words can kill or heal , that demonization has facilitated violence and undermines peace. An added bonus is that after this sobering, somewhat defensive day of learning, one can simply celebrate Israel’s birthday, with Yom Ha’atzmaut immediately afterwards.

11. Meet “lawfare” with “lawfare.”

Professor Irwin Cotler has termed the variety of ways in which BDSers have hijacked international human rights laws to hound Israelis as “lawfare.” Many of the French delegates explained that there had been some success in applying the new French penal code outlawing discrimination based on religious or ethnic characteristics against BDSers – who sometimes have very violently ruined Israeli fruit in supermarkets. We should explore this more fully, being sensitive to the different legal traditions in the particular countries involved.

12. Let’s Push More Broadly for a Citizenship 2.0 Campaign

One way of not just wallowing or being defensive, but to take the offensive, is to push a broader, Citizenship 2.0 campaign, deputizing the next generation to fight hate on the Web in general, and anti-Israel material in particular. Part of fighting anti-Semitism should entail enlisting educators, parents and community leaders to envision Citizenship 2.0, teaching students to avoid polluting on line-discourse themselves, to combat on-line hate, to assess on-line information critically, and to use the net's grassroots power to defend democratic values against the haters. The Internet works democratically, let’s mobilize and deputize young people in Israel, and the world over to fight hate wherever they see it and, of course, never indulge in it . For parents, instead of grumbling about their kids being on “the computer” all the time, perhaps they could start boasting about their kids as modern Judah and Judith Maccabees, striding across the blogosphere, defending the Jewish people, fighting the BDS-ers and standing for truth, justice, civility and democracy.

GOING ON OFFENSE

The time has come to explore ways to put the boycotters on the defensive and to initiate our own campaigns to highlight issues of concern. For example:

1. Seek to have boycotters expelled from international organizations. One condition of Saudi Arabia’s admission to the WTO was that it cease its boycott of Israel. It promised to do so and then, after admission, declared it would not end the boycott. Organizations such as WTO should be pressured to adhere to its rules and other groups e.g., sports federations should be lobbied to adopt anti-boycott provisions.

2. Lobby academic journals to adopt policies barring submissions from anyone who advocates an academic boycott. Journals are supposed to promote academic freedom and intellectual exchange and should not collaborate in efforts to stifle such exchanges. If academic boycotters cannot get published, they will perish.

3. Circulate information on Muslims acting contrary to Islam. If the people of countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia knew their “pious” leaders were really alcoholics, gamblers and perverts, they might hasten regime change.

4. Create a “Student Rights Watch” organization that would seek to counterbalance certain NGOs that have become Israel-bashing specialists. SRW could go in at least two different directions – one would be to make a human rights organization that monitored activities around the world with the emphasis on non-democratic states as HRW once did – another approach would be to have the students focus on rights as students on college campuses with an emphasis on how Israel and Jews are treated, but also monitor other abuses inside and outside the classroom.

5. Launch a Saudi apartheid campaign. It is galling that Israel is tarred with comparisons to South Africa when there is a country that really does merit this comparison. Progressive and women’s groups should be natural allies in such a campaign, which might have a goal of adopting Sullivan-like principles for Western companies doing business in the kingdom.

6. “Buy Israel” campaign. This is already being done is some areas, but it might be adopted as an international program.

7. Buy Israel Bonds. It has been done quietly, but a more aggressive effort might be made to sell Israel Bonds to corporations and other entities there is a danger to raising attention to it as it might create a new target for BDS . It may be a tougher sell given current interest rates at the moment, but one of the best responses to BDS is multimillion dollar bonds purchases made by banks, unions, pension plans, and others.

8. Outreach to mainline Christians. We have spent too little time on educating non-Jews and reacting only at the last minute when some of their leaders try to adopt BDS proposals at their national conventions. These churches bring in a parade of anti-Israel speakers who are rarely countered. Rather than focus so much attention preaching to the choir, greater efforts should be made to speak directly to non-evangelical Christians. The MFA could be especially helpful in this area.

9. Outreach to key minorities. In the United States, Hispanics will become an increasingly influential factor in American politics and, therefore, the U.S.-Israel relationship. Too little effort has been given to educating this community about Israel.

10. Developing Israel Studies as an academic discipline. Most universities have few if any courses about modern Israel and many of those that are taught are usually taught badly. A variety of steps can be taken to enhance the field across the globe. In the U.S., for example, the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise AICE , has brought 65 visiting Israeli scholars to teach for an academic year at more than 40 universities over the last 5 years. AICE also supports graduate students pursuing Ph.D.s in Israel-related fields and postdoctoral fellows. Chairs and centers of Israel studies are being created in the U.S. and, more recently, the U.K. Providing the next generation with a good education about Israel is vital for the future as well as critical to countering present campus-based efforts to delegitimize Israel.11. Try to make inroads at the UN and its associated agencies by targeting small nations. Many of these countries do not give a lot of thought to the Middle East and go with the herd. In fact, we know the UN reps sometimes act with little or no instruction from their governments. It may not be possible to overcome the Arab/Islamic bloc and its allies, but it may be possible to chip away at its majorities so votes are not one-sided and resolutions so biased a small effort along these lines is underway in the U.S. .

12. A priority should be placed on defunding anti-Israel UN agencies, such as the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Efforts should be made to focus the UN on a positive agenda of economic development, health and environmental protection and lobby that funds be directed away from attacking a UN member and toward the mutual interests of all members.

These are just a few ideas that we hope will serve as the basis for discussion and stimulate additional suggestions for proactive measures to improve Israel’s image, delegitimize the detractors and energize everyone committed to fighting anti-Semitism.

AGENDA FOR THE WORKING GROUP MEETING

These were some of the questions we addressed – although it was difficult to cover them all, let alone answer them adequately in two short sessions. Still, we include them as food for thought for future conferences.

I. Should this “working group” evolve into an ongoing task force – if so, what is its mandate, what are its goals, who will participate, what can it hope to achieve?

II. Have we effectively explained why BDS crosses the line from legitimate criticism to historically-laden, anti-Semitic messaging failing both the 3-D, Demonization, Double Standards, and Delegitimization, and 2-E, Essentialism and Exceptionalism, tests?

III. If there is to be a “war room” – who should run it? where should it be? who should participate? who will pay for it? what are its goals?

IV. How can we best harness the comparative strengths of different institutions/communities in order to achieve the most effective response? Where specifically do the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Global Forum fit in?

V. In strategizing regarding the BDS movement, how do we keep the messaging positive – while motivating normally apathetic students, etc?

VI. Who can make the case to Israelis that some of the discourse in Israel is harmful – and how can it be done in an effective manner?

VII. If the idea of a broader anti-BDS/pro-Israel movement makes sense – who will run with it, how do we make that happen? Can we work in some cooperative fashion or will multiple organizations insist on doing it their way with little or no coordination?

VIII. What other ideas do we have for “Going on Offense”: and which ones do we wish to make priorities?

WASHINGTON - The House Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly passed a nonbinding resolution yesterday that condemns the World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide, despite warnings by the Obama administration that such a move would anger Turkey, a key US ally in the Middle East, and would put fragile reconciliation efforts between Turkey and Armenia at risk....

So?

Since when are mass-murderers sensitivities taken into consideration, huh?

Turkey, which insists that the deaths were from war and unrest, issued a scathing rebuke after the vote.

“We condemn this draft resolution, accusing the Turkish nation with a crime that it has not committed,’’ the Turkish government’s statement read.

Armenians in the United States have been lobbying for decades to get the killings recognized as genocide. The resolution has been championed by congressmen from California, home to the largest Armenian population in the United States. All five members of the panel from California supported the measure....

Of course, I feel unqualified to criticize, seeing as my nation exterminated the natives, traveled across the Pacific to slaughter Filipinos, dropped atomic bombs on Japan, killed millions of Vietnamese and other South Asians, and are currently killing Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Why is the House wasting time on this, and when is the resolution condemning Israel for its treatment of Palestinians getting the vote?

But geopolitical forces have always prevented such a resolution from passing on the House floor.

Try the SPEAKER'S OFFICE, not geopolitics, 'kay?!!!

In 2007, after a House panel passed a similar resolution, the Bush administration persuaded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, not to bring it to the House floor for a vote, because of the US need for Turkey’s cooperation in Iraq and elsewhere. It is not known whether this resolution will reach a floor vote.

I bet it DOES NOT, not with Obama taking up the Bush position.

This time, congressmen had yet another reason to vote against the resolution: Last year, Turkey and Armenia signed an unprecedented protocol aimed at normalizing relations. But the agreement has yet to pass the Parliament in either country.

Yesterday, Representative William D. Delahunt, a Quincy Democrat on the committee, said the resolution could ruin chances for a diplomatic breakthrough, so he voted against it.

But Peter Koutoujian, an Armenian-American state representative from Waltham whose grandparents fled the killings, hailed the vote, calling the genocide “a historical truth.’’

“I respect Congressman Delahunt, but I disagree completely with the reasoning,’’ Koutoujian said. “Each year this resolution comes up, there is a claim that the timing is bad. If not now, when?’’

Good point.

--more--"

Of course, not as good as the one on top of the leadership's heads:

"Genocide resolution may not get House vote" by Washington Post | March 6, 2010

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has reached agreement with congressional leaders not to schedule a House vote on a resolution labeling the World War I-era massacre of Armenians as genocide, a US official said yesterday.

WTF? Guy wants a vote on health care so why can't they vote on this?

The nonbinding resolution, which narrowly passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee a day earlier, prompted a furious reaction from NATO ally Turkey, which recalled its ambassador from Washington.

Then WHAT is all the FUSS?

THIS is what Congress is working on?

Why are we paying them, Americans?

Turkey is critical to US security interests because of its support for war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also will have a key vote at the United Nations if the Security Council considers sanctions against Iran.

So now genocide IS subject to all sorts of political calculations, huh?

Only ONE TIME where it is NOT, notice that?

Turkish officials said yesterday that the resolution could also torpedo an agreement aimed at normalizing their country’s relations with Armenia; the accord was mediated by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Neither side has ratified the agreement as yet.

“We believe congressional leaders understand the severe impact any further action would have on normalization between Turkey and Armenia,’’ a senior administration official said yesterday.

Actually, it IS THEIR BUSINESS, not ours!

AmeriKa has NO STANDING to CRITICIZE ANYONE!

The issue is an awkward one for the administration because, in their old roles as senators, President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Clinton had called on President George W. Bush to declare the killings a genocide.

No, the BROKEN PROMISES and REVERSALS have been SO MANY that I doubt they feel awkward anymore. They just do it.

--more--"

LONDON - A British government-commissioned study has proposed putting disclaimers on digitally altered images of models, warning consumers that the too-perfect woman staring at them from inside a fashion magazine is, in fact, too perfect.

Hey, don't worry about it. I don't believe adverts anyway.

But Britain’s ad watchdog is cool to the proposal, and the publishing industry said more time was needed to unravel the matter. ‘We still receive very, very few complaints on the airbrushing issue,’’ Advertising Standards Agency spokesman Matt Wilson said, adding that his organization already had the power to act when airbrushed ads were offensive or misleading.

You know, same as the daily newspaper, readers.

He noted that the agency had acted last year when an ad for Olay eye cream featuring supermodel Twiggy had the wrinkles around the 60-year-old’s eyes removed electronically.

But as to the general issue of doctored photos, Wilson said that would be for the industry to decide.

The Periodical Publishers Association, which represents Britain’s $9.1 billion magazine and business media industry, said in a statement that more evidence was needed before deciding to start slapping disclaimers on photos, adding that the issue was “incredibly complex.’’

LONDON - He was convicted of a crime more than half a century ago, but what he did in 1959 - have consensual sex with another man - would be perfectly legal today.

Related: Giving It Up For the Gays

I so DON'T CARE about this issue anymore!

So John Crawford, 70, wants his criminal record cleaned up for good, so that he doesn’t have to disclose his conviction when he seeks volunteer work, and because of a deeply held belief that he should not be punished for his sexual orientation.

No one should be punished; however, that doesn't mean special treatment, either.

Can't have it both wa....

“I came into this world without a criminal record and I’d like to leave this world without one,’’ said Crawford, a retired butler.

Hey, don't worry, a higher power will judge you. You need not worry about man's law.

“The police beat me and beat me and forced me to confess to being gay, but I know in my heart I did nothing wrong.’’

No, no, no, western police never do that!

Crawford’s bid to clear his record is backed by gay organizations looking to help others who were convicted under Britain’s once Draconian antihomosexuality laws, which began to be eased in 1967 as social values changed and sex acts between consenting adults began to be decriminalized....

What took the Brits so long?

They junked slavery way before we did.

Crawford’s legal campaign has already been productive. In response to a letter from his lawyers, police have removed the record of his conviction from the criminal database, meaning it will not turn up during a computerized criminal records search.

Crawford is not satisfied, however, because he is still legally required to reveal the 1959 episode when asked if he has ever been convicted of any criminal offense. This happens frequently on questionnaires when applying for volunteer work with vulnerable persons.

Just lie like everyone else. None of their business anyway, right?

“I think it’s ridiculous,’’ Crawford said.

I think the whole matter is, sorry.

LONDON - Newly declassified British intelligence files reveal the ripples of alarm that spread through the country as Hitler Youth cyclists toured Britain in 1937. Reports of sightings poured in from local police amid fears the teenagers might be spies scouting the country for a future invasion....

AmeriKa calls them hikers when they are doing it to Iran.

And honestly, I am SICK of hearing about NAZIS when they have been GONE for SO LONG -- whether it be Hollywood or the *ewspapers!

If they like Nazis so much, cover the CURRENT VERSION of them:

The NaZionist state of Israel, 'kay, MSM?

The Hitler Youth group aimed to instill the Nazis’ racist and xenophobic ideals into young Germans, through a mix of indoctrination, outdoor activities, and military-style training.

Just substitute Zionist in place of Nazi and Israel in place of Germany and then you are current.

Related:

"Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler, the Naval Academy’s superintendent, said a big part of the increase in applications in Annapolis is due to the school’s summer seminar. The program brings students who have finished their junior year of high school to the academy for six days to show them what life would be like at the picturesque riverside campus. For 2,250 spots in the program, the academy received more than 6,000 applications this summer.The Naval Academy also has been reaching out to students in seventh and eighth grades"

You are the Fourth Reich, 'eh, AmeriKa?

Before World War II, members of the group visited Britain, and MI5 documents released today by the National Archives show that its leaders sought closer ties with the Boy Scout movement....

They always did seem a bit fascist to me.

Organized groups of Hitler Youth toured other nations in the 1930s that eventually became the victims of Nazi aggression, such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Yugoslavia. They reportedly took part in reconnoitering roads and bridges and in other activities that helped the Nazis map their invasion routes.

And you expect the world to trust AmeriKan citizens?

--more--"

Uzbekistan’s government retains strict Soviet-style control over health institutions in the predominantly Muslim nation of 27 million, whose population has been growing quickly.

Yeah, and we can't have that -- especially from the damn Muslims, 'ey, Amurkns?!!

Pffft!

Now I'm not feeling to good about the national health care, folks, sorry.

If you could trust the institutions, maybe, but you can no longer trust government or globalist institutions. You can only trust in yourself.

The Expert Working Group, an independent think tank based in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, said yesterday that a Health Ministry decree issued in mid-February orders district doctors to recommend hysterectomy as an effective contraceptive. The procedure requires partial removal of the uterus and makes women irreversibly sterile.

What, no condoms lying around the office? All over the place in AmeriKa!

The decree orders each district physician to persuade “at least two women’’ a month to have the procedure, the group’s coordinator, Sukhrobdzon Ismoilov, said in a phone interview.

Physicians who don’t comply face reprisals and fines from their superiors, he added....

Try to think of it as a "reward."

--more--"

"Sadly, this is not the glorious image of the tolerant and fair Canada that inspires us in Afghanistan. This is a denial of rights and democracy, and the destruction of a great Canadian institution."

Note: Some dispatches have been slightly abridged

Please see the official site of AHP/Radio Solidarité at www.ahphaiti.org

Haitian politics update- Customs director refutes charges – Sonia Pierre to receive DOS award – Haiti’s IDB rep speaks – Michaelle Jean to visit – Update on storm damage – French Ambassador criticizes crisis management – Lula promises $100 million – US Geological Survey sends team to do seismic study – Kidnap victims released after ransom payment – Official speaks on aftershocks -

—————————————————————————

Haitian politics: How the country should be governed until elections are held - a failed attempt to present the Senate Political Affairs Committee report.

——————————————————————————–

Port-au-Prince, March 2, 2010- AHP – The report of the Political Affairs Commissions of the

Haitian Senate concerning various points of view gathered from diverse sectors of the country could

not be presented this Tuesday due to the absence of a large number of Senators. Several Senators

were meeting at that moment with the Education Minister regarding the resumption of classes and

what measures need to be taken.

At a meeting Monday between the Commission and representatives from civil society, student groups,

the business communityand other sectors, several called for the departure of the government and its

replacement by a government of consensus, because in their view the present government is not

capable of handling the crisis resulting from the earthquake. Some others said the president should

step down.

However a majority of views preferred to shore up and strengthen the current government team to

enhance its credibility. These representatives felt it would be risky and dangerous to

start from square one to form a new government.

It was this more moderate point of view that the Commission’s president, Youry Latortue, promised

to advocate before the entire Senate as well as at a meting with President René Préval. However

that viewpoint was rejected by several political party leaders such as Déjean Belizaire and Edgard

Leblanc, Jr. along with the head of the group named Civil Society Initiative, Rosny Desroches, who

feel that the moderate view does not adequately reflect the debate that took place at Monday’s

meeting.

However, the Commission’s vice-president, Jean Hector Anacacis, said that there is no place for a

government of consensus in the present context because there is a sitting constitutionally-elected

president whose government has been ratified by the Parliament.

“I understand that one might look for a compromise given that the term of the members of the House

of Deputies ends in May, but there are no grounds for calling for the dismissal of the

constitutional government”, said Senator Anacacis.

And yet, several heads of state and government have been forced out of office in Haiti with the

acquiescence of diverse sectors even though these leaders had been elected by public ballot. And,

as was he case for example after February 2004, these de facto governments often obtained economic

support from the international community more easily and had greater maneuvering room than the

democratically elected governments.

This Tuesday’s aborted Senate session was intending to officially take note of the work of the

parliamentarians and not to ratify the report of the Commission. act upon the recommendation of the

Senate Commission, according to Senator Anacacis.

Senator Evalières Beauplan characterized the absence of a group of Senators as politically heading

for the hills. The contents of the report that would have been debated concerns the entire nation,

the future of the country, and particularly the task of reconstruction, said the Senator from the

Northwest, calling for public condemnation of these practices of making oneself scarce.

Senator Anacacis insisted on the need to organize elections to install President Préval’s successor

in mid-May 2011. A constitutional vacuum could create a catastrophe, given the way in which political sectors are reacting, Senator Anacacis warned.

But many Senators insist on the need for a profound reshuffling of the existing Provisional Electoral Council which is widely seen as lacking credibility.

——————————————————————————–

Haiti’s Customs director insists that there is no delay in clearing humanitarian aid through

customs, but warns that contraband disguised as humanitarian aid will not be tolerated

——————————————————————————–

Port-au-Prince, March 2, 2010- AHP – The Director General of the Customs Administration, Jean

Jacques Valentin, spoke out Tuesday against the attitude of some individuals and foreign media who

say that Haiti’s customs officials are imposing fees on humanitarian aid entering the country since

the earthquake.

He described these allegations as irresponsible propaganda, and claimed that even before the

earthquake, there were no taxes on humanitarian aid coming to Haiti.

We provide every facility and there is no delay in clearing international aid intended for the

Haitian people, the suctoms director asserted, however he indicated that the customs agency will

not tolerate any smuggling under the cover of humanitarian aid. It would be wrong, he said, for any

one to exploit the situation by disguising their smuggled goods as humanitarian aid. Mr. Valentin

pointed out tha in the first days of the catastrophic earthquake the sea and land borders were for

all practical purposes unregulated.

In Les Cayes, Jacmel and Jérémie, airplanes were arriving freely.

Today, because we are in the process of restoring order to the sector, they are distributing

propaganda saying that we are taxing humanitarian aid; this is wrong, totaly wrong, Mr. Valentin

insisted, recalling that the situation of the country since the January 12th catastrophe doesn’t

mean that the customs agency has in any way abandoned its mission.

“My administration is determined to combat fraud, fight against illicittrafficking, protect the

nations customs receipts and the fruits of national production while playing its role in enhancing

the country’s public security, said the customs director.

A vehicle transporting computer materials hidden under cartons of water was seized in Malpasse. The

driver, a Dominican citizen, managed to escapeécemment, un v but customs officials confiscated the

equipment and intends to prosecute, he said.

Attempts to smuggle flower were also aborted thanks to the vigilance of customs officials, said Mr.

Valentin.

However, he said, the agency’s efforts will be in vain if the other state institutions don’t

support it in the fight against contraband. “There is a 380 km land border with the Dominican

Republic and a 1,500 km maritime border which the customs agency cannot possibly manage to control

all by itself, he warned.

Mr. Valentin also urged a reorganization of food aid to prevent a substantial loss of income to the

Haitian government, observing that a good portion of customs receipts comes from food products.

Customs took in only 417 million gourdes in January and six million in Februar, while receipts for

December 2009 totaled two billion gourdes, according to the customs director.

Customs receipts amount to 65% of Haiti’s State income.

AHP 2:25 PM, March 2, 2010

——————————————————————————–

Port-au-Prince, March 2, 2010- AHP – Sonia Pierre, the Dominican-Haitian human rights activist, has been named one of the winners of the U.S. State Department’s 2010 International Women of Courage

Award. Ms. Pierre, who has been widely recognized for her role in the struggle for social justice

and in support of the rights of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic was selected because

of her work to end “discrimination based on country of origin and the human rights abuses of

statelessness”. The awards will be presented by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on March 10

to at the State Department in Washington to ten women who have shown “exceptional courage and

leadership in advocating for women’s rights and advancement”, according to a State Department news

release.

Sonia Pierre is the founder of MUDHA, the Movement of Dominican-Haitian Women, which defends the rights of descendants of Haitians in the Dominican Republic to have access to health care,

education, housing and decent work.

——————————————————————————–

Port-au-Prince, March 1st, 2010- AHP - Haiti’s representative to the Inter-American Development Bank IDB , Erick Pierre, on Monday rejected what he called the minority view that Haiti should be made an international protectorate in the aftermath of the deadly January 12th earthquake and outlines his views on reconstruction.

It is certainly true that several scenarios have been presented to attempt to convince people that

Haiti is not capable of governing itself. There have even been some Haitian groups who have written

to the UN to ask the international community to take control of Haiti, said Mr. Pierre.

“I myself believe there are very few Haitians who would like to see their country placed under

international tutelage”, declared Erick Pierre. In his view, however, any Haitian who becomes

president or minister should have vision and a capacity for action along with the leadership to

identify the problems and make it possible to develop approaches for their resolution.

Having said this, he added, when there is a crisis of this magnitude it is beyond the limitations

of any government and its advisors.

Haiti’s IDB representative praised the solidarity demonstrated by the Haitian people following the

tragedy. “Despite the hard work by foreign experts, it was the Haitians who virtually with their

bare hands were the first to rescue their brothers and sisters buried beneath the rubble.

“This proves that it is the Haitians who understand the problems of Haitians and who can be the

first to overcome Haiti’s challenges”, said Erick Pierre.

He called for the enactment of strict measures to prevent anarchic construction techniques that

were the main cause of the deaths of hundreds of thousands on January 12th. The road to Haiti’s

reconstruction must include the rehabilitation of provincial cities through good schools,

universities, hospitals, ports, airports… said Mr. Pierre. Cap-Haitien, Les Cayes, Gonaïves, and

Jeremie will only begin to be rebuilt, he said, once it is understood that these cities cannot

remain as they are but must be provided adequate infrastructure so that Haiti can stop having

everything revolve around one city and Haitians can stop migrating toward that one city.

Mr. Pierre also called for an significant increase in national production and urged that some

regions be designated as protected areas.

As opposed to the view of President Préval, Erick Pierre is not entirely in favor of building

shelters in the neighborhoods where the quake survivors were previously living. A decision like

that only makes sense for property owners, said Mr. Pierre.

” If the home where you were living before the earthquake didn’t belong to you, then you are no

longer a resident of that neighborhood, asserted Mr. Pierre. The property owner is free to do

whatever he wants with his property, he added. This is thus a question that needs to be fleshed out

more thoroughly, in his view.

Haiti’s IDB representative also urged respect for private property. People are askingthat the

schools be reopened, for example, while many schools are still occupied by quake survivors, said

Mr. Pierre.

He also believes the authorities should take steps to clear out some of the public spaces such as

the vicinity of the National Palace and the Office of the Prime Minister.

Many others feel that the staff of the president and the government should have moved out of the

Directorate of the Judicial Police DCPJ a long time ago, to maintain the government’s dignity and

prestige.

——————————————————————————–

Rising casualties from last weekend’s floods in the South: 17 dead and 10 disappeared

——————————————————————————–

Les Cayes, March 1st 2010- AHP - The death toll from the floods is rising. Six people died in the

district of Cavaillon, five in Saint-Louis du sud, two in Cayes, two in Aquin and two in Saint-

Jean du Sud.

At least one death was reported in the Nippes area.

Three people are reported disappeared in the city of Cavaillon, four in Saint-Louis du Sud, two in

Aquin, and onein Saint-Jean du Sud.

Extensive damage was reported in the croplands in the plain of Les Cayes as well as Cavaillon and

Saint-Louis du Sud, where landslides have occurred.

These losses of human life and property are occurring as the country struggles to bind its wounds

nearly 50 days after the terrible earthquake of January 12th that caused up to 300,000 deaths.

——————————————————————————–

Michaëlle Jean is expected in Haiti on March 8 and 9

——————————————————————————–

OTTAWA, March 1st, 2010 – Canada’s Governer General, Michaëlle Jean, is scheduled to visit Haiti

March 8th and 9th to assess the situation after the catastrophic January 12th earthquake.

Michaëlle Jean, who is of Haitian origin, plans to visit the regions worst affected by the quake,

including the cities of Port-au-Prince, Leogâne and Jacmel before carrying out an official visit to

the Dominican Republic.

Canada’s Prime Minister made a two day visit to Haiti in mid-February.

——————————————————————————–

Natural disasters continue in Haiti and elsewehere: very serious flooding in Haiti’s South leave at

least 11 dead and five disappeared, more than 700 are killed by an earthquake in Chile and at least

51 die in storms in France.

——————————————————————————–

Les Cayes, February 28, 2010- AHP - The torrential rains paused Sunday morning in the village of Les Cayes and acros the region, but the weather remains threatening. The population remains on the alert following the widespread damage caused the previous day by the extremely heavy downpours that left at least 11 people dead and flooded a large part of the city of Les Cayes.

The office of Civil Protection reports two people were killed and two other reported disappeared in

Les Cayes, four dead and two disappeared in Cavaillon, four dead in Saint Louis du Sud, one killed

in Aquin and one disappearedin Nippes.

Other reports indicated that five people were killed when a vehicle overturned not far from the

public beach at Gelée, and Deputy Guy Gerard Georges has said he is aware of three deaths in

Torbeck 15kms from Les Cayes

In Les Cayes, many homes and public buildings including the Gabions police station and the general

hospital were flooded from the rains and from rivers, including the Islet and Madame Samedi,

overflowing their banks.

Losses were enormous in the agricultural sector and much livestock and property was carried off

from hamlets in the floods, such as the two Grands-Rues, la savane, 4 chemins, Charpentier and

Bergeaud.

Not far from these locations, most of the homes along the main South Department Road between

Cavaillon and Saint-Louis du Sud, particularly around Solon and Laporte, were flooded.

On Saturday evening, heavy vehicles from the CNE National Heavy Equipment Center and the Public

Works Ministry were able to carve out a passageway to enable vehicles that had been stuck to

continue their journeys, but driving remains very difficult due to mudslides and washouts.

Along the stretch oif road running from Cayes to Camp-Perrin, the waters of the Laborde Reservoir

that had flooded the road Saturday receded enough for traffic to resume.

The local inhabitants were relieved that at least the Ravine du Sud did not flood.

Rain showers continued to fall Saturday evening in Port-au-Prince, adding to the difficulties of

tens of thousands of earthquake survivors who were camped out in public squares, without tents and

still lacking temporary housing.

———————————————————————————

Les Cayes, Feb. 27, 2010 – AHP - Although it was spared the brunt of the January 12th earthquake, torrential rains pounding the Cayes region, since Friday have already flooded many homes and neighborhoods.

This is a catastrophe for the nation’s third largest city, particularly the lower part of town, and

residents reached by telephone said that all activities have come to a standstill.

Gabions field, which received many survivors fleeing Port-au-Prince, is flooded, and in the same

neighborghood the government delegate for the Department is looking for a place to house prisoners

because the police station has been flooded as well.

The neighborhoods of Idraulique, Charpentier and Bergeaud, along with 4 chemins, are completely

under water and many residents have lost their belongings.

If the heavy rains continue, there is concern that the Islet Bridge at the entrance to Les Cayes

might be flooded.

The EDH electric power station was inundated by the Madame Samedi River in the hamlet of

Bourdette. Several power lines and poles are down in the center of Les Cayes, Mersan and

Saut-Mathurine Camp-Perrin , where a hydro-electric power station has been shut down. With two

electric generating stations offline, the population is deprived of electricity.

In the area of Sainte-Véronique, Torbeck, residents have had to evacuate their homes.

The waters of the Laborde pond breached their banks Saturday morning and cut off the Cayes to Camp

-Perrin Road, preventing any traffic from flowing along this route.

At the same time, the buses from the Cayes region that were returning from Port-au-Prince are

unable to travel any farther than Laporte Cavaillon .

Although no loss of human life has been reported at this stage, local inhabitants are reporting

huge losses of livestock and other goods.

Torrential rains are also falling on the entire southern coastal region and the area of Nippes.

An emergency appeal has been sent out to the CNE National Heavy Equipment Center .

——————————————————————————–

February 24, 2010 – A four-member team from the U.S. Geological Survey USGS and the

University of Texas have arrived in Haiti to carry out a short- and long-term study of the seismic

risks facing Haiti. The study is funded by USAID, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance,and the National Science Foundation.

The team intends to study the changes in elevation at the surface along the coast and the shifts in

the earth near Léogane in order to obtain a better understanding of the January 12th earthquake.

The scientists hope to find evidence of previous similar quakes in the coral reefs that were

exposed by the earthquake.

The researchers will also study past activity along the Enriquillo Fault to improve seismic

forecasting for the region. They hope to have some initial results by the middle of March. Team

member Rich Bragg said the study is important for Haiti’s understanding of the nature of the danger

it faces in oirder that it might prepare for possible futrure seismic events.

On Februaryb 23rd, the USGS updated its estimates of the risk of aftershocks over the next 30 to 90

days as well as the full year. The report indicated that aftershocks will continue for many months

although their frequency should diminish over time. Nevertheless, there remains a risk of

additional earthquakes that could cause damage during the period. The full report is available at

the Survey website: www.usgs.gov.

——————————————————————————–

Paris, February 25, 2010- AHP - France’s Ambassador to Haiti, Didier Le Bret, on Wenesday

criticized the handling of the earthquake crisis. The UN and the NGOs, he said, did not know how to manage the emergency created by the January 12th earthquake.

At a conference in Paris, Ambassador Le Bret said that “if there hadn’t been such an overabundance of small structures that collapsed,we could have been able to save many more lives and help many more people.

Coordination by the UN, he said, was very deficient; what was required was a quasi-military style

of organization and discipline.

The ambassador urged the UN to place itself at the service of the Haitian government to avoid a

dual command structure. And he ask the NGOs to chgannel aid through Haitian businesses and Haitian

social institutions in order to lubricate the local economy and prevent the country from becoming

dependent on humanitarian assistance.

Many sectors believe that these statements along with those recenytly made by President Sarkozy on

his visit to Haiti are part of the ongoing rhetoric between the United States and France over

Haiti.

Nicolas Sarkozy had said that France does not wish to make Haiti an international protectorate and

declared that “even if the international community is able to help you, the project itself is up to

you”.

——————————————————————————–

Port-au-Prince, February 25, 2010- AHP - In a visit lasting several hours, Brazilian President

Inacio Lula da Silva reaffirmed Thursday that his country is committed to helping Haiti recover

from the devastating earthquake. The president announced a gift of $100 million, part of which

shall be as budget support for the government of Haiti.

Mr. Lula da Silva asked the countries that are “friends of Haiti” to ask the IMF to cancel Haiti’s

debt. He promised that all actions by his government will follow the orientation of the Haitian

government.

The international NGOshave been receiving and managing the humanitarian aid and other gifts that

have been made to Haiti since the earthquake.

Many voices often coming from within the Haitian government have denounced the coordination of the

NGOs who apparently are not accouyntable to anyone.

Haitian President René Préval welcomed the visit of the Brazilian president, declaring that it

demonstrates Brazil’s determination to help Haiti in its time of tremendous suffering.

The Haitian people are counting heavily on Brazil’s support during the reconstruction phase, said

Mr. Préval.

At the start of his visit, Iniacio Lula da Silva flew over the capital in a helicopter to assess

the tremendous damage and destruction caused by the catastrophic earthquake. During his visit,

President Lula, whose country provides the largest number of troops to the UN force that has been

in Haiti since March 2004, also signed two agreements with the Haitian government – one on

education and the other on agriculture. Haitian Agriculture Minister, Joanas Gué, said that the

agreement relating to his ministry, which will get underway shortly, will support the relaunching

of family scale agriculture, including the building of cisterns, which will help develop this

sector.

The $4 million education agreement due to begin shortly that was announced by Haitian Education

Minister Joel Desrosiers Jean-Pierre, seeks to enhance professional training and the reconstruction

of local universities. The Minister also announced that classes will soon open in th West and

Southeast Departments which were severely affected by the earthquake . “If the students are not

able to remain in their schools, we will look for other suitable places to hold classes”, the

Minister promised.

——————————————————————————–

Fort-Liberté, February 25, 2010- AHP - The two Haitian experts kidnapped last week by members of agang operating in Juana Mendez and Fort-Liberte in the North Department were released Tuesday by their kidnappers in exchange for a ransom of $50,000 U.S. .

The Director of Caritas for the diocese of Fort-Liberte, agronomist Dieudonné Deshommes, and

chemical engineer Nènè Poisson, who lives in Santo-Domingo, were kidnapped on Saturday February 20 in Ouanaminthe. Their kidnappers demanded a ransom of $50,000 for each of them for a total of

$100,000, otherwise they said they would murder their captives.

The $50,000 ransom was finally able to be paid thanks to a fundraising effort organized in the

Fort-Liberté/Ouanaminthe region, where the residents were deeply upset by this double kidnapping.

The place where the two men were held captive is still unknown.

The kidnapping of Dieudonné Deshommes and Nènè Poisson comes at a time when acts of kidnapping

have been reduced to almost none in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

——————————————————————————–

The Director of the Office of Mines and Energy, engineer Dieuseul Anglade, who had unsuccessfully sought seismic monitors, advised the public Wednesday not to panic when aftershocks ocur because it is completely normal for there to be aftershocks after such a stroing earthquake.

In recent days, aftershocks have caused panic among the population. In Les Irois, in the Grande- Anse, an aftershock registering 4.7 terrified students who were still at school. Several students were injured in the panic, leading to the suspension of classes in the community.

Seismometers have been installed recently in three regions of Haiti, said engineer Anglade. His office only learned of their existence through the media, he explained, even though he had been asking the government for equipment to measure seismic disturbances well before the January 12th earthquake.

Dr. Souad N. Al-Azzawi, Associate Professor in Environmental Engineering

For two decades, Iraqi children, along with all other elements of Iraqi society, have been subjected to grave human rights violations.

These violations began with the destruction of all civil services and Iraqi civil infrastructure by the US/UK aggression on Iraq during the Gulf War of 1991, and were followed by the brutal economical sanctions which deprived the people of Iraq of food, clean water, health care, education and security.

As a result more than half a million Iraqi children died during the nineties [1].The thirteen years of suffering under embargo ended with the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Another form of suffering was born in 2003 under the American occupation. As if the causalities of the excessive use of power during military operations were not enough, the invasion operations consisted of systematically burning and looting of civil services and infrastructure, health care centers, schools and universities, industrial compounds, etc [2]. As stated in UNAMI's report of November 2006, Iraq can be described as "a nation that has been plunged into barbarism since the US-invasion in 2003"[2].

Under the American occupation, lack of security, sectarian violence, deterioration of health care systems, poverty, massive imprisonments, clean water shortages, limited or no electrical power, environmental pollution and lack of sanitation all contributed to grave violations to children’s rights and a drastic increase in the child mortality rate. It has been reported that one out of eight children in Iraq die before their fifth birthday [3].

The forces of the American occupation, and the occupation-assigned Iraqi government, grossly failed to fulfill their most basic duties towards the children of Iraq in accordance with the UN/CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child, Resolution 25/ Session 44, November 1989 [4]. The convention was ratified by 194 countries of the United Nations, except the USA and Somalia.

Principals of the CRC emphasized the need to protect children’s rights’ of life and physical, mental, moral, and spiritual development in a safe environment.

We will show that the American occupation violated children’s rights on all levels, including health care, education, social security, family unity and not to separate children from their parents through detention, imprisonment and exile.

In this report the status and violations of Iraqi children’s rights under the American occupation is presented with special emphasis on the problems of the Iraqi children refugees in Syria.

1. Iraqi Children under the Economical Sanctions 1990-2003

During the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the USA, Iraq was denied the right to import equipment, medicine, educational items, health care requirements, etc. The economic sanctions were imposed by US/UK administrations and enforced by UN resolution 661 in 1990. The sanctions committee in the UN was dominated by the USA and UK, who insisted on blocking most essentials related to human rights [5].

The sanction was a war against the children of Iraq in the following ways:

1. According to the UNICEF, the mortality rate of children under five during the sanctions exceeded 4000/month [6]. This comprised double the mortality rate prior to the sanctions. A total of about half a million children died from 1990 to 1998 [7].

   UNICEF's survey of August, 1999 [7] claimed Iraq was facing a "humanitarian emergency" and other related reports showed that the major causes of increase of children mortality rates are [8]:

   • The blocking of vaccine shipments for Iraqi children against diphtheria and yellow fever;
   • Lack of sanitation and clean water due to the embargo of chemicals needed in for the water purification process;
   • Depriving the children of milk and quality food that helps build their immune system;
   • Bombing and destruction of major infrastructure related to civilian life like electrical power stations, communication networks, hospitals, sewage and water purification systems, etc. all have lead to the general deterioration of the standards of living.
2. Other assaults against Iraqi children during the sanctions were in the form of frequent bombing and killing as a result of the US/UK air raids on the civilian areas of the No Fly Zones, south and north of Iraq. Major attacks occurred from May 1998-2000, where the US air and the Navy forces carried out 36,000 sorties over southern Iraq, including 24,000 combat missions [1].
3. Another atrocity against Iraqi children and civil society was the bombing of the Ameriyah Shelter in Baghdad on February 13, 1991 using the then new “Bunker Bombs” [9]. This resulted in the incineration of more than 300 children.
4. The contamination of Iraq with the use of radiological depleted uranium weaponry during the 1991 Gulf War. Exposure to these contaminants triggered certain diseases amongst children such as multiple malignances, child leukemia, congenital malformations, and more [10][11]. Multifold increases of these diseases were registered amongst the population of Southern Iraq, American and Iraqi veterans.
5. On September 26, 1995, the UN World Food Program WFP reported that 2.4 million Iraqi children under the age of five were at severe nutritional risk [12].
6. In October 1999, the UNICEF reported that as of April 1997, nearly the whole population of young children were affected by a measurable shift in the nutritional status towards malnutrition that drove the Iraqi infant mortality rates to the highest in the world [13].
7. According to the UNICEF, in 1989, the literacy rate in Iraq was 95% and 93% of the population had free access to modern health facilities [1]. Parents were fined for failing to send their children to school. Iraq reached a level where the basic indications to measure the overall well being of human beings, including children, were some of the best in the world [1]. After the 1990 embargo, the educational system in Iraq deteriorated drastically due to a lack of supplies, school funds, and a difficulty in keeping up with international standards and curriculums.

When asked if the death of half a million Iraqi children was a price worth paying, USA ambassador to the UN Madelyn Albright answered “We think the price is worth it.” [1].

This answer concludes how desperate the US and UK are to control oil fields in Iraq and all over the world.

2. Status of Iraqi Children under the American Occupation of Iraq 2003 to date :

Thirteen years of suffering and the death of more than half a million children as a result of economic sanctions ended with the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. People, and the children of Iraq, have had to face the excessive use of power, the shock and awe techniques, raids, the destruction of infrastructure, burning and looting of the civil services and cultural centers of Iraq, damage to health care centers and hospitals, and the sectarian killing staged by occupation intelligence [15].

Numerous violations to Iraqi children’s rights have been committed continuously and systematically under the American occupation of Iraq.

The children of Iraq have been major victims of the occupation as a result of the following:

1. Direct killing during the invasion military operations where civilians were targeted directly. Additional casualties amongst children have resulted from unexploded ordinances along military engagement routes [16].
2. The direct killing and abuse of children during American troop raids on civilian areas like Fallujah, Haditha, Mahmodia, Telafer, Anbar, Mosul, and most of the other Iraqi cities[17]. The Massacre of Haditha children in 2005 is a good example of "collateral damages" among civilians [18].
3. Daily casualties of car bombs, building explosions and other terrorist attacks on civilians.
4. Detention and torture of Iraqi children in American and Iraqi governmental prisons. While in detention, the children are being brutalized, raped, and tortured [19]. American guards videotaped these brutal crimes in Abu Graib [20] and other prisons.
5. Poverty due to economic collapse and corruption caused acute malnutrition among Iraqi children [21]. As was reported by Oxfam in July 2007, up to eight million Iraqis required immediate emergency aid, with nearly half the population living in "absolute poverty"[22].
6. Starving whole cities as collective punishment by blocking the delivery of food, aid, and sustenance before raiding them increased the suffering of the young children and added more casualties among them [23].
7. Microbial pollution and lack of sanitation including drinking water shortages for up to 70% of the population [22] caused the death of "one in eight Iraqi children" before their fifth birthday. Death of young children in Iraq has been attributed to water borne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, etc [24].
8. Contaminating and exposing other heavily populated cities to chemically toxic and radioactive ammunitions. Weapons like cluster bombs, Napalm, white phosphorous, and Depleted Uranium [25] all caused drastic increases of cancer incidences, deformations in children, multiple malignancies and child leukemia. Children in areas like Basrah, Baghdad, Nasriya, Samawa, Fallujah, Dewania and other cities have been having multifold increases of such diseases [26]. Over 24% of all children in Fallujah born in October 2009 had birth defects [27].The Minister of Environment in Iraq called upon the international community to help Iraqi authorities in facing the huge increase of cancer cases in Iraq [28].
9. The deterioration of the health care system [29] and the intentional assassination of medical doctors [30][31] have resulted in an increased number of casualties amongst children. It has been estimated that the mortality rate amongst the population of Iraq reached 650,000 from 2003 to 2006 [31]. Another survey indicated that the total number of dead for the period of 2003 - 2007 is about one million [32]. Among other cases, the failures of the health care system were specified as one of the major causes.
10. Damage to the educational system. By 2004, it was estimated that two out of every three Iraqi children were dropping out of school [33]. Statistics released by the Ministry of Education in October 2006 indicated that only 30% of the 3.5 million students were actually attending schools. Prior to the US invasion, UNESCO indicated that school attendance was nearly 100% [35]. Assassination of educators and academics in Iraq drove their colleagues to leave the country. This brain drain and the intended destruction of schools and educational system is part of the well planned cultural cleansing of the Iraqi society and identity [36].
11. Total collapse of Iraq's economy, the sectarian violence, American troop raids on civilians, the killing of a dear family member have all deprived the children in Iraq of an innocent, carefree childhood that is the right of any child. They have to deal with family breakdowns, poverty, and a complete and total lack of security. Iraqi children are being forced to assume income generating roles because their families are suffering from hunger and poverty. They are leaving schools and having to deal with adult problems such as unemployment, manual labor, etc. [16]. This situation exposed them to hardship, and many forms of abuse. Exposure to violence on a daily basis has affected their psychological development and behavior as well.
12. The drastic increase in the number of orphans in Iraq. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs estimated the number of Iraqi orphans to be around 4.5 million [37]. Other estimates put them at around 5 million. About 500,000 of those orphans live on the streets without any home or family or specialized institutions to take care of them. Among these orphans, 700 are in Iraqi prisons and another 100 in American prisons [37].
13. The problems of families who were forced to migrate and the impact on their children. Since the invasion of Iraq, there have been about 2.2 million internally displaced people who were forced to migrate due to sectarian violence, American violence, etc. Well over two million other Iraqis were driven out of Iraq [16]. On November 20, 2007 UNESCO reports indicated that the number Iraqi children taking refuge in Syria alone was around 300,000 [38]. The problems of children migrated by force represent a real humanitarian crisis where a large number of families have no shelter, no finances, no health care, no education, and no security of any kind.

Tens of international refugee agencies and NGO's have been calling for international help to solve this crisis. Section 4 of this report presents some of the problems the children of the Iraqi refugees in Syria have to deal with.

3. Deterioration of the Living Conditions of Displaced Iraqi Children

This case study was conducted by the author with the help of the Iraqi Women Will body IWW , an Iraqi NGO fighting for Iraqi women’s rights inside and outside of Iraq.

The author and her assistant conducted door to door visits to the families who answered the questionnaire.

In October 2009, around 300 copies of the questionnaire displayed in Annex 1 was distributed to Iraqi families within the Yarmouk refugee area of Damascus, Syria. The researchers visited these families to ensure the accuracy of the answers and to conduct personal interviews.

Of the 300 distributed questionnaires, only 120 were answered as many families were fearful of giving detailed information such as the names and address of their children in fear of being exposed to further assault by sectarian militias or the security forces of the occupation assigned government.

Of the 120 answered questionnaires, 94 of them were completely analyzed with full information regarding the names and addresses of the children who answered the questionnaires.

The age range of the studied child population varied from 2 years of age to 18 years of age. The number of girls was 44, or 46.8% of the research population, while the boys numbered 50, or 53.2% of the population.

The questionnaire shown in Appendix-1 covered the following aspects:

1. Personal identification of the child, including the name, age, sex and place of birth.
2. Social status of the child’s family members.
3. Educational status of the children interviewed.
4. Financial status of the families of the children.
5. Health status of the children.

Analyses of the questionnaire results showed the below:

Table-1: places of birth of thechildren included in this study:

As we can see most of the displaced children within the studied group are from the city Baghdad, which faced the highest rates of raids, killing, and sectarian violence under the occupation.

Table-2 Causes of the parent s death of the studied children population:

From Table 2, and answers from the rest of the members of the studied group, we can conclude the below:

• 43.6% of the children’s families in the studied group left Iraq in fear for their lives after the killing of members of their immediate family and/or the illegal arrest of others by the occupation forces.
• 12.8% of the children’s families in the studied group were forced to leave their residential areas.
• 11.7% of the children in the studied group left the country due to a lack of services, security, and law enforcement.
• In other words 75.5% of the children in the studied group were forced to migrate from their living areas in Iraq.

Sources of Family Income:

Table-3: The Financial Status of the Families of the Studied Children

Table 3 shows that the families of the children have no steady income. Most of the families sold their homes and other belongings in Iraq to begin a life in refuge. Later, it became very hard to maintain supporting the children without jobs and any kind of financial security. Some of the families receive a retirement pension ranging between $200 - $400 a month for the parent, or grandparent if they are living with them.

Another source of income for some families is UN financial support of about $100 / month plus $10 additional per child.

For the above reasons, many children within the studied group have to work to help sustain their families.

As can be seen from Table 3, the financial status of most of these families is much below the average standard of living, even though the majority of the children’s parents are university level degree holders i.e. teachers, engineers, etc. .

We can also conclude that most of these families cannot afford the most basic of necessities like quality food, medical care, and a safe, healthy residence.

Educational Status of the Children:

As most of the children within the studied group are from educated families with proper degrees, the survey indicated that in spite of financial struggles, these families attempted to maintain a fair education for their children. Table 4 shows the educational status of the children within the studied group.

Table-4: Educational status of the children in the studied group

As can be seen, 22.4% of the children could not maintain their education due to extreme financial difficulties which resulted in parents being unable to afford even the free education being offered for all Iraqi refugees in Syria. i.e. parents could not afford the very basic supplies, transportation fees, etc. . Other children were forced into labor in order to help their families survive.

For many Iraqi refugee families, we can see that continuing the education of their children is a luxury that cannot be afforded with the day to day struggle to feed and clothe children with very limited financial aid.

Health and Medical Care Status:

Along with the educational and financial issues these families face, the survey indicated serious health problems amongst the studied child population.

Table 5 below shows the health status of the studied population.

Table-5: Health Status of the Children Within the Studied Group

Table 5 clearly indicates that 46.8% of the studied children face serious health issues. The highest numbers of disabilities are the psychological and mental disorders these children face. The major cause of these issues is the result of occupation force violence, raids, deaths and killings of family members, sometimes in front of the children. Another cause of mental instability is drastic change in the standard of living of these children.

The survey also revealed that only 21 of the 44 health issues faced by the population under study received any form of medical treatment by the Iraqi Red Crescent, UNICEF, and free Syrian healthcare hospitals. In all other cases, medical treatment could not be afforded and was not offered.

Final Remarks:

For two decades, the US administration and its allies have been committing genocide amongst the Iraqi population, including the children [39], [40]. The planned genocide began with imposing brutal economic sanctions that crippled a growing nation, and ended with the occupation of Iraq. During this period, intentional, criminal acts against humanity have been committed repeatedly and purposely by the American administration.

Crimes against civilians included even the children of Iraq. These crimes included the destruction of the essentials of civilian infrastructure, exposing children to hunger, famines, pollution of the environment with radiological and persistent toxicants, initiating and promoting sectarian massacres, the killing and torture committed by occupation forces, and forcefully displacing over five million Iraqis.

The excessive and unnecessary use of power against the civilian population, and the intentional targeting of even unborn children, is an indication of a premeditated plan to depopulate Iraq. Depopulating Iraq works in favor of some of the pro-occupation minorities such as the Kurds. Under the protection of the American occupation and Israeli Mossad stationed in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991, the Kurds are extending their territories through daily killing, bombing and kidnapping Arabs, Turkmen, Christians, Assyrians, and Yazidis in the neighboring territories of Kirkuk, Dialah, Kut, Mosul and other areas within the plan of Kurdish territorial expansion. Children in these areas live in an environment of total chaos, violence and terror.

Of course, depopulation of Third World countries known to have high population growth rates is an active agenda of American Foreign Policy, as was stated by Dr. Henry Kissinger, who wrote: “Depopulation should be the highest priority of US Foreign Policy towards the Third World [41]”.

The direct and indirect killing of about three million Iraqis [42] [43] since 1991 to control its resources and initiate major demographic changes is a criminal act. The international community is urged to stop this genocide.

The genocide will stop only when the American occupying forces leave Iraq to mend the destruction and terror they’ve been cultivating for the last two decades.

References

[1] John Pilger." squeezed to death". The Guardian. March 4, 2000.

[2] John Pilger."Killing the Children of Iraq –A Price Worth Paying?" .TV documentary exposes devastation toll of sanctions against Iraq .Britain’s ITV channel .Monday March 6th ,2000

[3] ICR No.237."Suffer the children; number of children dying is higher than when the country was under sanctions ". Hind Al-Safar .November 16th, 2000.

[4] UN DOCUMENT." Convention on the Rights of Child."

[5] Joy Gordon."Sanctions as Siege Warfare ".The Nation Magazine .March 22nd, 1999.

[6] UNICEF.1999b."Iraq Child and Maternal Mortality Survey, 1999: Preliminary Report". http//:www.childinf o.org/cmr/ irq/irqscont. pdf

[7] UNICEF: "Iraq Press Room :Iraq Surveys show humanitarian emergency" .Information Newline, August 12,1999

[8] Richard Garfield."Morbidity and Mortality among Iraqi Children from 1990 through 1998: Assessing the impact of Gulf War and Economic Sanctions ".July 1999.

[9] Kathy Kelly."Raising Voices ".The children of Iraq .1990-1999 In: Iraq under Siege, EDT, Anthony Arnov e. South End Press .200.

[10] Rita Hindin, Doug Brugge and Bindu Panikkar." Teratogenity of Depleted Uranium Aerosols : A review from and Epidemiological Perspective " Environmental Health : A Global Access Science Source 2005, http://www.enjourna l.net/info/ instructions

[11] Yaqoub A. et al. "Depleted Uranium and Health of People in Basrah: An epidemiological evidence .The medical journal of Basrah Univ. MJBU , Vol.17, no.1 and 2, 1999, Iraq.

[12] UN Food Program WFP "Iraq: Children Sever Nutritional Risk ".September 26, 1995.

[13] CANESI."The Consequences of the War of Bombing and Sanctions Waged Against the People of Iraq Over the last 10 Years " www.cansi.org/ engl/impact. html

[14] Anup Shah."Effects if Iraq's Sanctions". www.globalissues. org/article/ 105/Effects_ of_sanctions .1998

[15] Robert Fisk."Somebody is trying to provoke Civil War in Iraq".HCL.3/2/2006. http://www.informat ionclearinghouse .info/article 12137.html

[16] Refugees Studies Center."Forced Migration Iraq’s Displacement Crises: the search for solutions ".Image Productions ISSN 1460-9819. http://www.fmreview .org

[17] A.K. Gupta." Is the US Committing genocide in Iraq?". The Independent. October 7, 2007. http://www.independ ant.org/2007/ 10/19/is- th

[18] Tony Perry and Julian E. Barnes. "Photos Indicate Civilians Slain Execution Style". Times .May 27, 2006. Ret .from Brussels Tribune.org

[19] Haifa Zangana."Children of Iraq between Direct Targeting and Slow death ".Al Kudis Al-Arabia. Article in Arabic, 2-5-2009, London .UK.

[20] Sherwood Ross."US and Allies Tortured Kids in Iraqi Prisons ".True Blue Liberal .November 8,2008

[21] Michael Haas."Children and Unlamented Victims of Bush’s War Crimes ".ICH. May 1st, 2009.

[22] Oxfam Briefing Paper No. 105 Oxfam GH, July 2007 .Oxfam Report on Humanitarian Situation in Iraq.

[23] Jean Ziegler."US Troops Starve Iraqi Citizens ".BBC News. October 15, 2005.

[24] Karl Vick."Children Pay Cost of Iraq’s Chaos". www.washingtonpost. com .November 21st, 2004.

[25] Sarah Meyer."What kind of Incendiary Bombs were used Against Civilians in Iraq" .Global Research.ca .November 14, 2005. www.globalresearch. ca

[26] IICPH."Iraqi Children: Victims of War". March 1st, 2007.

[27] Martin Chulov." Huge Rise in Birth Defects in Falluja". www.guardian. co.uk .November 13, 2009

[28] Tokyo Newspapers."Iraqi Minister if Environment Appeals to Japanese Government for Assistance in Dealing with DU Contamination ".October 9, 2008 http://www.tokyo- np.co.jp/ article/world/ news/ck2008

[29] Dahr Jamail. "Iraqi Hospitals Ailing under Occupation". Globalresearch. org. Feb 13, 2006.

[30] Brussels Tribunal. "Attacks on and Military Occupation of Hospitals and other Medical facilities". www.brusselstribuna l.org.

[31] John Hopkins Bloomberg School and Public Health."Updated Iraq Survey Affirms Earlier Mortality Estimates ". October 11, 2006.

[32] AFP." US Invasion and Occupation Killed One Million In Iraq". HCH .January 30, 2008.

[33] Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily. "2 of 3 Iraqi Children No Longer in School". December 18, 2006. http://www.albionmo nitor.com.

[34] UNESCO."UNESCO and Education in Iraq Factsheet ". March 28, 2003.

[35] UNICEF. "Iraqi Schools Suffering from Neglects and war ".Press released .Amman /Geneva, October 15, 2004.

[36] Dirk Adriaensens."In Cultural Cleansing in Iraq ". Auth s : Raymond W. Baker, Sheren T. Ismael, Tareq Y.Ismael .Pluto Press .2009.

[37] Voices of Iraq."Occupation’s Toll: 5 Million Iraqi Children Orphaned". AlterNet/World. December 18, 2007.

[38] UNESCO Report 20/11/2007."300 000 Iraqi Children Taking Refuge in Syria. www.unesco.org/…/educations…Iraqi.

[39] Gideon Poly." Passive Genocide in Iraq". Countercurrent. org. March 11, 2005.

[40] Ian Douglas. "US Genocide in Iraq ". http://www.brussels tribunal. org/pdf/NotesOnG enocideInIraq. pdf. 2007

[41] Lannie Wolf. "World Depopulation is Top NSA Agenda: Club of Rome ".A Timely Repost: The Haig-Kissinger Depopulation Policy. html: file ://H:\depopulation. mht.

[42] David Goodner." American Genocide in the Middle East: Three Million and Counting". Globalresearch. org. August 13, 2007.

Source

Chomsky Post-Earthquake: Aid Should go to Haitian Popular Organizations, not to Contractors or NGOs

Keane Bhatt

For decades, Noam Chomsky has been an analyst and activist working in support of the Haitian people. In addition to his revolutionary linguistics career at MIT, he has written, lectured and protested against injustice for 40 years. He is co-author, along with Paul Farmer and Amy Goodman of Getting Haiti Right This Time: The U.S. and the Coup. His analysis “The Tragedy of Haiti” from his 1993 book Year 501: The Conquest Continues is available for free online. This interview was conducted in late February 2010 by phone and email. The interviewer thanks Peter Hallward for his kind assistance. This was first published in ¡Reclama! magazine.

Keane Bhatt: Recently you signed a letter to the Guardian protesting the militarization of emergency relief. It criticized a prioritization of security and military control to the detriment of rescue and relief.

Noam Chomsky: I think there was an overemphasis in the early stage on militarization rather than directly providing relief. I don’t think it has any long-term significance…the United States has comparative advantage in military force. It tends to react to anything at first with military force, that’s what it’s good at. And I think they overdid it. There was more military force than was necessary; some of the doctors that were in Haiti, including those from Partners in Health who have been there for a long time, felt that there was an element of racism in believing that Haitians were going to riot and they had to be controlled and so on, but there was very little indication of that; it was very calm and quiet. The emphasis on militarization did probably delay somewhat the provision of relief. I went along with the general thrust of the petition that there was too much militarization.

KB: If this militarization of relief was not intentionally extreme but rather just a default response of the US, is it just serendipity that there is a massive troop presence available to manage the rapidly mounting popular protests post-earthquake? Surprisingly large, politicized group comprised of survivors has already mobilized around demanding Aristide’s return, French reparations instead of charity, and so on.

NC: So far, at least, I don’t know of any employment of the troops to subdue protests. It might come, but I suspect a more urgent concern is the impending disaster of the rainy season, terrible to contemplate.

KB: Regarding relief work, aside from Partners in Health, Al Jazeera noted that the Cuban medical team was the first to set up medical facilities among the debris and constitutes the largest contingent of medical workers in Haiti, something that preceded the earthquake. If their performance in Pakistan [earthquake of 2005] is any indicator, they will probably be the last to leave. Cuba seems to have an exemplary, decades-long conduct in foreign assistance.

NC: Well, the Cubans were already there before the earthquake. They had a couple hundred doctors there. And yes, they sent doctors very quickly; they had medical facilities there very quickly. Venezuela also sent aid quite quickly; Venezuela was also the first country and the only country at any scale to cancel totally the debt. There was considerable debt to Venezuela because of PetroCaribe, and it’s rather striking that Venezuela and Cuba were not invited to the donors’ meeting in Montreal.

Actually the prime minister of Haiti, Bellerive, went out of his way to thank three countries: the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela for their rapid provision of aid. What Al Jazeera said about Pakistan is quite correct. In that terrible earthquake a couple of years ago, the Cubans were really the only ones who went into the very difficult areas high up in the mountains where it’s very hard to live. They’re the ones who stayed after everyone else left. And none of that gets reported in the United States. But the fact of the matter is, whatever you think about Cuba, its internationalism is pretty dramatic. And the people who’ve been working in Haiti for years have been awestruck by Cuban medical aid as they were in Pakistan, in fact. That’s an old story. I mean, the Cuban contribution to the liberation of Africa is just overwhelming. And you can find that in scholarship, but the public doesn’t know anything about it.

KB: On that point, you’ve talked about how “states are not moral agents. They act in their own interests. And that means the interests of powerful forces within them.” How does the history of exemplary humanitarian work as Cuban state policy relate to that thought?

NC: Well, I think it’s just been a core part of the Cuban revolution to have a very high level of internationalism. I mean, these cases you’ve mentioned are cases in point, but the most extreme case was the liberation of Africa. Take the case of Angola for example, and there are real connections between Cuba and Angola—much of the Cuban population comes from Angola. But South Africa, with US support, after the fall of the Portuguese empire, invaded Angola and Mozambique to establish their own puppet regime there. They were trying to protect Namibia, to protect apartheid, and nobody did much about it; but the Cubans sent forces, and furthermore they sent black soldiers and they defeated a white mercenary army, which not only rescued Angola but it sent a shock throughout the continent—it was a psychic shock—white mercenaries were purported to be invincible, and a black army defeated them and sent them back fleeing into South Africa. Well that gave a real shot in the arm to the liberation movements, and it also was a lesson to the white South Africans that the end is coming. They can’t just hope to subdue the continent on racist grounds. Now, it didn’t end the wars. The South African attacks in Angola and Mozambique continued until the late 1980s, with strong US support. And it was no joke. According to the UN estimates they killed a million and a half people in Angola and Mozambique, nothing slight. Nevertheless, the Cuban intervention had a huge effect, also on other countries of Africa. And one the most striking aspects of it is that they took no credit for it. They wanted credit to be taken by the nationalist movements in Africa. So in fact none of this was even known until an American researcher, Piero Gleijeses unearthed the evidence from the Cuban archives and African sources and published it in scholarly journals and a scholarly book, and it’s just an astonishing story but barely known—one out of a million people has ever heard of it.

KB: You mentioned the Venezuelan debt cancellation. At the same time, the G7 is in the process of eliminating bilateral debt. Why is that?

NC: Well they’re talking about it, yeah. The Venezuelans were first. And they just completely canceled the debt. G7 refused. In the Montreal meeting, they refused to even discuss it. Later, they indicated that they might do something. Maybe they’re embarrassed by the Venezuelan action. But I’m not sure how it’s playing out. As far as the IMF is concerned—the IMF is basically an offshoot of the US Treasury Department—they’ve talked about it but so far they have not agreed, as far as I can discover, to cancel the debt.

KB: Bellerive, Prime Minister of Haiti, thanked the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela. The DR has been lauded for its relief efforts: providing food, materials and medical care, for example. But at the same time there are reports from the border of Dominican troops forcibly deporting family members of Haitian patients and sometimes even the patients themselves, in Jimaní, for example. What is your take on these contrary developments taking place and is there any historical context that you would like to add?

NC: Well, what the Dominican Republic does is up to Dominicans to decide, but the much more striking thing from my perspective, is that the United States has not brought in any—barely any refugees—even for medical treatment. And that was harshly condemned by the dean of the University of Miami Medical School who thought it was just criminal not to bring Haitians to Miami where there’s marvelous medical facilities while they have to do surgery with, you know, hacksaws in Haiti. And in fact one of the first US reactions to the earthquake was to send in the Coast Guard to ensure that there wouldn’t be any attempt to flee from Haiti. I mean, that’s atrocious. The United States is the richest country in the world, it’s right next door to Haiti. It should be offering every possible means of assistance to Haitians.

Furthermore there’s a little bit of background here. I mean, the earthquake in Haiti was a class-based catastrophe. It didn’t much harm the wealthy elite up in the hills, they were shaken but not destroyed. On the other hand the people who were living in the miserable urban slums, huge numbers of them, they were devastated. Maybe a couple hundred thousand were killed. How come they were living there? They were living there because of—it goes back to the French colonial system—but in the past century, they were living there because of US policies, consistent policies.

KB: You’re talking about the forcible decimation of peasant agriculture in the 1990s?

NC: It started with Woodrow Wilson. When Wilson invaded all of Hispaniola, Haiti and the DR, the Wilson invasion was pretty brutal in both parts of Hispaniola. But it was much worse in Haiti. And the reasons were very clearly stated.

KB: Racism.

NC: Yeah. The State Department said, well, the Dominicans have some European blood so they’re not quite so bad. But the Haitians are pure nigger. So Wilson sent the marines to disband the Haitian parliament because they wouldn’t permit US corporations to buy up Haitian lands. And he forced them to do it. Well, that’s one of the many atrocities and crimes. Just keeping to this, that accelerated the destruction of Haitian agriculture and the flight of people from the countryside to the cities. Now that continued under Reagan. Under Reagan, USAID and the World Bank set up very explicit programs, explicitly designed to destroy Haitian agriculture. They didn’t cover it up. They gave an argument that Haiti shouldn’t have an agricultural system, it should have assembly plants; women working to stitch baseballs in miserable conditions. Well that was another blow to Haitian agriculture, but nevertheless even under Reagan, Haiti was producing most of its own rice when Clinton came along.

When Clinton restored Aristide—Clinton of course supported the military junta, another little hidden story…he strongly supported it in fact. He even allowed the Texaco Oil Company to send oil to the junta in violation of presidential directives; Bush Sr. did so as well—well, he finally allowed the president to return, but on condition that he accept the programs of Marc Bazin, the US candidate that he had defeated in the 1990 election. And that meant a harsh neoliberal program, no import barriers. That means that Haiti has to import rice and other agricultural commodities from the US from US agribusiness, which is getting a huge part of its profits from state subsidies. So you get highly subsidized US agribusiness pouring commodities into Haiti; I mean, Haitian rice farmers are efficient but nobody can compete with that, so that accelerated the flight into the cities. And it wasn’t that they didn’t know it was going to happen. USAID was publishing reports in 1995 saying, yes this is going to destroy Haitian agriculture and that’s a good thing. And you get the flight into the cities and you get food riots in 2008, because they can’t produce their own food. And now you get this class-based catastrophe. After this history—it’s only a tiny piece of it—the United States should be paying massive reparations, not just aid. And France as well. The French role is grotesque.

KB: May I ask, regarding Aristide’s languishing in exile, was he right to go back to Haiti in 1994 in the way that he did, with US troops? Also, was he right to agree, under enormous pressure of course, to the neoliberal reforms laid out in the Paris Accords?

NC: Well, I happened to be in Haiti almost at that time—1993. I was there for a while; this was the peak of the terror. And I’ve been in a lot of awful places in the world. Some of the worst, in fact. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like the misery and the terror that was going on in Haiti under the junta, with Clinton’s backing at that time. And there was a lot of discussion, I talked for example to the late Father Gerard Jean-Juste, one of the most popular figures in Haiti, who the government recently forced out, he was then underground in a church but Haitian friends took me to him. He was very close to large parts of the population. I talked to labor leaders who’d been beaten and tortured but were willing to talk, and to activists and others. And what most of them said is, Father Jean-Juste for example, what he said is, “Look, I don’t want a marine invasion, I think it’s a bad idea. But on the other hand,” he said, “my people, the people in the slums—La Saline, Cite Soleil and so on, they just can’t take it anymore.” He said, “the torture is too awful, the terror is too awful. They’ll accept anything that’ll put an end to it.” And that was the dilemma. I don’t have an answer to that.

KB: Was Aristide wrong to argue against calls made by some of his more militant supporters for armed struggle inside Haiti to restore democracy after the 1991 coup?

NC: Not in my opinion. Armed struggle would have led to a horrendous slaughter.

KB: On February 17th, Sarkozy was greeted to street protests by thousands of Haitians holding up images of Aristide, demanding his return, and demanding reparations for what the French extorted in exchange for recognizing Haiti’s independence. At that same address, Preval was shouted down and he withdrew into his jeep. With this kind of sentiment brewing in Haiti right now, do you see Aristide’s return as an important priority, or is it something that might be desirable but not that pressing?

NC: Well, the answer to that question is going to be given in Washington. The United States and France, the two traditional torturers of Haiti, essentially kidnapped Aristide in 2004 after having blocked any international aid to the country under very dubious pretexts, not credible grounds, which of course extremely harmed this fragile economy. There was chaos and the US and France and Canada flew in, kidnapped Aristide—they said they rescued him, they actually kidnapped him—they flew him off to Central Africa, his party Fanmi Lavalas is banned, which probably accounts for the very low turnout in the recent elections, and the United States has been trying to keep Aristide not only from Haiti, but from the entire hemisphere.

KB: By which way is Aristide compelled to remain exiled? How exactly is his persona non grata status in the hemisphere maintained and by whom? What is preventing him from flying into a sympathetic country near Haiti, like Venezuela, for example?

NC: He might be able to go to Venezuela, but if he tried to go to the Dominican Republic, for example, they wouldn’t let him in. And there’s good reason for that. International affairs is very much like the mafia, and the small storekeeper doesn’t offend the Godfather. It’s too dangerous. We can pretend it’s otherwise, but that’s the way it is. There was one country, I think it was Jamaica if I remember correctly, that did allow Aristide in, over serious US pressure and protest. And not a lot of countries are willing to take the risk of offending the United States. It’s a dangerous, violent superpower. I don’t have to tell you, you know the history of the Dominican Republic. I don’t have to tell you about it—that’s the way it works.

KB: Using, as you’ve said, the historical US legacy in the DR, can we turn to recent Dominican history? As this humanitarian aid is provided on behalf of the DR, and it fills in the vacuum left by a weak Haitian state, if we go back to the events leading up to the coup of 2004, it worked under US aegis to actively destabilize Haiti by training the paramilitary rebels, Guy Philippe and Louis Jodel Chamblain…

NC: I know. And providing a base for them.

KB: Is there some kind of a contradiction to provide charity for people who you’ve actually worked to dismantle and destabilize?

NC: Well, you can call it a contradiction if you like, but it’s also a contradiction for Sarkozy and Clinton to appear in Haiti without abject apologies for the terrible crimes that France and the U.S. under Clinton, particularly, have carried out against Haiti. But they don’t do it. The head of Toyota has to go to Congress and apologize for hours because some people were killed by Toyota cars, but does Clinton have to go and apologize for what he did to Haiti? He dealt a death blow. Does Sarkozy have to apologize for the fact that Haiti was France’s richest colony and a source of a lot of France’s wealth and they destroyed the country and then posed an indemnity as a price for liberating themselves, which the country was never able to get out of?

A couple of years ago, in 2002 I think, Aristide appealed to France, to Chirac, to pay some remuneration for the huge debt that Haiti had to pay them…

KB: Twenty-one billion dollars…

NC: Yeah, for this huge debt that Haiti had to pay them. And they did set up a commission led by Regis Debray, a former radical. And the commission said that France has no need to give any compensation at all. In other words, first we rob and then destroy them, and then when they ask for a little bit of help, we kick them in the face. It’s not surprising.

KB: Although at the same time there are sources that say that while France put up an indifferent front, it was actually worried about a head of state bringing a legal case with overwhelming documentary evidence for international arbitration.

NC: Well, they really didn’t have to worry, because the way power politics works, the World Court can’t do anything. Look, there’s one country in the world at the moment which has refused to accept World Court decision—that’s the United States. Is anybody going to do anything about it?

KB: You mentioned Clinton, now UN special envoy to Haiti, who intends to woo foreign investors and continue on a low-wage textile focus for Haitian economic development. The lens of neoliberal economist Paul Collier, special adviser to the UN in 2009, dominates the UN perspective of Haiti. An advocate of sweatshop-led growth himself, he’s lavished praise on the much-resented MINUSTAH occupation force there, and has even said that the Dominican Republic “is not engaged in the sort of activities, such as clandestine support for guerrilla groups, that beset many other fragile states.” Can a true humanitarian like Paul Farmer—representing a different development model based on fair wages, public health, strengthening the Haitian state—influence the UN as deputy special envoy?

NC: It’s a hard choice. I don’t blame him for trying. We live in this world, not another one that we’d prefer, and sometimes it’s necessary to follow painful paths if we hope to provide at least a little help for suffering people. Like Father Jean-Juste and the marines.

KB: You’ve talked about how the media created an artificial distinction between the South American ‘Bad Left’ and ‘Good Left,’ omitting Brazil’s important collaboration with Venezuela in the interest of maintaining this view. However, with respect to Haiti, hasn’t Brazil legitimately earned a secure place within the ‘Good Left’? A center-left government of the South has spearheaded the MINUSTAH occupation and has pledged to increase its presence, after taking it over from the imperial architects of the coup US, France, Canada . What factors made it so vigorous in supporting another deposed president of an equally geopolitically-unimportant country in recent times Zelaya of Honduras ?

NC: Good questions. I haven’t seen anything useful on Brazil’s decisions on these matters.

KB: Any comments on the US media regarding Haiti following the earthquake? For example, Pat Robertson’s ‘pact with the devil,’ David Brooks’ ‘progress-resistant culture,’ pleas with transnational capital to create more sweatshops Kirstof , Aristide being a despot and a cheat Jon Lee Anderson . Even Amy Wilentz has compared Aristide to Duvalier in the New York Times.

NC: It’s been mainly awful, but I haven’t kept a record. The worst part is ignoring our own disgraceful role in helping to create the catastrophe, and consequent refusal to react as any decent person should—with massive reparations, directed to popular organizations. Same with France.

KB: I guess my final question is for the future: there have been a discouraging two decades, from 1990-2010, about the popular mobilization for political change in Haiti, and how to proceed, and I guess now that the Haitian people have struggled so hard through parliamentary democracy for 25 years and have so little to show for it, what are the lessons learned and possible strategies now that they’ve exhausted this parliamentary, democratic approach? Two coups d’etat and thousands tortured and murdered in this process.

NC: The lessons are, unfortunately, that a small weak country that is facing an extremely hostile and very violent superpower will not make much progress unless there’s a strong solidarity movement within the superpower that will restrain its actions. With more support within the United States, I think the Haitian efforts could have succeeded.

And that applies right now. Take the aid that’s coming in. There is aid coming in—we have to show we’re nice people and so on. But the aid ought to be going to Haitian popular organizations. Not to contractors, not to NGOs—to Haitian popular organizations, and they’re the ones that should be deciding what to do with it. Well you know, that’s not the agenda of G7. They don’t want popular organizations; they don’t like popular movements; they don’t like democracy for that matter. What they want is for the rich and powerful to run things. Well, if there was a strong solidarity movement in the United States and the world, it could change that.

Brief Chronology of Events in Haiti

adapted from Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment

courtesy Peter Hallward

August 14, 1791 A slave uprising begins in northern Saint-Domingue

Februrary 4, 1794 Abolition of French colonial slavery

January 1, 1804 Saint-Domingue is renamed Haiti, and declares itself independent of France

1825 France recognizes Haitian independence for the payment of 150 million francs later reduced to 90 million as compensation for lost property

1915-34 The United States under Woodrow Wilson invades and occupies Haiti

September 22, 1957 Francois Duvalier ‘Papa Doc’ becomes president

April 21, 1971 Francois Duvalier dies and is succeeded by his son Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’

February 7, 1986 ‘Baby Doc’ is pushed out of Haiti by a popular uprising; General Henry Namphy takes power

December 16, 1990 Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected with 67% of the vote; his prime minister is Rene Preval

September 30, 1991 General Raoul Cedras overthrows Aristide, who goes into exile; over the next few years several thousands of Aristide’s supporters are killed

Summer 1993 The paramilitary death squad FRAPH is formed, led by Toto Constant and Jodel Chamblain

September 19, 1994 US soldiers occupy Haiti for the second time; Aristide returns from exile

Early 1995 Aristide disbands Haiti’s armed forces

Mid-1995 Aristide’s party Fanmi Lavalas wins legislative elections

December 17, 1995 Rene Preval is elected with 88% of the vote

Late 1996 Formation of Fanmi Lavalas in opposition to ex-Lavalas faction

May 21, 2000 Fanmi Lavalas wins landlide victories at all levels of government; opponents form a US-backed coalition called the Convergence Democratique

November 26, 2000 Aristide is re-elected with 92% of the vote

July 28, 2001 First of many commando raids on police stations and other government facilities by ex-soliers based in the Dominican Republic, led by Guy Philippe

December 17, 2001 Ex-soldiers attack the presidential palace, provoking popular reprisals against the offices of parties belonging to Convergence Democratique

April 2003 Aristide asks France to repay the money it extorted from Haiti

January 1, 2004 Haiti celebrates bicentenary of independence from France

February 5, 2004 Full-scale insurgency begins, Chamblain overruns Cap Haitien

February 29, 2004 Aristide is forced onto a US jet and flown to the Central African Republic

March 2004 US troops occupy Haiti for a third time, interim government is formed with Gerard Latortue as P.M., the Lancet estimates thousands killed by police and anti-Lavalas paramilitaries

June 2004 US-led force is replaced by a UN stabilization mission MINUSTAH

February 7, 2006 Preval wins presidential elections with 51% of the vote

January 12, 2010 Catastrophic earthquake rocks Port-au-Prince

AP – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will meet with the president of earthquake-ravaged Haiti next week at the White House.

The White House says Obama and President Rene Preval will meet on Wednesday before Obama visits St. Louis. The White House announced the schedule on Friday.

A Jan. 12 earthquake wrecked Haiti and killed an estimated 200,000 people. The U.S. has played an active role in rebuilding the country, with former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton leading the United States’ fundraising efforts to help the Caribbean nation.

Clinton Urges Latin America to Cut Tariffs, Invest in Haiti
March 04, 2010, 3:07 PM EST
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan

March 4 Bloomberg — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Latin American nations to follow the U.S. and Canada by investing in Haiti and offering the country preferential trade terms to speed its recovery from the Jan. 12 earthquake.

“Together we can encourage investment and increase demand for Haitian products — a critical piece of Haiti’s long-term recovery,” Clinton told trade, economy and foreign ministers from across Latin America. They were gathered in San Jose, Costa Rica, to discuss expanding market access for populations that haven’t benefitted from globalized trade.

Clinton said the U.S. has extended its most favorable tariffs and terms to Haitian textiles and apparel while the U.S. Congress is considering bills that may offer Haitian producers even more help. Canada, meanwhile, allows Haitian goods to enter duty-free, she told a meeting of Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas, a group composed of 17 Western Hemisphere governments and multilateral organizations.

Haiti’s earthquake may have claimed as many as 300,000 lives, and the cost of rebuilding the hemisphere’s poorest country may reach $13.9 billion, making the magnitude 7.0 temblor the worst natural disaster suffered by any country relative to the size of its economy, according to the Inter- American Development Bank. The country is also facing a “major food crisis,” the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said last month.

Clinton praised free trade agreements and called for more of them, while recognizing that the benefits of globalization haven’t reached all communities.

Promoting Growth

“We have worked to promote growth and create jobs through sound fiscal policies, bilateral trade agreements, multilateral pacts” including the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and through the Inter-American Development Bank, she said. “But for too many people in too many places — including the United States — opportunity is limited or fleeting.”

Clinton outlined a six-point U.S. plan to promote economic and social opportunity throughout Latin America for small business people, farmers, women, indigenous populations and other vulnerable groups. The U.S. will promote the creation of small-business development centers, work with Latin America to modernize laws on lending, microcredit and customs, promote English-language training, support women entrepreneurs and help small- and medium-sized businesses decrease their water and energy use.

“It is vital that we spread the benefits of economic growth and integration to more people in more places,” Clinton said.

–Editors: Fred Strasser, Brendan Walsh

Bill To Cancel Haiti’s Debt Clears House Hurdle

First Posted: 03- 4-10 05:59 PM | Updated: 03- 5-10 01:05 AM

A House subcommittee approved a measure on Thursday to press major international financial institutions to completely cancel all debts owed by Haiti, where a major earthquake devastated what little capacity Haiti had to pay the debts back.

The International Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee approved the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act, introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters D-Calif. , which also aims to encourage direct assistance in the form of grants from those institutions, rather than loans.

The bill would require the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors at the International Monetary Fund IMF , the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank IDB , and other institutions to use the voice, vote, and influence of the U.S. to accomplish the debt forgiveness. Waters has been a longtime champion of debt-relief for Haiti.

“The moral case for canceling Haiti’s debt is clear,” said Barney Frank D-Mass. , Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, “and the Committee stands prepared to continue to work with the Administration to authorize a swift and substantial U.S. commitment to comprehensive multilateral debt cancellation for Haiti.”

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, owes $828 million to multilateral development institutions, according to the Department of the Treasury, including $447 million to the IDB, $284 million to the IMF, $39 million to the World Bank and $58 million to the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The idea that Haiti owes anybody for anything is a striking one considering the nation’s history.

“Haiti faces enormous challenges now, and the burden of paying off foreign debt would prevent the nation from taking necessary steps to help its people at this perilous time,” said Waters. “I introduced H.R. 4573 so that Haiti can use its limited resources to make both immediate and long-term investments in essential humanitarian relief, reconstruction and development efforts.”

Conference to target resource pledges for Haiti
Washington DC, March 5, 2010
Narayan Lakshman

A ministerial conference on supporting post-disaster recovery in Haiti, will be held on March 31 in New York City, the Department of State officially confirmed.

The United States and the United Nations will co-host the conference in cooperation with the Government of Haiti and with the support of Brazil, Canada, the European Union, France and Spain.

The conference, titled “International Donors’ Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti” will be convened at the U.N. in New York on March 31.

“The goal of the conference is to mobilize international support for the development needs of Haiti to begin to lay the foundation for Haiti’s long-term recovery,” according to a press statement today.

Outlining the enormity of the challenges faced by the government of Haiti following the devastating earthquake of January 12, the Department of State communiqué said there was a need for a “sustained and substantial commitment from the international community, in support of the government and people of Haiti.

Underscoring the importance of Haiti’s own role in the process it was made clear that at the conference Haiti would present its vision for its own future and international organisations would assist. The conference would also focus significantly on obtaining resource pledges from donor countries, international organizations, and other partners.

Touching on U.S. commitment towards staying involved in the post-disaster reconstruction process Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, said, “This is a long-term commitment, and if we are to realize the true meaning of community, we must all prepare to do what is necessary to help Haiti recover”.

For this reason the United States will be a key participant in organizing the March 31 donors conference for Haiti, Ms. Brimmer added. She said the U.S. intended to follow through on President Obama words when he said, “the United States will be there with the Haitian government and the United Nations every step of the way”.
Canada defense minister to visit Haiti

AFP – 31 minutes ago

OTTAWA — Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay will visit Canadian troops involved in aid efforts in Haiti on Saturday and Sunday, the military announced on Friday.

MacKay will speak with personnel aboard HMCS Athabaskan anchored off the coast of Leogane, as well as in medical facilities, temporary accommodation camps and at the Canadian embassy.

Canada has more than 1,500 troops on the ground, MacKay’s spokesman Jay Paxton said.

MacKay’s trip comes just prior to Governor General Michaelle Jean’s working visit on Monday, and after Prime Minister Stephen Harper toured relief efforts in February.

Forty-two Canadians died in the January quake and 33 remain unaccounted for.

News
American Forces Press

U.S. Military’s Medical Role in Haiti Declines

By Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg
Special to American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 5, 2010 – It’s been a week since the last Haitian patient was treated aboard the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort, as the need for immediate medical attention is declining two months after a magnitude 7 earthquake struck the island nation, the Joint Task Force-Haiti surgeon said.

“The Comfort currently has no Haitian patients aboard,” Army Col. Dr. Jennifer Menetrez told bloggers yesterday during a DoDLive bloggers roundtable. “The last patient was discharged from the Comfort on Feb. 27.”

The hospital beds and hallways of the Comfort are now empty of Haitian patients, Menetrez said. Meanwhile, she said, the Comfort remains on station to provide any follow-on care as needed by the Haitian government.

“Over the last 10 days, we’ve seen over a 65 percent reduction in patients onboard the [Comfort] as they have been appropriately transferred to local hospitals for follow-on care,” she added.

This follow-on care is being supported by the numerous mobile and on-site clinics that have been set up to give continued treatment to victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake.

“To date, there are 130 mobile clinics and 156 on-site clinics,” Menetrez said. “The collaboration between military, government of Haiti and [U.S. Agency for International Development] continues to be wonderful. Collaboration between all parties has been a milestone of a unified response through a challenging event.”

Since the Comfort arrived on station, she said, U.S. military medical personnel have provided care to more than 8,600 Haitian residents.

“Of the 8,600 patients seen, the U.S. military surgeons performed close to 1,000 surgeries, primary care physicians conducted over 7,200 outpatient visits and oversaw the care of 1,300 for post surgical care within the hospital wards,” Menetrez said.

Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg works in the Defense Media Activity’s Emerging Media Directorate

UN sets up human rights group to look into situation of Haiti’s disabled

5 March 2010 – A working group comprising United Nations experts has been created to look into the situation of Haitians with disabilities, who have been disproportionately affected by January’s catastrophic earthquake.

Today’s announcement comes after a group of UN human rights experts last month appealed for the needs of the disabled in Haiti to be included in the relief, recovery and reconstruction processes following the magnitude-7.0 earthquake.

The 12 January quake killed up to 200,000 people, injured many others and left one third of the country’s nine million people in need of aid.

The decision to set up the new working group was made by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during its recent meeting in Geneva from 22 to 26 February.

It underscored that under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “States are to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk and natural disaster like the occurrence of this earthquake.”

The new body will also look into the situation of people with disabilities in other countries affected by devastating natural disasters, including Chile, where it is estimated that 2 million people were impacted by last Saturday’s magnitude-8.8 quake.

Early last month, the Committee stressed in a news release that persons with disabilities must not become “the forgotten ones” during the emergency response and the reconstruction of Haiti.

Its current chairperson, Mohammed Al-Tarawneh, said that “while relief workers are struggling to provide aid to the people of Haiti and while the situation remains difficult for everyone, persons with disabilities are particularly affected by the crisis,” especially if their caregivers have been killed or injured.

The 12-member Committee, tasked with monitoring the Convention, urged Haiti to ensure that persons with disabilities fully participate in the decision-making process regarding social and economic reconstruction and that their long-term development needs be taken into account.

The Convention, which entered into force in May 2008 and has so far been endorsed by 144 countries, is the culmination of years of global efforts to ensure that the rights of the world’s estimated 650 million persons with disabilities are guaranteed and protected.

It asserts the rights to education, health, work, adequate living conditions, freedom of movement, freedom from exploitation and equal recognition before the law for persons with disabilities.

The UN World Food Programme WFP reported today that its partners are handing out coupons for the next round of food distribution – including rice, beans and salt – for some 2 million people, set to kick off tomorrow in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The agency and its partners have already provided food for some 4.3 million people since the earthquake.

Although Haiti’s rainy season typically starts in April and peaks in May, early floods have already hit the country’s south, affecting 4,000 families and killing 7,100 heads of cattle, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA said.

The Office warned that with the main planting season set to kick off this month, only 12 per cent of the agricultural funds appealed for have been provided. It cautioned that progress made in improving food security since the string of hurricanes in 2008 could be reversed without immediate financial support for the purchase of seeds, tools and other supplies.

The Government has reported that 1.3 million people are still living in spontaneous settlements, while over 600,000 others have fled the hard-hit capital for other regions.

OCHA said that the security situation remains stable in Haiti, and that emergency shelter, sanitation and food continue to be among the top needs.

I refer to the letter by Antoine Craigwell KN 26 2 10 captioned “Cross-dressing in Guyana ; Is the Supreme Court Courageous?” and would appreciate the opportunity to respond. This response is copied to Guyana ’s Attorney-General, the Guyana Bar Association, and the Bar-Associations and Attorneys-General of the Caribbean . The full text is also attached with a cover page and table of contents, with revisions being posted continuously at http://www.scribd.com/doc/27698238/The-Case-Against-Cross-Dressing-or-Transgender-ism-in-Guyana

“Friend-of-the-Court” Briefs:

We have already dispatched correspondence to the Attorney-General of Guyana advising our interest in having the online document “The Case Against Pancap and the Decriminalization of Homosexuality” be considered as a friend-of-the-court brief in relation to the constitutional motion filed by sasod! The document is 44 pages long, and addresses the wider issue of GBLT-militancy in general.

To satisfy the need for a more reader-friendly document for citizens, parliamentarians, the media, Guyana Teachers’ Union, Guyana trade Union Movement, and members of the Guyana Bar Association, this 10-page brief summarizes the major issues on transgenderism, and is also forwarded to the Attorney-General and Permanent Secretary in Guyana’s Ministry of Legal Affairs.

As introduction to the issues confronting Guyana and the Caribbean today, readers should also note the response in a Stabroek News letter “Nothing ‘Historic’ About Cross-Dressing Constitutional Motion in Guyana” http://www.scribd.com/doc/27559391/Nothing-Historic-About-Cross-dressing-Constitutional-Motion-in-Guyana and a second response to questions raised by a “UG-student” in the Kaieteur News letter “Laws Against Homosexual and Transgender Activity Exist for a Number of Good Reasons” http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2010/02/27/laws-against-homosexual-and-transgender-activity-exist-for-a-number-of-good-reasons/ to show the consistent application of principle against transgenderism and gay-militancy.

Definitions:

Please refer to “Q&A on Gender Identity Confusion — Sexual Behavior Disorders”; http://www.pfox.org/Q&A-gender-identity-confusion.pdf

Why are the legal requirements for “human-rights” legislation”?

We have offered before that there is proximity between transgender cross-dressing and homosexual issues, hence the nomenclature “GBLT community”. The activity of the one group inevitably becomes the “opportunity” for the other! Guyana ’s courts should be in no doubt about whom or what sasod is promoting in this case! It is not just “cross-dressing”, but rather seeking legal footholds on all Gay, Bi-sexual, Lesbian and Transgender GBLT issues, including homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

As to the fallacy of strategy that the GBLT is wont to pursue, essential reading is the book by lawyer and author Roger J. Magnuson “Are Gay Rights Right: Making Sense of the Controversy”; Multnomah Press; 1992; Portland , Oregon 97266 . The excerpt below is taken from his arguments at pgs. 67-107, specifically p. 82-89 :

“… As we have already seen, proponents of gay rights laws rely heavily on an analogy to other human rights legislation. If human rights laws have provided protection to other minorities, why should society not add one more group to those protected from discrimination?

Hitching their wagon to the broadly based support Americans have traditionally given civil rights laws, gay rights advocates have made surprising progress in the past decade.

The human rights analogy, though popular and politically understandable, cannot withstand careful analysis. Adding homosexual behaviour to a list of classes that includes racial and religious minorities makes no sense. The tenuous balance of social interests represented by these laws is reflected in the few, and carefully chosen, classes they protect. Relief has been given only in extraordinary circumstances.

To add another protected class, at least five requirements have had to be shown:

1 A demonstrable pattern of discrimination …

2 … based on criteria that are arbitrary and irrational …

3 … causing substantial injury …

4 … to a class of people with an unchangeable or immutable status …

5 … which has no element of moral fault …. ”

Transgenderism and gay-militancy fail on these criteria! The real tragedy may well be that sasod never alerted its constituents to the public policy implications that their decision would have.

Again, to the extent that there is proximity, please note the following words of Robert Regier and Daniel Garcia in their online article “Homosexuality is Not a Civil Right” http://www.crrange.com/wall34.html :

“… When protecting one’s inalienable and civil rights, the government must discern between liberty and license. This requires that rights attach to persons because of their humanity, not because of their behaviors, and certainly not those behaviors that Western legal and moral tradition has regarded as inimical to the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” as stated in the Declaration. Yet, today some advocate granting “rights” to behaviors hostile to the most fundamental forms of self-government—family, church, and community….”

After reading Regier & Garcia’s treatment, and given the legal, social, medical and moral evidence to the contrary, does Guyana really want to follow the trajectory of tragedy other nations have taken regarding gay militancy and “sexual orientation”? Seven clear rebuttals apply to Craigwell’s letter!

Pit religion against religion? … Or go to referendum?

Firstly, Craigwell’s letter is memorable for the number of factual misrepresentations it makes, and also for confirming that, from a religious standpoint, it will be Hinduism that drives the local effort for the GBLT community, and that such initiatives will be diametrically opposed to Christian, Muslim and most secular outlook here in Guyana. We should mention that the official Hindu community has not commented on Craigwell’s letter at February 28, 2010, and maintains an expected silence.

That this current initiative will therefore involve an intense, and perhaps gory, clash between local religions should not be lost on the government and the judiciary. If we needed proof of that effort to pit religion against religion, then we had to look no further than the now dated and hopelessly biased and one-sided statement by Arif Bulkan, one of the lawyers representing sasod in this current constitutional motion:

“… In Guyana, as in the rest of the Commonwealth Caribbean, we inherited as part of the colonial legacy, Judeo-Christian and Islamic homophobia and anti-sexuality attitudes which found expression in laws that criminalize private sexual behaviour between men and certain acts relating to commercial sex work…” “National Assessment on HIV / AIDS, Law, Ethics and Human Rights in Guyana ”; by Arif Bulkan; Page 4, paragraph 3; 2004

Apart from illustrating scant regard for the tenets of two major faiths in Guyana , the above statement confirms Dr. Joseph Nicolosi’s contention that most current research on GBLT-issues has abandoned solid clinical evidence and research and is now conducted from an “advocacy” or pro-GBLT perspective.

However, the evidence will show that Guyana ’s Supreme Court has ample legal, medical, societal and personal reasons to reject the petition by sasod, and, further, that the court would be wise in not generating inter-religious acrimony among Guyanese citizens and take the safe path of referring the issue to referendum later.

Readers should assess the article “Arguments Against Pancap and the Decriminalization of Homosexuality” http://www.scribd.com/doc/17685588/The-Case-Against-PANCAP-and-the-Decriminalization-of-Homosexuality . Sasod’s puerile arguments about the “victimless” nature of “sexual orientation” cases is dealt with at pages 21, 23 and 24 of that treatment. Read also the dissent by Justice Antonin Scalia in Lawrence v Texas on pages 25-35. In particular, the following comments should be helpful in illustrating that an emotional and ad hoc approach to interpreting the law has serious repercussions:

“…. This effectively decrees the end of all morals legislation. If, as the Court asserts, the promotion of majoritarian sexual morality is not even a legitimate state interest, none of the above-mentioned laws can survive rational-basis review….” Scalia, J. dissenting at page 30 of “Arguments Against Pancap …” above

“…. It is indeed true that “later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress,” ante, at 18; and when that happens, later generations can repeal those laws. But it is the premise of our system that those judgments are to be made by the people ….” Scalia, J. dissenting at page 32 of “Arguments Against Pancap …” above

What are the practical repercussions that Guyana can immediately foresee?

Secondly, consistent with our submissions in 2007 captioned “Supporting Gay Rights Laws Would Court Legal Disaster” http://rogerwilli.blogspot.com/2009/06/supporting-gay-rights-laws-would-court.html Valerie Leung 25/2/10 poses the following commentary to the Guyanese plaintiffs, defendants, lawyers and judges, and anyone else who would listen, or who would be tempted to listen to Craigwell’s romanticized version of chaos and social degeneracy:

“… I noted with grave concern a recent report in the Stabroek news that SASOD has brought a case before the courts in Guyana in which they claim that it is unconstitutional to prosecute cross-dressing. The nation should be made aware that this is a slippery slope.

Besides, I wonder if the very lawyers who are representing SASOD would like to have any of their male staff, lawyers included, arrive at work dressed as a woman, or meet clients or attend court dressed as a woman, and not be able to prevent this. This is actually how it is in California .

If, for example, you hire a man who is in male attire and a few days after he commences employment he comes to work dressed and made-up as a female, you can not dismiss him or even require him to dress as a man while at work. As far as I have heard there is a hefty fine for any employer who dares to do this.

Would the judges who will hear this matter, or employers in general, like to live in a Guyana where it is normal and acceptable to have male bank tellers, teachers, MPs, mayors, etc; dressed in pearls and lipstick and skirts while at work if they so desire? In a few jurisdictions in the US the majors are openly cross-dressers and go to their offices in mini-skirts, etc;!! …”

With these words, we infer that Craigwell’s reasoning will reach its illogical end in a futuristic free-for-all of societal chaos. That it is much closer that we thought in other jurisdictions is clear. The article “The A.P.A. Normalization of Homosexuality, and the Research Study of Irving Bieber”, found at http://www.narth.com/docs/normalization.html concludes with the following astonishing speculation which illustrates what happens when science is replaced by “human rights” arguments:

“… Dr. Bieber pointed out that there were several other conditions in the DSM-II that did not fulfill the “distress and social disability” criteria: voyeurism, fetishism, sexual sadism, and masochism. A.P.A.’s Dr. Spitzer replied that these conditions should perhaps also be removed from the DSM-II — and that if the sadists and fetishists were to organize as did the gay activists, they, too, might find their conditions normalized…”

Transgenderism as Gender-Identity/Mental/Psychosexual Disorder

Thirdly, Craigwell clearly ignores the evidence in the scientific community about transgenderism being a gender-identity and mental disorder. Now, societal affirmation of transgenderism as “normal” will inevitably lead to clamours for sex-change operations as in the American experience.

We should refer the court to the testimony of a University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University , in 2005, as he makes a fatalistic pronouncement on the tragedy that this represents “Transgenderism is a Gender-Identity Disorder; Transgenderism is a Mental Disorder” found at http://www.pfox.org/Transgenderism_is_gender_identity_disorder.html . At the beginning he asks a deeply worrying question, illustrative of the fact that even our most academically qualified citizens have an innate awareness of the significance of creation-structures such as manhood and womanhood:

“… When the practice of sex-change surgery first emerged back in the early 1970s, I would often remind its advocating psychiatrists that with other patients, alcoholics in particular, they would quote the Serenity Prayer, “God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Where did they get the idea that our sexual identity “gender” was the term they preferred as men or women was in the category of things that could be changed? …”

Towards the end of that treatment on ‘Surgical Sex’, we find these disturbing words: …

“… Reiner, however, discovered that such re-engineered males were almost never comfortable as females once they became aware of themselves and the world. From the start of their active play life, they behaved spontaneously like boys and were obviously different from their sisters and other girls, enjoying rough-and-tumble games but not dolls and “playing house.” Later on, most of those individuals who learned that they were actually genetic males wished to reconstitute their lives as males some even asked for surgical reconstruction and male hormone replacement —and all this despite the earnest efforts by their parents to treat them as girls. …”

It gets worse! Dr Paul McHugh, the author of that report, goes on to make this cataclysmic pronouncement:

“… We have wasted scientific and technical resources and damaged our professional credibility by collaborating with madness rather than trying to study, cure, and ultimately prevent it. …”

What is to be learned from Proposition 8 and the Delhi High Court decision:

Thirdly, it was in fact the Delhi High Court that passed the decision to repeal Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, but Craigwell sees no discomfort in not making that distinction, and this validates our previous contention that the arguments of the GBLT community and gay-militancy are constructed upon a colossal web of half-truths and misrepresentations. Opposition to the ruling by the Delhi Court is still very strong!

We have already detailed the case against the Delhi decision in the online article “The Delhi High Court Decision should be Rejected, not lauded!” http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2009/07/09/the-delhi-high-court-decision-should-be-rejected-not-lauded/ . Part of that fateful document reads:

“… Second, there is a geo-political thrust to Sidibe’s arguments, having nothing to do with HIV/AIDS. For Sidibe, then, India’s activist High Court ruling, sure to be challenged, represents a shot in the arm for the tired arguments spawned by gay militancy and a recklessly unprofessional confederacy of its supporters in the UN ….anxious for any “victory” after the astonishing defeat to opponents of Proposition 8 in the USA see “Why Proposition 8 will Stand in 2010”; http://www.esnips.com/web/Proposition8 .

There, the people simply got fed up with “court decisions” that pilfered their traditional values and democratic principles, and voted down yet another effort to redefine marriage, this being the holy grail of “decriminalization” crowd.

We had hopefully addressed some of the issues in the online article “The OAS Resolutions on Sexual Orientation Do Not Reflect the Will of the people of the Region” http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/letters/06/13/oas-resolutions-on-sexual-orientation-do-not-reflect-the-will-of-the-citizens-of-the-region . The caption of this article was not accidental, since, with the threat of democratic opposition action at the grassroots, an entire swathe of gay-rights “victories” are being engineered not in the polls where the people have a voice, but in activist courts and legislatures, and by executive order. This is a slap in the face for voters, and all done in the name of “human rights! …“

Transgenderism simply a subset of unconstitutional “Sexual-Orientation” issues/arguments

Fourthly, transgenderism DOES in fact relate to “sexual orientation” issues however camouflaged as “gender’ in the current constitutional motion , and lawyer Roger J. Magnuson offers to Guyana’s Supreme Court that to go further in supporting GBLT and/or “gay rights” ordinances, “anti-discrimination” or “hate-crime” legislation of the sort sasod wants would be to court the following legal disasters cited in “Are Gay Rights Right? Making Sense of the Controversy” by Roger Magnuson; Multhnoma Press, Portland Oregon , 97266 ; 1990; Pages 98-100 :

1 Negating the right of parents or school districts to control the moral calibre of the person who teaches their children;

2 Negating the right of an employer to determine whether an applicant’s moral character will affect his job performance, and;

3 Negating the right of churches and other religious entities to exclude, or refuse to hire, someone whose lifestyle is contrary to their religious convictions.

A literal-minded judge would find that such laws give protection to a large number of sex criminals. Take, for example, the possible “protected” behaviours under a GBLT rights ordinance:
* A convicted child molester, homosexual or heterosexual, could sue a day-care center that refuses to hire him, claiming discrimination on the basis of his “sexual orientation”; such an ordinance would thus protect behaviour declared criminal under state law.

* An insurance company could be sued for refusing to extend health insurance benefits to the sodomy partner of a homosexual or to the wives of a polygamist. The insurance company would be discriminating on the basis of “sexual orientation” by refusing to extend coverage to “spouses” because of their sexual preferences. Since both sodomy and polygamy are prohibited under … state law, such an ordinance would protect behaviour already declared criminal.

* A landlord who refuses to rent or sell a facility to a person running a house of prostitution could be sued for refusing to rent or sell housing based on the person’s “sexual orientation”. Yet prostitution is a crime under state law.

* A bank that refuses to loan money to moviemaker who enjoys making and selling child pornography would be discriminating against the moviemaker on the basis of his “sexual orientation”. Yet the making/selling of child pornography is a crime under most state law.

* Law enforcement officials who arrest the customers of prostitutes, pornography stores, or child sex rings could be sued under the ordinance for “obstruction of practices unlawful under this chapter of the law ” if it is viewed that the police are discriminating against people who patronize certain “public accommodations” based on their specific “sexual orientation”. Prostitution, the sale of pornography, and sex with children are all crimes under state statutes. Such an ordinance could protect behaviour declared criminal under state law.

Using Transgenderism/Gender-Identity-Disorder to further gay-rights and gay militancy

Fifthly, it will not escape the attention of readers that the situation that Magnuson is so clear at defining above now becomes the issue of tyrannical court behaviour in the first decade of the 21^st century … “tyrannical” in the sense that judges are now wont to make law rather than interpret the constitution, or to understand that the will of the people in referendum or voting is to be respected.

Again, we have offered before page 2 that there is proximity between transgender cross-dressing and homosexual issues, hence the nomenclature “GBLT community”… and it bears repeating. The activity of the one group inevitably becomes the “opportunity” for the other! Guyana ’s courts should be in no doubt about whom or what sasod is promoting in this case! It is not just “cross-dressing”, but rather legal footholds on all Gay, Bi-sexual, Lesbian and Transgender GBLT issues, including homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

The intersection all comes together in the stated goals of the gay militant agenda … these have always followed the “rights” argument!

Source: Gay Pride March on Washington DC April 25, 1993

1. Demands for the repeal of all laws regarding sodomy!

2. Demands for the legalization of all forms of sexual expression including paedophilia!

3. Demands to change the age of consent to allow sex with minors!

4. Demands for public funding to cover Aids patients medical expenses!

5. Demands for public funds to cover sex-change operations!

6. Demands for the legalization of same-sex marriages!

7. Demands for legalization of adoption, custody and foster care within the same-sex marriage structure!

8. Demands for the inclusion of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenders in education and childcare!

9. Demands for public funding of artificial insemination of lesbians and bisexuals!

10. Forbid religious now artistic concerns regarding homosexuality from being expressed … already the case on radio/TV in Canada and now England . This is done through “anti-discrimination” and “hate-crime” legislation.

11. Ban prayer in public schools.

12. Remove God from civic life!

13. Demands that the Boy Scouts and Army be required to accept homosexuals!

The use and abuse of the judiciary as a vehicle to these long-term ends has been legendary, and the motion ostensibly aimed at cross-dressing is a first shot at that goal as Craigwell freely admits. The issue has been the source of much worry in the courts overseas during that time, and it behooves us to learn from their experience. It is clear to see the trajectory of initiatives that sasod is committed to with this motion.

Roger Magnuson “Are Gay Rights Right? Making Sense Of The Controversy!”; p.93 – 102 has, as a lawyer, documented the insidious pursuit of these goals that led to the misguided decision in Lawrence v. Texas, and Justice Antonin Scalia’s unusual request then to read his dissent to the Supreme Court in the USA:

“… One long term goal of the homosexual movement has been to repeal laws prohibiting sodomy. Although gay rights activists have concentrated on promoting gay rights ordinances, they have not abandoned their attack on existing sodomy statutes. As long as their behaviour remains criminal, it is hard for them to argue that that they deserve special protection for it. When challenging sodomy statutes, homosexuals argue that there is a “right to privacy” in the Constitution that protects private acts of consensual sodomy.

In making that argument, homosexuals rely on cases that interpret the Constitution as forbidding government interference with private decisions. And so, for example, a consensual “right of privacy” has been held to protect decisions about education and child-rearing, marriage, and more recently contraception and abortion [Griswold v. Connecticut 381 US 479 1965 and Roe v. Wade 410 US 1113 1979 ]. Homosexuals have argued from these cases that just as the law cannot unconditionally forbid a couple to use birth control, it cannot forbid two consenting adults to commit sodomy in the privacy of a bedroom [Oklahoma City School Board v. National Gay Rights Task Force 727 F.2d1270 10^th Cir., 1984; US, 1985 ].

Although homosexuals had some initial success in state and federal courts using such arguments, the Supreme Court settled the question in Bowers v. Hardwick 478 US 186, 1986 . Mr. Hardwick had bought suit in federal district court, challenging the constitutionality of the Georgia statute that criminalized consensual sodomy. He lost at the district court level, but won on appeal to the Court Of Appeals, which held that the Georgia statute violated his fundamental rights. The Supreme Court disagreed. In a vigorously written opinion, Justice White pointed out that any fundamental liberties protected by a right to privacy must be “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty”, or deeply rooted “in the nation’s history and tradition.”. Because sodomy was traditionally a criminal offense in all states, to find that a right to engage in anal or oral sodomy was deeply rooted in the nation’s history and tradition or is “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty” would be “at best facetious”. Summing up, the Court said:

“And if Respondent’s submission is limited to the voluntary sexual conduct between consenting adults, it would be difficult to , except by fiat, to limit the claimed right to homosexual conduct while leaving exposed to prosecution adultery, incest and other sexual crimes, even though they are committed in the home. We are unwilling to start down that road.”

In a concurring opinion, Justice Burger pointed out the moral dimension:

“To hold that the act of homosexual sodomy is somehow protected as a fundamental right would be to cast aside millennia of moral teaching.”

Justice Burger’s opinion paralleled a recent circuit court decision from the District Of Columbia Court Of Appeals which had approved the discharge of a homosexual from the military. Finding homosexuality “a form of behaviour never before protected and indeed traditionally condemned,” the court held that its decision would be based on constitutional principle, not on shifting public opinion [Dronenberg v. Zech 741 F.2d 1288 D.C. Cir., 1984 ].

Such federal decisions have left homosexuals two options: convince state courts that there is a right to commit sodomy under the state constitution, or convince legislators to repeal the statute.

Because homosexual activists have been unable to convince the courts that their sexually deviant behaviour should be given special protection, they have tried to work harder on Congress, state legislatures, and city councils. The passage of gay rights laws would inevitably lead to the repeal of sodomy laws….”

We would similarly find transgenderism to be “a form of behaviour never before protected and indeed traditionally condemned” and thereby urge Guyana ’s Supreme Court to “base its decision on constitutional principle, not on shifting public opinion!” Neither is the law “archaic”, since it still addresses compelling social and medical issues!

It would be prudent at this stage to remind everyone of the stunning similarity between the above account for the USA and the current push for the transgender issue in Guyana . Thereafter, however, it is also apposite to refer to the words of Dr. Paul McHugh, quoted earlier above, on transgenderism as gender-identity and mental disorder:

“… We have wasted scientific and technical resources and damaged our professional credibility by collaborating with madness rather than trying to study, cure, and ultimately prevent it. …”

Should laws be passed to “protect” transgenders from “discrimination”?

“… Legal protection against discrimination based on mental illness is not provided for any other disorder. Those who wish to assume a “gender identity” contrary to their biological sex are in need of mental health treatment to overcome such disturbed thinking, not legislation to affirm it.

“Gender identity” legislation endangers the physical and mental health of the very people it is trying to protect. Physically mutilating the mentally ill is not the answer. For example, will healthy limb amputation, another mental disorder known as Body Integrity Identity Disorder BIID , be the next protected class? See Newsweek story: http://www.newsweek.com/id/138932

Nor should we encourage men and women to consume life-long hormones in a daily battle to overcome their natural biology. Hormones cannot change the chromosomes that determine one’s sex.

Abolishing gender and making believe it doesn’t really matter for the rest of the population is also not the answer.

One goal sought by gay groups is to ensure that transgenders of all types have legal access to the public bathroom of their choice, regardless of their actual birth sex. See http://www.transgenderlawcenter.org/pdf/PIP%20Resource%20Guide.pdf This can make public bathrooms and dressing rooms unsafe for women and children. It is a huge step backwards for women’s rights.

After disrupting their bodies with radical surgery and hormone pills, transgenders approach PFOX for help in leaving the transgender lifestyle. They need funds for gender affirming therapy, reversal surgery, and breast explants.

If legislators want to protect transgenders, they can start by giving them the therapy they need….” http://www.pfox.org/Q&A-gender-identity-confusion.pdf

Do parents know that sasod is targeting teenagers for homosexual/transgender relationships?

Seventhly, we should consider that Ras Ashkar has already been brave enough to point out to Guyanese parents that sasod has over the past two years been actively targeting their teenage sons and daughters at its website with the euphemistically labeled URL “The Experimenting Teenager”. This would be considered “expected” behaviour but for the galling farce of innocence that the group presents to what has up to now been a very tolerant public. Sasod’s entire website is dedicated to promoting gay rights!

How can they any longer be as tolerant? Sasod is playing them with one hand and stabbing them … and their children … in the back with another!

Guyanese parents would be similarly distressed to find that of the only two male appointees to the nation’s Rights Of the Child Commission, one Vidyratha Kissoon owns the sasod website and the other Kwame Mckoy has been implicated in a sex-tape scandal soliciting sex from a male minor.

How does one place this rather disturbing state of affairs in perspective? Perhaps the following will help!

Dr. Steve Baldwin’s law review “Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement” http://www.regent.edu/news/lawreview/articles/14_2Baldwin.doc ; 14 REGENT U.L. REV. 267 2002 illustrates the imperative that should guide entire national policies:

“… Unfortunately, the truth is stranger than fiction. Research confirms that homosexuals molest children at a rate vastly higher than heterosexuals, and the mainstream homosexual culture commonly promotes sex with children. See W.D. Erickson et al, Behavior Patterns of Child Molesters, 17 ARCHIVES SEXUAL BEHAV. I, 83 [1988] and numerous other references on page 2 of 16 in Dr. Baldwin’s review . Homosexual leaders repeatedly argue for the freedom to engage in consensual sex with children, and blind surveys reveal a shockingly high number of homosexuals admit to sexual contact with minors. Indeed, the homosexual community is driving the worldwide campaign to lower the age of consent… ”

And it is in this context that sasod’s misadventure into politicizing our courts with the relatively easier “target” of cross-dressing needs to be understood.

It gets worse … as Judith Reisman outlines below … and Guyana’s courts will have to thereby note the implications of giving anything away to the GBLT community!

If promiscuity and pedophilia defines the psychosexual disorder known as homosexuality being “Gay” in the GBLT community then the implications for its decriminalization, like that for transgenderism, has taken on new and staggering proportions when assessed against the increasing cases of abused children being affected with HIV in the USA and other developed nations.

The other law review “Crafting Bi/Homosexual Youth”, by Judith Reisman, http://www.regent.edu/news/lawreview/articles/14_2Reisman.doc will illustrate the grave obstacles Guyana’s courts will later have to contend with deriving from sasod’s innocent motion:

“… Perhaps the most worrisome of these anti-science activities has been the limited amount of governmental research examining the connection between early child sexual abuse and pediatric AIDS. Dr. Laura Gutman, a respected child sexual abuse researcher, and her colleagues found in their preliminary government funded studies that 14.6% of children in the study with AIDS had “been sexually abused . . . . Transmission by child sexual abuse was the most frequent of the proven modes of acquisition of HIV in this population.”

Twelve males were identified n=8 or suspected n=4 of being perpetrators. The lack of funding for such studies may deserve a congressional inquiry. To hide the fact that most AIDS children appear to be infected by bi/homosexuals, the “World AIDS Day” artfully reports that “16% of adolescents with AIDS, aged 13 through 19 . . . have been infected through heterosexual contact,” rather than that 84% of AIDS children are infected by male bi/homosexual sex abuse….”

Consider thereafter the following commentary on transgenders and Gender-Identity-Disorder GID :

“… There is a strong correlation between sexual abuse and GID. According to one counselor, “80% of the transgenders he’s treated were molested as children. Transgenders also suffer from feelings of rejection and enter into a fantasy life…” “The diagnosis of GID is itself a changing diagnosis since some children diagnosed with GID may later in life display few, if any, symptoms….” Source: “Q&A on Gender Identity Confusion — Sexual Behavior Disorders”; page 4 of 7’ http://www.pfox.org/Q&A-gender-identity-confusion.pdf

These persons so afflicted need treatment, not legislation to protect or affirm a civil wrong.

Conclusion:

Armed with the evidence above, Section 153 1 xlvii of the Summary Jurisdiction Offences Act, Chapter 8:02, takes on a new character.

It does NOT appear irrational, discriminatory, undemocratic, contrary to the rule of law and unconstitutional. In effect, it serves a good and useful purpose in maintaining the national ethos.

Mandatory treatment of psychosexual and gender-identity disorders would seem a better option than “affirming” the condition via legislation.

We should peruse the 2001-article by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi: “The Removal of Homosexuality from the Psychiatric Manual” http://www.cssronline.org/CSSR/Archival/2001/Nicolosi_71-78.pdf .

An excerpt follows:

“….To some, this approach may sound reactionary and anti-gay, antisexual, anti-freedom. Rather, for those men who seek an alternative to the gay lifestyle, this is progressive treatment. Indeed, many men have found these ideas to reflect a truth they sense within themselves. This approach acknowledges the value of gender difference, the worth of family and traditional social values, and the importance of the prevention of gender confusion in children….”

The words of Robert Regier and Daniel Garcia need to be repeated here:

“… When protecting one’s inalienable and civil rights, the government must discern between liberty and license. This requires that rights attach to persons because of their humanity, not because of their behaviors, and certainly not those behaviors that Western legal and moral tradition has regarded as inimical to the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” as stated in the Declaration. Yet, today some advocate granting “rights” to behaviors hostile to the most fundamental forms of self-government—family, church, and community….”

Sasod and their supporters would, again, be found to be actively trying to deceive the Guyanese people.

They should be rejected yet again!

Yours faithfully

Roger Williams, Georgetown, Guyana, March 1^st 2010
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.”

“RogerWilli” at Yahoo Messenger