The Tears of Gaza Must Be Our Tears
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Woodstock Free Acts of conscience… International make a difference. International, National, and Community News—From a Left Perspective Vol. 2 No. 1 September/October 2010 The Tears of Gaza Must Be Our Tears Inside: Page 6 Amy Goodman: PhotobyEllen Davidson Mosque-issippi Burning Page 6 Joshua Holland: Fallout of Hate Page 13 Lawrence Davidson: Disturbing Incident at Al-Arakib Page 15 Medea Benjamin: The Iraq Legacy Page 17 Tad Daley: Greatest Nuclear Danger Page 22 John Pilger: Charge of the Media Brigade Page 24 Pamela Olson: The Center is Shifting And more . Woodstock International Supporters get on the Paddle Wheel Queen for U.S. boat to Gaza fundraiser. is a voice for upholding freedom and democracy New York City, August 5—The speech below was darkness. It is we who stand in the light. It is they of you. We will keep working and praying, keep through the written word. given at a sold-out fundraising cruise for a U.S. boat who deceive. It is we who openly proclaim our protesting and denouncing, keep pushing up against Communication and critical thinking are key to break the blockade of Gaza. For more information compassion and demand justice for those who suffer your navy and your army, with nothing but our bodies, components to knowledge go to www.ustogaza.org. in Gaza. We are not afraid to name our names. We until we prove that the force of morality and justice and understanding. Critical are not afraid to name our beliefs. And we know is greater than hate and violence. And then, when thinking requires access to By Chris Hedges information. something you perhaps sense with a kind of dread. there is freedom in Gaza, we will forgive … you. We hen I lived in Jerusalem I had a friend As Martin Luther King said, the arc of the moral will ask you to break bread with us. We will bless your Corporate-owned newspapers ignore important news items who confided in me that as a college universe is long but it bends toward justice, and that children even if you did not find it in your heart to bless … and much of the news is student in the United States she arc is descending with a righteous fury that is the children of those you occupied. And maybe it is reported from a capitalist- W attended events like these, wrote up reports and thundering down upon the Israeli government. this forgiveness, maybe it is the final, insurmountable oriented point of view. An submitted them to the Israel consulate for money. It power of love, which unsettles you the most. alternative news source, You may have the bulldozers, planes and helicopters Woodstock International would be naive to assume this Israeli practice has that smash houses to rubble, the commandos who And so tonight, a night when some seek to name intends to give greater ended. So, I want first tonight to address that person, descend from ropes on ships and kill unarmed civilians names and others seek to hide names, let me do some coverage of news that or those persons, who may have come to this event reflects the reality on the high seas as well as in Gaza, the vast power naming. Let me call things by their proper names. Let for the purpose of reporting on it to the Israeli of our times. of the state behind you. We have only our hands and me cut through the jargon, the euphemisms we use government. woodstockinternational.us our hearts and our voices. But note this. Note this to mask human suffering and war crimes. “Closures” I would like to remind them that it is they who hide in well. It is you who are afraid of us. We are not afraid continued on page 1 1 … 2 September/October 2010 Woodstock International NYC Stop-and-Frisks Target Blacks and Latinos CCR Alarmed by Sharp Increase in Use of Technique that Targets Black and Hispanic New Yorkers The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued protections of the Fourteenth Amendment and the the statement below on August 11 in response to Civil Rights Act of 1964. a summary of New York City Police Department On January 31, 2008, CCR and the law firms of stop-and-frisk statistics for April, May, and June Beldock, Levine & Hoffman and Covington & 2010 made available to the press. CCR receives Burling filed a class action lawsuit charging the the complete raw data on all NYPD stop-and-frisks NYPD with engaging in racial profiling and by court order through our case, Floyd v. City of suspicion-less stop-and-frisks of New Yorkers. New York. Earlier data and other documents are available ast year was the worst year for stop-and- at www.ccrjustice/stopandfrisk. A ruling by U.S. frisks on record, with more than half a District Judge Shira Scheindlin required the NYPD million New Yorkers stopped by police, L to make public all raw stop-and-frisk data from1998 and now we see an even sharper increase for this through the present in relation to the case Floyd v. spring. For many children, getting stopped by the City of New York. police while walking home from school has become a normal afterschool activity, and that is tragic. The Center for Constitutional Rights is The public has demanded constructive change and dedicated to advancing and protecting the an end to racially-biased policing by the NYPD, and rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution the department has responded by stepping up the The city often claims the racial disparity in stops is This kind of heavy-handed policing promotes and the Universal Declaration of Human practice instead of retiring it. accounted for by the racial breakdown of crime mistrust, doubt, and fear of police officers in Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who suspects, but the data to date reveal that “fits communities of color, and only serves to make the represented civil rights movements in the CCR has found significant racial disparities for relevant description” is the reason for actual stops police’s job more difficult. South, CCR is a non-profit legal and stop-and-frisks over the last decade based on only a small percentage of the time. Far and away educational organization committed to the NYPD data turned over by court order. CCR, which Police stops and frisks without reasonable the most often cited reason for a stop by the police creative use of law as a positive force for represents victims of the NYPD’s racially suspicion violate the Fourth Amendment, and racial is the vague and undefined, “furtive movements” social change. Visit www.ccrjustice.org. discriminatory stop-and-frisk policies in a class profiling is a violation of fundamental rights and (nearly 50 percent of all stops) and “casing a victim action lawsuit, will receive more comprehensive or location” (nearly 30 percent of all stops). Also data than the summary numbers released to the listed are “inappropriate attire for season,” “wearing City Council yesterday and will provide those clothes commonly used in a crime,” and “suspicious results as soon as they are available. bulge,” among other boxes an officer can check off From the Editors Meanwhile, the preliminary numbers reported on the form. Though these statistics do not include At this point, most of us agree that climate that we all inhabit. Gradually the foundations indicate a 21 percent rise in the number of New the most recent quarter, we are confident the change has become an irrefutable fact become weak, rotting from the termites of Yorkers being stopped by the police over the same numbers will not have changed radically given their of life. The earth’s temperature has risen greed for power, land, and money, otherwise period last year, with 88 percent of the New Yorkers consistency over the past 10 years. and will most likely continue to rise, the known as capitalism. The building itself stopped being Black and Hispanic. By contrast, from pollution index is over the top and growing, starts slowly to lean off center (I’m not Only 1.3 percent of last year’s stops resulted in the 2005 to 2008, approximately 80 percent of total nuclear waste is not likely to disappear talking about the political center). As the discovery of a weapon, and only 6 percent of the stops made were of Blacks and Latinos, who anytime soon, and America’s hi-tech, hi- lean continues, at a certain point it is obvious stops resulted in arrests. The number of arrests comprise approximately 25 percent and 28 percent toxic warfare exacerbates the problem. that the building is no longer sustainable and rose by 1 percent in this recent period. of New York City’s total population, respectively. will eventually collapse. The only questions There is no turning back the clock. are when, what the damage will be, and Most serious thinkers on the subject what can the inhabitants do to mitigate that have concluded that the economic, damage. Avoidance, except by miracle, no Woodstock International environmental, and social upheavals, longer seems possible. is published by Scoop Progressive Media, LLC. wrought by global warming, the ongoing Woodstock International corporate devastation and polluting of the That’s as far as I want to go with this P.O. Box 1362, Woodstock, NY 12498 environment, cannot be reversed, but they analogy but I do want to open the www.woodstockinternational.us can with wisdom be mitigated and dealt discussion in these pages of America’s with as humanely as possible. descent into fascism and its concurrent Editors Political Cartoons/Art Amy Goodman death slide into endless warfare, bigotry, Carlos Latuff Chris Hedges Deeply connected to the health of our planet Nicholas Abramson intolerance, and racism.