Saturday, July 30, 2011

July 2006, Israel's War on Lebanon. My book on Mondoweiss

"Thirty months before there was Cast Lead, there was the Dahieh War, a sustained assault against Lebanon during which the Israeli military flattened an entire neighborhood of tightly packed high-rises in southern Beirut called simply "the Dahieh" (the suburb.) The vast majority of the 300,000 people who lived until then in the Dahieh had fled before the flattening began, finding shelter in other parts of Lebanon or in neighboring Syria. The inhabitants of Qana, in South Lebanon's mountainous Jabal 'Amel region, were not so "lucky". On July 30, 2006, the Israeli military bombed a house in Qana in which scores of civilians had sought refuge: Some 60 of them were killed, including at least 19 children. 
We are now approaching the fifth anniversary of that massacre in Qana. (Tragically, the village had suffered an eerily similar tragedy during a precursor Israeli assault, ten years earlier.) "
My new book Lebanon 2006 War Diaries on Mondoweiss

Normalizers of the Earth. Luckily they're insignificant.


""It's a shame that water is being used as a form of collective punishment when it could be used to build trust and to help each side recognise that the other is a human being with water rights," says Nader Al-Khateeb, the Palestinian director of the environmental NGO Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME).
"We should be using water as a tool for peace and to bridge the gap of confidence in the region - not to create a water crisis," he adds. As part of his work with FoEME - which also operates in Israel and Jordan - Al-Khateeb says he has already witnessed the success of co-operative water projects. Over the past ten years, the FoEME "Good Water Neighbors" initiative has brought together 29 cross-border communities to encourage them to work together to resolve shared water problems.
According to Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli director of FoEME, the project has managed to leverage around $120 million in investments to help build sewerage plants and replace old and leaky water pipes. Most of this aid, which has come through agencies such as USAID, World Bank, the EU and other foreign governments, has gone to the occupied Palestinian territories. "There are mutual benefits to be had through co-operative work which identifies common interests and we've seen physical improvements on the ground. Nothing speaks louder than the investment of $120m," said Bromberg."

And the article is so full of holes it won't hold water.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/07/20117278519784574.html

Friday, July 29, 2011

The water war won't take place. As for the gas war, this is another issue

Laila has kindly translated my article from Al Akhbar

Water Wars

There will be no water war between Israel and the Arabs, in spite of the expert studies and the warnings of international research centres, particularly those concerned with global warming. The need for water in our modern and globalised societies does not justify the outbreak of an open war. For one, decision makers believe that the consequences of such a war would reach far wider than the consequences of a water shortage. In addition, the countries surrounding Occupied Palestine use most of their water resources for agriculture, sometimes as much as 80 per cent in Lebanon and Jordan. Moreover, the agriculture sector has historically been neglected, today accounting for only 6 per cent of Lebanon’s gross national product.

Although producing local food and preserving the rural culture is obviously important and has a clear symbolic value, it is also evident that governments will sacrifice the entire agricultural sector in order to avoid war, even if Israel controlled all the water sources. This explains why Jordan has accepted an inequitable water treaty with Israel. It also explains why the Lebanese government has remained silent about Israel’s encroachments on the waters of the Hasbani. Moreover, most of Lebanon’s water resources are renewable and there is always the option of desalinating sea water, which Israel has adopted. Additionally, Israel’s agriculture sector is in decline, after having played a major role in rallying support for the Zionist colonialist project and having improved Israel’s image in the West.

Therefore, there will be no water war, simply because there are alternatives.

However, a gas war is another matter. The discovery of huge offshore gas fields between Lebanon and occupied Palestine represents a historic opportunity for economic and social development.

We in Lebanon must prepare ourselves to fiercely defend what is rightfully ours from the grasp of the Zionist occupier. But Lebanon today is not the Lebanon it was before: our resources are safe in the hands of the Resistance.

حرب الماء لن تقع. أما حرب الغاز، فهذه قصة أخرى

الحرب المائية

رامي زريق
رغم تحاليل الخبراء في شأن المياه، ورغم تحذيرات مراكز الأبحاث الدولية، وخصوصاً تلك المعنية بالاحتباس الحراري، لن تقع حرب المياه بين العرب و«إسرائيل». فالحاجة إلى المياه في مجتمعاتنا الحديثة والمعولمة لا تبرر اندلاع حرب مفتوحة ستكون عواقبها، حسب صنّاع القرار، أكبر بكثير من تلك التي تنتج من شح المياه. كذلك فإن بلدان الطوق تستغل الجزء الأساسي من ثروتها المائية في الزراعة، وقد تصل هذه النسبة إلى 80%، كما هي الحال في لبنان والأردن. يضاف إلى كل ذلك أن الزراعة هي في الأساس قطاع أهملته الحكومات تاريخياً، وهو يسهم اليوم بنحو 6% من الناتج القومي اللبناني. ورغم أهمية ورمزية إنتاج الغذاء المحلي والحفاظ على المجتمع الريفي، من البديهي أن هذه الحكومات ستضحي بهذا القطاع بكامله لتجنب الحرب حتى لو وضعت «إسرائيل» يدها على كل المصادر المائية. وهذا ما يفسر قبول الأردن باتفاقية مائية مجحفة، وما يفسر أيضاً سكوت الدولة اللبنانية عن التعديات «الإسرائيلية» على مياه الحاصباني. أضف إلى ذلك أن أكثر مواردنا المائية متجددة، وأن هناك دائماً بديل تحلية مياه البحر، وقد اتخذته «إسرائيل»، وأن القطاع الزراعي الصهيوني في حالة انحسار بعدما أدى دوراً مهماً في التجنيد للمشروع الاستعماري وتحسين صورة الكيان الصهيوني في المجتمعات الغربية. تؤكد كل هذه المعطيات أن حرب الماء لن تقع؛ لأنه، بكل بساطة، هناك بدائل أخرى. أما حرب الغاز، فهذه قصة أخرى؛ إذ يمثّل اكتشاف حقول غاز ضخمة في البحر بين لبنان وفلسطين المحتلة فرصة تاريخية للنهوض الاقتصادي والاجتماعي، وعلينا الاستعداد للدفاع عن حقوقنا بشراسة من أطماع المستعمر الصهيوني. لكن لبنان اليوم غير لبنان الأمس... مواردنا بأمان في حماية المقاومة.

إسرائيل تحرم بدو الضفة من مياه الأمطار... لترحيلهم!

يواجه البدو في الضفة الغربية خطراً كبيرا يتهدد مجتمعهم الزراعي، مع سعي إسرائيل إلى تدمير صهاريج المياه المنتشرة خارج بيت لحم، والتي يستخدمها الرعاة في فصل الصيف بعد تخزينها مياه الأمطار، المجانية، في فصل الشتاء.
صهاريج قديمة جداً، يقول بعض البدو ان إنشاءها يعود إلى مئات السنين، هي اليوم ورقة في يد السلطات الإسرائيلية التي تستخدمها لترحيلهم، وذلك مع تدميرها ثلاثة منها في الضفة منذ تشرين الثاني الماضي.
ويقول فلاح هيداوا (64 عاما) الذي يجلس على وسادة متواضعة في خيمة على احدى التلال المطلة على البحر الميت «يفعلون ذلك لكي نرحل... لكننا لن نفعل ذلك».
ويؤكد مكتب الأمم المتحدة لتنسيق الشؤون الإنسانية والذي يراقب الأوضاع في الأراضي الفلسطينية، أن إسرائيل قد دمرت «20 خزانا لمياه الأمطار في الضفة الغربية المحتلة في النصف الاول من هذا العام». ويأتي تدميرها كجزء من حملة الهدم للمنازل الفلسطينية في المنطقة «ج» التي تشكل 60 في المئة من الضفة الغربية ككل، حيث تمارس إسرائيل سيطرة كاملة.
ووفقا لاتفاقات السلام المؤقتة المبرمة بين إسرائيل والفلسطينيين في التسعينيات، فإن المنطقة «ج» هي التي تقع فيها جميع المستوطنات الإسرائيلية في الضفة.
واضاف مكتب الأمم المتحدة أن عدد الفلسطينيين الذين فقدوا منازلهم في المنطقة «ج» خلال النصف الاول من العام 2011 تخطى العدد ذاته خلال العامين 2009 و2010، وان معظمهم من البدو. وبعد هدم إسرائيل 342 منزلا مملوكا من قبل فلسطينيين هذا العام، قام العديد من المتضررين بنصب خيم في مكان المنازل المهدمة من دون استصدار تراخيص اسرائيلية، وهو الامر الذي يعتبر معظم الفلسطينيين ان الحصول عليه امر مستحيل.
وفيما تؤكد الادارة الاسرائيلية المدنية في الضفة أن تدمير الصهاريج يأتي لازاحتها من مناطق للتدريب العسكري، تلفت منظمات المجتمع المدني الى أن البدو المتضررين من هذه الاجراءات الاسرائيلية هم الافقر بين الفلسطينيين ويصل عددهم الى 27 الف شخص.
وتأتي سياسة التدمير الاسرائيلية لخزانات مياه الامطار في وقت تعاني الضفة من ازمة شح في المياه. ويقول رئيس سلطة المياه الفلسطينية شداد العتيلي «لدينا ازمة مياه اينما كان، وخصوصا في المنطقة ج». واضاف «افشل في تأمين المياه لهؤلاء البدو... ولنفترض أن لديّ مصدر آخر اؤمّن به هذه الحاجة، فسيكون علي الحصول على موافقة لوضع أنابيب خاصة، وهذا ما ليس لدي الآن... لذا ليس امام هؤلاء الناس سوى الصهاريج لتأمين حاجتهم من المياه».
(رويترز)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

From Rafah: denied entry- the limits to revolution

From Rafah: Denied Entry- The Limits To Revolution
By Ann Gough for Land and People


While the revolution in Tahrir is fighting against its fragmentation and for its original goal, the revolution seems to have never arrived on the Egyptian side of Rafah. Snarling, corrupt and brutal gatekeepers of Palestine, the Egyptians at the Rafah border could not be more invested in the Israeli / U.S. occupation of their country. A combination of fear and greed grips the border crossing. A microcosm of late capitalism in its militant entrepreneurialism.

“All Palestinians are donkeys” is a refrain we heard many times in Arabic and English from Egyptian officials at the border. The border police eat and drink and watch elderly or desperate Gazans try to get in and out while poor Egyptians badger them for shekels or guineas as payment for throwing their luggage over the bars of the Rafah gates. Fights break out between the porters over access to customers. One pushes an elderly Gazan man over a delayed currency exchange. The golden rule under hypercapitalist dictatorships abounds in “Rafah Land” – every human interaction has a price. Including a place in line or a place to sit. Even a wheelchair is available for purchase, to transport the lucky Gazans with medical permissions who are allowed out of the gates.

A Norwegian couple waits anxiously outside the crossing. He was born in Gaza but has been living the last decades in Norway with his Norwegian wife and family. They are near tears. For months they have been planning this trip and coordinating with the Egyptian embassy in Norway for permissions and visas. With everything set, they arrived at Rafah only to be told no. For hours they wait and beg the border guards. They have a flat, she tells me, in Gaza. They bought it after the Oslo interim accords, when everybody had hope. When they finally received the permission from the Egyptian embassy in Oslo they cried. For six years they have not seen his family, his mother died in that time. Their daughter in Norway has the Egyptian embassy in Oslo call their cell phone. They hand the phone to the Egyptian manager of the crossing and after another 45 minutes they are allowed through. Their elation is palpable. They waited 4 hours to cross through the gates.

We are still denied. Another international natters away to me about “peace journalism” and the importance of the peace movement in solving this “conflict”. I wonder if Gazans feel that they are parties to a “conflict”. Do Egyptians block Israelis from leaving? Are Israelis exiting through Al Aqaba with medical permissions? Perhaps we should be talking about the Gaza prison, not the Gaza “conflict”.

There is much chatter among the Egyptians and we are offered a tunnel trip for 200 U.S. dollars per person. In a back room of the nearby shop, we are told to pay upfront and we will be taken to the tunnels. Considering that these are the same people serving tea to the Egyptian border police, it seems at best a scam.

A United Nations jeep and bus pulls up to the Rafah crossing. United Nations – surely they will want to help two internationals with full paperwork and invitations from a Gaza based civil society organization. “Ahh, they won’t let you in because you are Americans and you will be targeted” the blonde UN official tells us while her Egyptian driver tries to close her car window and shoo us away.

We will be targeted in Gaza? A conservative sheik has just welcomed us. “They won’t let you in? It is my country and I say Ahlan wa Sahlen!” he says in perfect English. We tell him we are going to study land and farming and he opens his arms, please come.

If we are targeted at all, it is by the Egyptian secret police or perhaps the Israelis. The UN official is transporting VIPS through Rafah and she tells us that if we are not being allowed in it is because the Israelis see everything and everyone that goes through Rafah. She goes only to Gaza for an hour. She will stay in an Al Arish seaside resort before her Egyptian driver returns her to her UN office. UNRWA, meanwhile, claims not to have funds for its vital Food Aid programs.

Now the Egyptian army office is demanding to speak to our embassy. He wants some kind of proof of coordination. Over the next hours his wants will jump from mukhabarat coordination to our embassy to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. But we try with the embassy. We paid 50 dollars for affidavits describing our understanding the U.S. embassy can offer no “help” once we cross into Gaza. So we call. They take calls only between 1-3 in the afternoon. Finally we make contact with a human voice. No. They refuse to talk with the Egyptians. This is not part of their services, they tell us. But we are still in Egypt! We insist. “Just talk to him, tell us we did everything we could – we paid for your affidavit and that is all you will do for us.” No. They will not speak to the Egyptian officer. We end the call screaming. “We are citizens of the U.S. and you will not help us in Egypt! We are not even in Gaza. Your affidavit is a lie.”

We end our eight-hour Rafah wait with a young Egyptian man. “This is my country,” he tells us, “I should be allowed through any border of my country. These are our brothers and sisters in Gaza and we want to visit them”. He has brought proof of his Egyptian army certificate to show the Rafah border police. In the end, he and his uncle are not allowed in. VIPS from the UN can visit Gaza but Egyptians cannot visit their neighbors.

One Gaza man has waited for 23 days at the crossing to visit his family. He can’t get in and the Egyptians won’t let his family out. Two men from Gaza run to the gates. It is five minutes after the Egyptian side closes. They are not allowed to return home for the night. So much for the openness of Rafah. Like the Greek myth this gate is guarded by a kind of Cerberus, a three-headed dog. But these dogs don’t guard Hades – rather they guard an isolated strip of land. According to the Gazans leaving it is a beautiful place and it is their home. One man taking his father to hospital proudly shows his Palestinian passport to me. Look, “I was born in Gaza.” “Helou, Gaza” his father says.

We spent only one and a half days waiting at Rafah. Palestinians spend days on either side of the crossing, waiting to get in or out. Egypt maintains a strict quota of 400 people / day allowed to leave Gaza. Patients are dying, students denied opportunities to study and families separated. To what end?

Of course the true dogs of Rafah are the U.S. policy makers. Ever loyal to Israel, they cultivate carefully Gaza’s continued isolation. Ensuring the longevity of the occupation by outsourcing responsibility to Egypt and the UN. So Gaza remains, in view but off limits. But the revolution that ousted Mubarak was one of the most courageous in recent years. And it brought to the forefront the years of organizing in Egypt during the first and second Palestinian intifadas. The Egyptian state certainly bares some responsibility for the siege on Gaza. It is time now for their army to act on the promise of the revolution. Open the Rafah crossing, end the faux “peace” accord with the Israeli state. Do this, or get out of the way. Because the next Return to Palestine will include Egypt and we will all simply get up and walk to Gaza, through and around the Rafah gate.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Tahrir/Cairo. July heats up: our revolution has been stolen


Tahrir, July 2011

By Anne Gough
Special to Land and People


After the people of Egypt successfully ousted Mubarak much of the English language foreign press wrote that the organizers of the revolution were satiated with the result. They were willing to let Tantawi and his military council assume control.

Not the case.

 “Our revolution has been stolen” and “it is not Mubarak but it is the same system as Mubarak” are among the most common phrases heard in Tahrir today.

The organization from the peak days of the uprising is still apparent; people have cordoned off the square and politely ask for I.D.s and check bags of those who want to enter. Far from an obtrusive checkpoint (for that one need only visit the U.S. embassy a few blocks away), they only want to know who is entering their space and what they are bringing in. People wanted to speak with us, about the U.S. where we are from, about our views of the revolution and about the situation in Lebanon, where we are living.

Pride in the revolution is still apparent but many people told us that they are less then hopeful for a real change in Egypt. Primarily because political power is still within in the hands of the same people. While the power that changed the world back in January is slowly dwindling away. One man from Luxor, holding his handmade Kusa / corruption poster, warned that if the U.S. does not start to follow what its leaders preach then it will be finished. Meaning, he said, that its only friends will be the small group of powerful and corrupt Egyptian families, not those in the street. As one man in Tahrir says, “In the U.S. you have the illusion of choice.” Political and media choices in the U.S. are increasingly fabricated and increasingly the same. In Egypt, he went on, “we want to have real choices and to make real decisions about our land and future.”

In another capital the media empire of Rupert Murdoch is crumbling. Murdoch, whose populist ideology of racism, islamophobia and unbridled neoliberalism, controls much of the English media. What they write and what they dare to cover. Don’t be fooled by the notion that NewsCorp is “publically traded” company, it is hereditary dictatorship. A media version of Mubarak, Murdoch rules with impunity over a feudal and corrupt corporation. Incidentally, he seeks to expand to the Arab world. The man who says, "They [Muslims] are much harder to integrate into a community than the average Indian or Chinese or Japanese even".  John Berger wrote about the media dictators like Murdoch. “Any tyranny’s manipulation of the media is an index of its fears. The present one lives in fear of the world’s desperation.”

So the Egyptian revolution continues, under-covered by international media. As we walked through Tahrir we thanked the people we met and said that we hoped to learn from them. After nodding in agreement, one man turned around and said, “If you feel that way, then do the same in your country”.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

After the Flotilla

Laila kindly translated my Akhbar editorial: After the Flotilla


The Gaza flotilla didn't go as planned. In fact it didn't go at all. Israel was able to prevent the ships from setting sail and activists heading to Palestine to participate in anti-blockade protests were stopped from boarding planes in Europe. The only French ship that came close to the waters of Gaza was stopped by the Israeli navy in classic Israeli piracy style, a routine about which the international community does not even bat an eyelid. Just imagine if a Palestinian Authority boat had stopped a group of Zionist international activists on their way to support the occupation of Palestine. The world would have been turned upside down. The Security Council would have gathered and imposed sanctions on the PA. Its hawks would have demanded the bombing of the hotbeds of terrorism from Sanaa to Tetouan.

The international community, in other words the rich and powerful countries, particularly the United States and Western Europe, has been in collusion with Israel since before it was even created and has been supporting it in all its criminal actions. Does anyone remember the European and American positions when Israel was destroying Lebanon almost exactly five years ago during the July 2006 aggression?

Here is a list of shame of the countries who stopped the flotilla on Israel’s behalf: Turkey, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, France and Germany, and of course, the imperial master, the US.

The list includes governments which fund “development” work in Lebanon. The question which poses itself among people who consider themselves to be patriotic activists who support the Palestinian and Arab cause is this: How can we accept funding from governments that differ from us on the most important issues while they don’t even hide their support for our enemy? What is needed now is a boycott of funding that comes from these countries’ embassies, and a boycott of their governments and their agencies who work in international development organisations. This should be done not to send them a message, but also to protect our land, our people, our cause, our dignity and out principles from such contradictions and compromises that weaken our positions and humiliate us profoundly.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Kickass BDS: European solidarity organizations mobilize against Agrexco


"European solidarity organizations mobilize against Agrexco

A coalition of European solidarity organizations issued a declaration today calling for a day of action against the Israeli produce company Agrexco on 26 November and affirming their “determination to put an end to Agrexco’s presence in Europe.”
The statement comes out of the first ever European Forum Against Agrexco, which The Electronic Intifada reported on last month:
From 4-5 June, delegates from Italy, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Palestine joined the French organizers for two full days of workshops aimed at strengthening the boycott campaign against the Israeli agricultural export giant.
Agrexco is Israel’s largest fresh produce exporter and European markets account for the vast majority of their sales under the brand Carmel. The Israeli government’s 50 percent stake in the company as well as their marketing of 60-70 percent of the fruit and vegetables grown in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank have made Agrexco a prime strategic target for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign."
Read the full statement, well worth it...

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/maureen/european-solidarity-organizations-mobilize-against-agrexco 

«الحرية ــ 2»

«الحرية ــ 2»
رامي زريق
فشلت حملة أسطول الحرية ـــــ 2؛ فقد استطاعت «إسرائيل» منع السفن من الإبحار، والناشطين الدوليين من ركوب الطائرات من أوروبا باتجاه فلسطين للمشاركة بحملة فك الحصار. أما السفينة الفرنسية اليتيمة التي اقتربت من مياه غزة، فقد أوقفتها بحرية العدو بعملية قرصنة أصبحت روتينية، ولم يرفّ لها جفن في المجتمع الدولي. تصوروا فقط، لو أوقف زورق للسلطة الفلسطينية مجموعةً من الناشطين الدوليين الصهاينة في طريقهم إلى دعم الاحتلال لأرض فلسطين، لانقلبت الدنيا رأساً على عقب، ولاجتمع مجلس الأمن وفرض العقوبات وطالب صقوره بقصف بؤر الإرهاب من صنعاء إلى تطوان. فالمجتمع الدولي، ونعني هنا حكومات البلدان القوية والغنية، وعلى رأسها أميركا وأوروبا الغربية، متواطئ مع «إسرائيل» منذ ما قبل نشوئها ويساندها في كل عمليات إجرامها. ألا يتذكر أحد المواقف الأوروبية والأميركية، عندما كانت «إسرائيل» تدمر لبنان في مثل هذه الأيام خلال عدوان تموز 2006؟ هذه هي لائحة العار للبلدان التي أوقفت الأسطول نيابة عن «إسرائيل»: تركيا وسويسرا واليونان وقبرص وفرنسا وألمانيا، وطبعاً صاحبة الأمر والنهي، أميركا. من ضمن هذه اللائحة حكومات تموّل العمل «التنموي» في لبنان. والسؤال الذي يطرح نفسه لمن يحسبون أنفسهم ناشطين وطنيين مناصرين للقضية الفلسطينية والعربية هو: كيف نقبل التمويل من حكومات نختلف معها على أهم الثوابت، وهي لا تخفي دعمها لعدونا؟ المطلوب اليوم مقاطعة التمويل الصادر عن سفارات هذه الحكومات وعدم التعامل معها أو مع وسطائها من المؤسسات التنموية الدولية. وهذا ليس بهدف إيصال رسالة إليها، بل لحماية أرضنا وشعبنا وقضيتنا وكرامتنا ومبادئنا من التناقضات والتنازلات التي تضعفنا في مواقفنا وتذلنا في صميمنا

الغـرب والعـرب: دعـم الثـورات ونهـب الثـروات لمـاذا قبـل الإخـوان المسـلمون التـقارب مـع أميـركا؟

هم يستوردون أيضا اللحوم الغربية بينما في السودان ثروة زراعية وحيوانية هائلة. 24 مليون هكتار من المراعي. 64 مليون هكتار من الغابات. مصادر مياه وفيرة ومتعددة. ويحتل السودان المرتبة السادسة عالمياً والاولى عربياً لجهة الثروة الحيوانية. أكثر من 128 مليون رأس ماشية (37 مليوناً من الابقار، و38 مليوناً من الماعز و46 مليوناً من الاغنام، و3 ملايين من الإبل و 4 ملايين حصان او من فصيلة الخيول).
نفهم الآن كيف ان رجال اعمل اميركيين، وفي مقدمهم مثلا المصرفي المتقاعد فيليب هالبيرج، يسارع الى شراء 400 ألف فدان في الجنوب 
حتى قبل ان ينقسم. أي انه اشترى مساحة تزيد على مساحة إمارة دبي.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The world in a loaf of bread


"And how are we responding to this gathering crisis? Has there been a broad new international initiative focused on ensuring food security for the global poor -- that is to say, a stable, affordable price for our loaf of bread?  You already know the sad answer to that question.
Instead, massive corporations like Glencore, the world’s largest commodity trading company, and the privately held and secretive Cargill, the world’s biggest trader of agricultural commodities, are moving to further consolidate their control of world grain markets and vertically integrate their global supply chains in a new form of food imperialism designed to profit off global misery.  While bread triggered war and revolution in the Middle East, Glencore made windfall profits on the surge in grain prices. And the more expensive our loaf of bread becomes the more money firms like Glencore and Cargill stand to make. Consider that just about the worst possible form of “adaptation” to the climate crisis."

Small farmers against international business: the struggle is everywhere

"The eastern state of Odisha in India is pitting small farmers against international business interests in a battle that threatens the Indian government's idea of development.

"POSCO go back!" is a common chant among the hundreds of residents from Jagatsingpur district who have been standing guard at the village borders since June 2, to prevent the forcible acquisition of their lands for a steel plant, the country’s largest, that South-Korea based Pohang Steel Company (POSCO) wants to set up. Twenty police battalions have been stationed a few kilometers away, awaiting the state government’s instructions. " (Thanks Marcy)



http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/07/201171711310873319.html

Heretics in the Italy of warehouses



A story about wine, food and landscape

Monday, July 18, 2011

Globalized economy? Globalized control!

Laila kindly translated my article from this week's Badael in Al Akhbar

The Globalised Economy


The world economy is controlled by the rich and powerful nations led by the United States. One way in which these countries establish their control is by cloning their own economic system onto the weaker nations by force if need be.

As a consequence, the poor, weak countries become hooked up to a multifarious global system over which they can exert no power or control. This system, based on transnational capitalism, is sometimes called the ‘globalised economy’. It seeps into every household, determines the way of life of every citizen, and it is an integral part of the mechanism of power and control.

That is why we should count the globalised economy as a form of rapacious occupation, benefitting the richest countries by allowing them to steal the resources of poor and weak countries and open up new markets to their products.

So without deploying a single battleship or mobilising a single soldier, the globalised economy allows the rich countries to suffocate production sectors in the poorest countries.

Today, their soldiers wear formal business suits and belong to international financial organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Such organisations have agents in poor countries who are the de facto ruling class, although they play no role in national government. They control economic decisions, they control the banks, the media, international franchises, contractors, the service sector and much more.

This class can push its agenda through and legitimise this economic occupation and subordination by promulgating appropriate laws and supporting favourable policies in ministries and parliaments that fall under its financial and political influence.

For this reason, no single Arab revolution, or even uprising, will succeed if we do not deal with this reality. It is a problem that can no longer be ignored. Addressing the economic reality will revitalise calls for Arab economic and political integration and that is exactly what the occupier and his acolytes do not want to us to do!


Use your loaf: food prices and the Arab uprising- my article in the Observer Food Monthly

"People in Arab countries have always relied on bread as a low-cost source of sustenance. In Yemen alone there are more than 20 different kinds of bread, each made and baked differently. In Egypt, bread is known as aish, meaning "life". It is the inseparable companion of all dishes, even some desserts. The Fertile Crescent, stretching from the Egyptian Nile to the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates, is where agriculture began, where wheat, lentils, chickpeas, sheep and goats and olives were first cultivated. Today, that same region is the largest importer of food in the world."


http://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/17/bread-food-arab-spring?cat=lifeandstyle&type=article

Friday, July 15, 2011

The promises of gross

"Regrettably, the financial markets and right-wing economists have gotten the problem exactly backwards: they believe that austerity produces confidence, and that confidence will produce growth. But austerity undermines growth, worsening the government's fiscal position, or at least yielding less improvement than austerity's advocates promise. On both counts, confidence is undermined, and a downward spiral is set in motion."

Governments are front for corporations

"Fear is growing among environmental and indigenous organisations in Chile over the possible appropriation of native seeds by foreign companies, opening the doors to transgenic crops and their negative impact on biodiversity.

Alarm arose because of several bills sponsored by the government of right-wing president Sebastián Piñera, especially after May 17 when Congress ratified the UPOV 91 Convention, which grants patent rights over new plant varieties to those who have discovered, developed or modified these varieties.

The convention of the intergovernmental International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) is a revised version of a 1978 pact that Chile had already signed. Ratification of UPOV 91 was a requirement of the free trade treaties Santiago has entered into with Australia, the United States and Japan." (Thanks Marcy)

Who owns the land? How did they come to own it?

ما قل ودل
اشترى النائب وليد جنبلاط قطعة أرضٍ كبيرة، تقع بالقرب من ملعب الصفا، حيث توجد بيوت التنك، وتبلغ مساحة هذه الأرض 20 ألف متر، وقد اشتراها بعشرات ملايين الدولارات. ويتفاوض جنبلاط مع القاطنين في هذه الأرض لإخلائها، مقابل تعويضات ماليّة. كما اشترى جنبلاط عدداً من الأراضي الممتدة من منزله في كليمنصو إلى عين المريسة.
Rough translation: Walid Jumblat just purchased a 20,000 sqm piece of land near the Safa sports field where the shanty town is located. He paid tens of millions of $. He is negotiating with those who live in the shacks to leave in exchange for some payment. He also sold a number of pieces of land around his house in the Clemenceau area to Ain el Mreisseh.
Land is the safest and easiest way to launder money. Land is also used by capitalists as a commodity which embodies capital and therefore shields it from taxation. It is also a high return investment through real estate speculation. I am increasingly obsessed with these two questions: Who owns the land in Lebanon? How did they come to own it?
Meanwhile, Charbel Nahas, the excellent Minister of Labor is campaigning for the introduction of a capital gain tax on land and to use the returns to finance the services sector, especially social security and health services. Let's see if the capitalists in his own political camp (the new majority) and his prime minister the billionaire Mikati will allow him to do that

الاقتصاد المعولم

الاقتصاد المعولم

رامي زريق
يقع العالم واقتصاده تحت هيمنة البلدان القوية والغنية، وعلى رأسها الولايات المتحدة الأميركية. أحد الأساليب التي تبسط فيها هذه الدول سيطرتها على العالم هي من خلال استنساخ نظامها الاقتصادي في البلدان الضعيفة وفرضه عليها بالقوة إذا احتاج الأمر. وبذلك، تصبح هذه البلدان مرتبطة بنظام عالمي متشعب لا طاقة لها على التحكم به، يتسلل إلى كل بيت ويحدد نمط حياة المواطنين. ولأن هذه المنظومة مبنية على مبادئ الرأسمالية العابرة للقارات، نطلق عليها أحياناً اسم «الاقتصاد المعولم»، التي هي جزء لا يتجزأ من آلية القوة والسيطرة. لذلك، يجب عدّها نوعاً من الاحتلال الخسيس والمجدي جداً للبلدان الغنية؛ لأنه يتيح لها إمكان سلب موارد البلدان الفقيرة والضعيفة وفتح أسواق هذه البلدان لمنتجاتها وخنق قطاعاتها الإنتاجية من دون أن تحرّك بارجة واحدة أو جندياً واحداً. فجنودها اليوم يرتدون البزات الرسمية وينتمون إلى منظمات مالية عالمية على نمط البنك الدولي وصندوق النقد الدولي، ولديهم عملاؤهم في البلدان الفقيرة، وهي الطبقة الحاكمة فعلياً، حتى لو لم تكن في الحكم. فهي تسيطر على الخيارات الاقتصادية وعلى المصارف والإعلام والوكالات الحصرية وشركات المقاولات والقطاعات الخدماتية وغيرها. وتستطيع هذه الطبقة كذلك دفع أجندتها وشرعنة الاحتلال الاقتصادي والتبعية من خلال إبرام القوانين والسياسات الملائمة في الوزارات ومجالس النواب الواقعة تحت نفوذها المالي والسياسي. لهذا السبب، لن تنجح ثورة ولا حتى فورة عربية واحدة إن لم نعالج هذا الواقع. وهذا أمر لم نعد نستطيع تأجيله، وتكمن أهميته في أنه سيفتح من جديد ملف التكامل الاقتصادي والسياسي العربي، وهذا تماما ما لا يريده لنا المحتل وأعوانه.

Pablo Neruda: who are you o poet?

Angry Arab reminded me of this great song by 'Adli Fakhri and Samir `Abd el Baqi: Pablo Neruda in which they remember the poet and many other communist martyrs. The greatest thing about this song is that it links the struggles of people from Latin America to Indonesia. I heard this song for the first time on a recording of the 50th anniversary of the Lebanese Communist Party in 1975 that I still have.

Unfortunately this is only part of the song, which on the recording I have goes on for 20 minutes.

Added later: I found what seems to be part 1 of the videos, but this is not the part 1 I have on my recording (?)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Somalis flee to Kenya in search of food - Africa - Al Jazeera English

Somalis flee to Kenya in search of food - Africa - Al Jazeera English

"Somali refugees have become the victims of the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in nearly 60 years.

Faced with starvation and caught in conflict, thousands of Somalis are fleeing their country and heading for Kenya.

They have travelled through harsh conditions with little food or water, and no humanitarian assistance.

Many head across the border into northern Kenya to seek help at the Dadaab refugee camp.

But drought has hit almost every country in the Horn of Africa.

Somalis have been fleeing from war for years now, but this is a different kind of exodus. The refugees are forced to leave their land because they risk dying of starvation at home.

Nazanine Moshiri reports from Dobley, Somalia."

Families hit by lack of UN food aid to Gaza - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Families hit by lack of UN food aid to Gaza - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

"Thousands of families in Gaza are not receiving UN assistance because of a shortage of donor funds.
The UN Relief and Works Agency said that unless it gets $50m in the next few months, the emergency distribution of food aid will be cancelled completely."

Families hit by lack of UN food aid to Gaza - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Families hit by lack of UN food aid to Gaza - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Cut the corporate social responsibility crap

"A Chinese conglomerate supplying Nike, Adidas, Puma and other leading brands has discharged hormone-disrupting chemicals and other toxins into the country's major water systems, according to a new Greenpeaceinvestigation that raises questions about corporate responsibility for the firms they do business with.

The environmental pressure group has also linked hazardous textile plants in the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas to Lacoste, H&M and half a dozen other international fashion brands despite many of those companies' claims to set high environmental standards in their supply chains." (Thanks Laila)

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Corporate hydra, we don't need your self serving charity

"The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) program [6]  was launched in 2008 with a $47 million grant from mega-rich philanthropists Warren Buffet [7] and Bill Gates. The program is supposed to help farmers in several African countries increase their yields with drought- and heat-tolerant corn varieties, but a report released last month by the African Centre for Biosafety [8] claims WEMA is threatening Africa's food sovereignty and opening new markets 
for agribusiness giants like Monsanto.

The Gates Foundation claims that biotechnology, GE crops and Western agricultural methods are needed to feed the world's growing population and programs like WEMA will help end poverty and hunger in the developing world. Critics say the foundation is using its billions to shape the global food agenda and the motivations behind WEMA were recently called into question when activists discovered [9] the Gates foundation had spent $27.6 million on 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock between April and June 2010."


Dom people in Lebanon

"BEIRUT, 11 July 2011 (IRIN) - Of all Lebanon's communities the Dom, described by some researchers as "the Gypsies of Lebanon", are the most marginalized: Up to 68 percent of Dom children do not attend school, according to a new report.

"Their access to legal protection, health, education, adequate shelter and food is very difficult, verging on impossible," said Charles Nasrallah, director of Insan Association, an NGO that promotes respect for the rights of vulnerable communities. "Such problems were compounded by acute social marginalization."

It is about time someone addresses the needs of the Dom people in Lebanon. But the article is not very well written. Why the comparison with the Palestinians? Or with the Bedouins? It is about class, silly. 

Anonymous is the new resistance



"Anonymous, the international cyberactivist network, has announced the release of 90,000 military email logins which its members obtained in one of the biggest-ever hacking operations.
The group promised that the publication of the documents on several websites on Monday is only the first in a series of leaks intended to show the intelligence community's vulnerability.
This round of emails comes from Booz Allen Hamilton, a management consultancy firm based in Virginia, United States.
Booz Allen Hamilton is active in the Middle East and North Africa, with its regional headquarters in the United Arab Emirates." (Thanks Marcy)

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/americas/2011/07/2011711201246802378.html

Out in a few days: my new book "War Diary: Lebanon 2006" from Just World Books

What was it like to live in Beirut during the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006? During that war, the Israeli military killed 1,200 Lebanese citizens-- most of them civilians-- and destroyed a large proportion of the country's infrastructure: power plants, factories, vital bridges, and the whole, densely populated area of southern Beirut known as the "Dahiyeh". (43 Israeli civilians and 121 Israeli military were also killed in the war.) Lebanese agronomy professor and social activist Rami Zurayk spent the whole war in Beirut with his family. War Diary: Lebanon 2006 is his record of the 33-day-long onslaught, published by Just World World Books as a special short e-book on the fifth anniversary of the war.

More info: http://justworldbooks.com/books/194-war-diary%253a-lebanon-2006

A new print block poster by comrade Daniel Drennan to commemorate the martyrs of maseerat al `awda


Friday, July 8, 2011

Bernard Henri Levy

Laila kindly provided a translation of my article in Al Akhbar

Bernard Henri Levy

Is there anyone who follows politics and champions the Arab and Palestinian causes who does not know Bernard Henri Levy? For those of you who do not know of him, he is one of the  French "Nouveaux Philosophes", and perhaps the most prominent among them. He is well known for his extreme positions against Muslims and Arabs, although not against those who bow their heads to the white master, who disown their own culture and wear white masks that cover their brown faces. Levy is one of the most virulent defenders of Israel. He was one of the first to enter the shattered remains of Jenin on board a Zionist tank to express his admiration for the Israeli army’s excellent work in ethnic cleansing and genocide. He is the pillar of Israel’s campaign to whitewash its reputation, giving advice, organising platforms, making speeches and publishing articles of sophisticated propaganda. He has been accused of relying on false information and of plagiarism and has been exposed several times in the French media. There are even allegations that he plays an important role in bringing French politicians, intellectuals and wealthy individuals together with the Israeli Mossad.

This is the man who has taken the job of ‘liberating’ Syria. He called for a conference in support of the Syrian opposition in its French capital, Paris. Despite many refusals from those who were invited, and a modest statement from some intellectuals condemning the conference, there were some Syrians who headed to Paris, who sat down and listened and clapped their hands for the Zionists who are preparing to break Syria up into little pieces and drown it in blood, all in the name of ‘freedom and democracy.’ Those people, some of whom come from ‘big’ families, count themselves as nobles and think of Syria as theirs and their families’ inherited estates, and some of whom represented the Syrian Muslims Brotherhood, should be placed on a list of shame and be mentioned only as traitors. As for the honourable Syrian opposition, what is demanded of it now is to unequivocally clarify its position and to reject foreign interference, particularly from the Zionists, and to condemn those who attended the conference and refuse to deal with them.

برنار هنري ليفي

برنار هنري ليفي
رامي زريق
هل هناك من بين مَن يهتم بالسياسة ومن ينتصر لقضية العرب وفلسطين ولا يعرف برنار هنري ليفي؟ لمن لا يعرفه، هو أحد «الفلاسفة الجدد» الفرنسيين، وربما أبرزهم. معروف بمواقفه الشديدة العداء للعرب والمسلمين، إلا الذين يطأطئون رؤوسهم أمام السيد «الأبيض» ويفرغون أنفسهم من ثقافتهم ويرتدون أقنعة بيضاء تخفي وجوههم السمراء. وليفي هذا من أشرس المدافعين عن إسرائيل، وهو أول من دخل إلى جنين الشهيدة محمولاً على ظهر دبابة صهيونية ليبدي إعجابه بتفوق الجيش الإسرائيلي في التطهير العرقي والإبادة الجماعية. هو عماد الأساس في حملات تبييض سمعة إسرائيل. يقدم النصائح وينسق المهرجانات الخطابية ويدلي بالتصاريح وينشر المقالات البروباغندية المفذلكة. وقد اتّهم بالارتكاز على وقائع خاطئة وحتى بسرقة أفكار كتاب آخرين، وقد فُضح مراراً في الإعلام الفرنسي. وهناك ادعاءات بأنه يؤدي دوراً مهماً في التواصل بين سياسيين ومثقفين وأثرياء فرنسيين مع الموساد الإسرائيلي. هذا هو الرجل الذي تبنى «تحرير» سوريا ودعا إلى مؤتمر دعم المعارضة السورية في عاصمتها باريس. ورغم اعتذار عدد كبير من المدعوين وإصدار بعض المثقفين بياناً متواضعاً لإدانة المؤتمر، هناك من توجه إلى باريس وجلس واستمع وصفق للصهاينة، وهم يمهدون لتفتيت سوريا ولإغراقها بالدماء باسم «الحرية و الديموقراطية». هؤلاء، ومنهم من ينحدر من «عائلات كبرى» ويعدّون أنفسهم من النبلاء، وسوريا إرث لهم ولعائلاتهم. ومنهم من يمثّل الإخوان المسلمين السوريين، يجب إدراجهم على لائحة عار والإشارة إليهم فقط كخونة. أما المعارضة السورية الشريفة، فهي مطالبة الآن بتوضيح موقفها بما لا يعطي مجالاً للغط، وبرفض التدخل الأجنبي، وخصوصاً الصهيوني، وبإدانة من حضر المؤتمر ورفض التعامل معهم.

Monday, July 4, 2011

The Arab Summer

Laila kindly provided a translation of my article in Al Akhbar: The Arab Summer


The Arab Summer

Spring is over in the Arab World and summer is upon us, bringing with it its blazing sun, blight and hardship. It is harvest season, when the farmer discovers the true value of his harvest.

In beloved Palestine, the matrix of colonisation is expanding day by day. The Zionist colonisers have recently added thousands of dunums in the West Bank to their spoils.

In the countries of revolution, mother Egypt and fragrant Tunisia, the winds of the counter-revolution have started to blow, taking on different guises but one identity. The American Empire and its British and French acolytes, has moved swiftly to keep our countries under their economic, cultural and military control if need be. They are now talking about a new Marshall Plan, waving a few million dollars in front of us. Dollars that they will kindly donate to us through their giant corporations if we choose to embrace "democracy".

In dear Yemen, there are those who want us to forget the new American base that was built to strike whomever the Empire does not like.

In Bahrain, where any American envoy is given a conquering hero’s welcome, racial and sectarian oppression remains as it always was in the kingdom that, just like all Arab oil states, does not need democracy.

As for precious Syria, there is a massive need for fuel to complete the harvest in the Eastern plains. But the state is preoccupied with oppressing its people and setting up committees that never meet. Meanwhile, the external opposition meets every Tom, Dick and Harry who is a spy or a foreign agent in Antalya. All hope today falls on the internal opposition (not those who oppose via their computers) who reject foreign intervention, so that they do not suffer the fate of the Libyan opposition who when they pray collectively towards Makkah, have the American flag behind them.

Spring is over, the flowers have wilted. Some have turned into thorns and chaff in which poisonous snakes make their home. This is the Arab summer.

The World Bank addresses food security: let them eat derivatives

"The World Bank has teamed up with JP Morgan to offer farmers and food manufacturers in poor countries access to financial derivatives to hedge their risk from volatile food prices. Two other banks, one in sub-Saharan Africa and one in Europe with Middle East partnerships, as yet unidentified, are expected to launch similar products with the World Bank shortly.

Excessive speculation in agricultural commodities has been attacked by development charities for fuelling price swings that undermine poor farmers' livelihoods. However, the World Bank believes that giving them access to the markets will act as an insurance policy. It says safeguards are in place to ensure participants cannot bet against themselves and add to the speculative pressure that NGOs want curbed."

http://m.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jun/27/world-bank-farmers-hedge-against-food-prices?cat=global-development&type=article

So I sent the article to my someone who knows a lot about these things and here's his answer:

"Complete crap in regards to food security; it proves that world bank is only a tool in the hands of financial institutions .

- products essential to livelihood are no traded in secondary markets (ex:rice) so non hedgeable by this product

- prime benefit will go to intermediaries (banks)

-farmers in this case (medium sized)would be agents of traders or head of state owned, which are in any case immune to price change

- inventing a speculative product to hedge against speculation is really kinky; my guess is that it will actually increase the price volatility.

There you go. 

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Monsanto, USAID and the "reconstruction" of Haiti


"Hinche, Haiti - Last week, thousands of farmers and supporters of Haitian peasant agriculture marched for hours under the hot Caribbean sun to call for more government support for locally grown seeds and agriculture.
The demonstration was organized by the Peasant Movement of Papay and other farmer associations, human rights and women’s groups, and the Haitian Platform for Alternative Development (PAPDA), the Haitian online agency AlterPresse reported from the march. The official theme of the peaceful demonstration was “Land Grabbing is Endangering Agricultural Sovereignty.”

Last spring, in violation of Haitian law, the Minister of Agriculture gave the agribusiness giant Monsanto permission to “donate” 505 tons of seeds to Haiti. The first shipment of 60 tons, reportedly of maize and vegetable seeds, arrived in May 2010. Some of the seeds were coated with a chemical (Thiram)[1] so toxic that the EPA forbids its sale to home gardeners in the U.S.. Monsanto announced its $4 million gift was “to support the reconstruction effort” in Haiti.

In Haiti, a US Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded agricultural project accepted the Monsanto “gift.” USAID/WINNER (Watershed Initiative for National Natural Environmental Resources) is a five-year, $126 million US taxpayer-funded agriculture and environment program. WINNER is run by giant beltway contractor Chemonics International, which in 2010 ranked #51 on the list of top 100 US government contractors in the world, earning over $476 million in contacts that year.USAID/WINNER’s Chief of Party is Jean Robert Estimé, minister of Foreign Affairs under dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier." (Thanks Anne)

 

Lebanese Ministerial Statement

Shadi sent me this (I post with his permission)


It's slightly heartening to have food security at least acknowledged in the Ministerial Statement of the new Lebanese Government (i don't have a link to the original Arabic version I'm afraid)

32. – In the field of agriculture, the government will improve the sector, considering it a key economic sector to generate jobs in rural areas and to provide food safety andsecurity and ecological balance. The government will also continue to develop the sector and its infrastructure and strengthen oversight and checks. The government will take the necessary measures to promote agricultural exports and strengthen agricultural institutions and preserve natural resources, especially water.

The previous ministerial statement it was simply this

10.  تطوير وتحفيز القطاع الزراعي وفتح مجالات أوسع في الخارج للمنتجات الزراعية اللبنانية والعمل على إقرار القوانين التي تضمن سلامة الغذاء الذي يضمن جودة الإنتاج الوطني وسلامته.

and a whole list of promises:

الــزراعــة
- متابعة اقرار التشريعات الخاصة بالقطاع الزراعي والمحالة الى مجلس النواب.
- تعزيز الموارد البشرية في الوزارة، عدداً وكفاءة.
- تفعيل الإرشاد الزراعي والحجر الصحي،  الحيواني والنباتي، والرقابة والمختبرات.
- تعزيز دور كل من  مصلحة الأبحاث العلمية الزراعية والمشروع الأخضر.
- العمل على خفض كلفة الإنتاج وتحسين جودة المنتج وتعزيز مشروع دعم الصادرات الزراعية واستحداث مشاريع دعم جديدة لمساعدة صغار المزارعين والصناعات الغذائية.
- التنسيق بين الجهات المعنية بالزراعة والتعاون مع المنظمات والهيئات المحلية والدولية.
- تقييم واعادة تفعيل دور التعاونيات الزراعية.
- وضع آلية عملية للتسليف الزراعي وتطويرقانون المصرف الوطني للإنماء الزراعي.
- استحداث التأمين على المخاطر والكوارث الطبيعية التي تصيب القطاع الزراعي.

Let's see how the new government performs (if they allow it)

Also a quick comparison of the Ministry of Environment sections (the new Ministerial statement is deliberately shorter and promises less; underlining mine)

37. – The government will be committed to reviving the role of the Environment Ministry and reevaluating its powers to implement regulations that protect the environment. It will also spread environmental awareness, which will preserve Lebanon’s natural resources. The government will work on cooperation with NGOs and regional institutions related to environmental development. It will strengthen the relationship between international companies to improve investment in the sector. It will execute policies and plans related to waste and quarries and to increase Lebanon’s forestation through a national strategy to manage its response to forest fires and protect national reservations.

Compared to the previous ministerial statement where they, for example, promise to plant 2 million trees per year (which hasn't happened and is organised largely around a USAID grant now likely being reconsidered - you know, political money)

6- حماية البيئة
- تأليف لجنة وطنية لمتابعة مسائل التغيّر المناخي والتصحّر.
- ايجاد مساحات خضراء في المدن والبلدات وتعزيز المحميات الطبيعية واعادة تشجير مليوني شجرة سنوياً في كل المناطق والوقاية من حرائق الغابات والحد من فوضى المقالع والكسارات والمرامل .
- ايجاد حلول سريعة للمكبات العشوائية المنتشرة على الأراضي اللبنانية والسير في اعتماد الوسائل والطرق الملائمة لمعالجة النفايات
- اطلاق خطة عملية بما فيها محفزات لاستبدال سيارات الأجرة بأخرى موفرة للوقود.
- وضع آلية لتحفيز استخدام التكنولوجيا النظيفة والطاقة المتجددة.

Friday, July 1, 2011

The Zionist ethnic cleansing continues to unfold

"After Israel had expropriated 93 percent of the lands in the Negev for Jewish settlement, the state's next priority was the forced urbanization of the Bedouins. "We should transform the Bedouins into an urban proletariat–in industry, services, construction and agriculture. 88 percent of the Israeli populations are not farmers, let the Bedouins be like them," stated Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan in 1963.

"Indeed, this will be a radical move which means that the Bedouin would not live on his land with his herds, but would become an urban person who comes home in the afternoon and puts his slippers on. His children would be accustomed to a father who wears trousers, does not carry a Shabaria [traditional Bedouin knife] and does not search for vermin in public. This would be a revolution, but it may be fixed within two generations. Without coercion but with government direction, this phenomenon of the Bedouins will disappear," Dayan said."

Killer grab

"The "town" chief of the village seemed to be in a state of shock.

Sitting on the front porch of his mud and thatch home in Pujehun District in southern Sierra Leone, he struggled to find words that could explain how he had signed away the land that sustained his family and his community.

He said he was coerced by his Paramount Chief, told that whether he agreed, or not, his land would still be taken and his small oil palm stand destroyed. He didn't know the name of the foreign investor nor did he know that it planned to lease up to 35,000 hectares of farmland in the area to establish massive oil palm and rubber plantations.

Haltingly, he said that without his land, he might as well take his leave of the village. By that he meant that he was as good as dead." (Thanks Muna)

الصيف العربي

الصيف العربي

رامي زريق
انتهى فصل الربيع في الوطن العربي، وحل علينا الصيف حاملاً معه لهيبه وآفاته وأتعابه. هو فصل الحصاد حين يدرك الفلاح تماماً قيمة محصوله.
في فلسطين الحبيبة، لا تزال رقعة الاستعمار تتوسع يوماً بعد يوم. وقد ضم المستعمرون الصهاينة، أخيراً، آلاف الدونمات من الضفة الغربية إلى غنائمهم.
وفي بلدان الثورة، مصر الأم وتونس العطرة، هبت رياح الثورات المضادة التي تأخذ أشكالاً عدة وهوية واحدة. فالأمبراطورية الأميركية ومعها معاونوها البريطانيون والفرنسيون تحركت بسرعة لإبقاء بلادنا تحت السيطرة الاقتصادية والثقافية والعسكرية إذا احتاج الأمر. ها هم يتكلمون على خطة مارشال جديدة، ويلوحون ببضعة ملايين من الدولارات التي سيتكرمون بها علينا من خلال شركاتهم العملاقة إذا اعتنقنا الديموقراطية.
في اليمن العزيز، هناك من يريدنا أن ننسى القاعدة العسكرية الأميركية الجديدة التي تأسست لضرب من لا يعجب الأمبراطورية.
وفي البحرين حيث يستقبل أي مبعوث أميركي استقبال الفاتح، لا يزال القمع العنصري والطائفي على حاله في المملكة التي لا تحتاج، كسائر بلدان النفط العربي، إلى الديموقراطية.
أما في سوريا الغالية، فهناك حاجة ماسة إلى المحروقات لاستكمال الحصاد في السهول الشرقية، لكن الدولة مشغولة بقمع الشعب وإنشاء اللجان التي لا تجتمع، بينما تلتقي المعارضة الخارجية بمن هبّ ودبّ من عملاء وجواسيس في إيطاليا. وتقع كل الآمال اليوم على المعارضة الداخلية (وليست تلك التي تعارض عبر شاشات الحاسوب) التي ترفض التدخل الأجنبي، كي لا يصيبها ما أصاب المعارضة الليبية التي تصلي جماعة والقبلة من أمامها والعلم الأميركي من خلفها.
انتهى فصل الربيع وذبلت الأزهار وتحول البعض منها إلى أشواك وهشيم تعشش فيه الأفاعي السامة. هذا هو الصيف العربي.