VICTORY TO THE INTIFADA!

Gaza Youth Breaks Out this week achieved the massive honour of becoming my favourite facebook page, nipping in just ahead of The Guy Who Looks Like A Thumb and I HATE IT WHEN U R SOoOoO STEAMIN & U DON’T REMEMBER WEE LADS U BUCKED.

They’ve already been condemned as an arm of the international Zionist conspiracy and chastised for unnecessary swearing, so before you even read it, you know they’re cool. SSY has had all the same shit flung at us as well.

Seriously though, their manifesto is one of the most stirring documents I’ve ever read. Its style is angry, artistic, original and beautiful. They speak out against the Israeli occupation, fundamentalist thugs, the indifference of international powers and the pain of having so many dreams stifled.

Please check out their FB page and their blog at gazaybo.wordpress.com.

They’re using the internet partly because all other avenues of expression are being shut down, yet even that freedom is currently being obstructed by the powers that be. Hardly surprising, since GYBO has the potential to act as the spark for a world youth revolution which could sweep away all the stinking garbage of the old men who govern us. The Gaza comrades can be assured that we will 1000% support them, politically and logistically.

Anyway, here’s their statement, reproduced in full:

GAZAN YOUTH’S MANIFESTO FOR CHANGE

Fuck Hamas. Fuck Israel. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA! We, the youth in Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community! We want to scream and break this wall of silence, injustice and indifference like the Israeli F16’s breaking the wall of sound; scream with all the power in our souls in order to release this immense frustration that consumes us because of this fucking situation we live in; we are like lice between two nails living a nightmare inside a nightmare, no room for hope, no space for freedom. We are sick of being caught in this political struggle; sick of coal dark nights with airplanes circling above our homes; sick of innocent farmers getting shot in the buffer zone because they are taking care of their lands; sick of bearded guys walking around with their guns abusing their power, beating up or incarcerating young people demonstrating for what they believe in; sick of the wall of shame that separates us from the rest of our country and keeps us imprisoned in a stamp-sized piece of land; sick of being portrayed as terrorists, homemade fanatics with explosives in our pockets and evil in our eyes; sick of the indifference we meet from the international community, the so-called experts in expressing concerns and drafting resolutions but cowards in enforcing anything they agree on; we are sick and tired of living a shitty life, being kept in jail by Israel, beaten up by Hamas and completely ignored by the rest of the world.
There is a revolution growing inside of us, an immense dissatisfaction and frustration that will destroy us unless we find a way of canalizing this energy into something that can challenge the status quo and give us some kind of hope. The final drop that made our hearts tremble with frustration and hopelessness happened 30rd November, when Hamas’ officers came to Sharek Youth Forum, a leading youth organization (www.sharek.ps) with their guns, lies and aggressiveness, throwing everybody outside, incarcerating some and prohibiting Sharek from working. A few days later, demonstrators in front of Sharek were beaten and some incarcerated. We are really living a nightmare inside a nightmare. It is difficult to find words for the pressure we are under. We barely survived the Operation Cast Lead, where Israel very effectively bombed the shit out of us, destroying thousands of homes and even more lives and dreams. They did not get rid of Hamas, as they intended, but they sure scared us forever and distributed post traumatic stress syndrome to everybody, as there was nowhere to run.

FUCK THE OCCUPATION

We are youth with heavy hearts. We carry in ourselves a heaviness so immense that it makes it difficult to us to enjoy the sunset. How to enjoy it when dark clouds paint the horizon and bleak memories run past our eyes every time we close them? We smile in order to hide the pain. We laugh in order to forget the war. We hope in order not to commit suicide here and now. During the war we got the unmistakable feeling that Israel wanted to erase us from the face of the earth. During the last years Hamas has been doing all they can to control our thoughts, behaviour and aspirations. We are a generation of young people used to face missiles, carrying what seems to be a impossible mission of living a normal and healthy life, and only barely tolerated by a massive organization that has spread in our society as a malicious cancer disease, causing mayhem and effectively killing all living cells, thoughts and dreams on its way as well as paralyzing people with its terror regime. Not to mention the prison we live in, a prison sustained by a so-called democratic country.

History is repeating itself in its most cruel way and nobody seems to care. We are scared. Here in Gaza we are scared of being incarcerated, interrogated, hit, tortured, bombed, killed. We are afraid of living, because every single step we take has to be considered and well-thought, there are limitations everywhere, we cannot move as we want, say what we want, do what we want, sometimes we even cant think what we want because the occupation has occupied our brains and hearts so terrible that it hurts and it makes us want to shed endless tears of frustration and rage!

We do not want to hate, we do not want to feel all of this feelings, we do not want to be victims anymore. ENOUGH! Enough pain, enough tears, enough suffering, enough control, limitations, unjust justifications, terror, torture, excuses, bombings, sleepless nights, dead civilians, black memories, bleak future, heart aching present, disturbed politics, fanatic politicians, religious bullshit, enough incarceration! WE SAY STOP! This is not the future we want!

We want three things. We want to be free. We want to be able to live a normal life. We want peace. Is that too much to ask? We are a peace movement consistent of young people in Gaza and supporters elsewhere that will not rest until the truth about Gaza is known by everybody in this whole world and in such a degree that no more silent consent or loud indifference will be accepted.

This is the Gazan youth’s manifesto for change!

We will start by destroying the occupation that surrounds ourselves, we will break free from this mental incarceration and regain our dignity and self respect. We will carry our heads high even though we will face resistance. We will work day and night in order to change these miserable conditions we are living under. We will build dreams where we meet walls.

We only hope that you – yes, you reading this statement right now! – can support us. In order to find out how, please write on our wall or contact us directly: freegazayouth@hotmail.com

We want to be free, we want to live, we want peace.
FREE GAZA YOUTH!
GYBO
December, 2010

Global outrage at Israel's brutal attack on the Gaza aid flotilla

When Israel announced that they were holding their own inquiry into their massacre of aid activists on the Gaza Flotilla, which happened at the end of May, it wasn’t a massive surprise when their ‘impartial panel’ proved to be a total sham. As we reported at the time, Israel predictably hand-picked a panel mostly consisting of retired Israeli generals, some Canadian military hack with a dodgy human rights record, and David Trimble, Ulster Unionist politician and renowned bigot and sectarian knobhead.

But you’d maybe expect that, for all its faults, the United Nations, an international body which is kind of meant to be as impartial as they come, would manage slightly better on this front. Somehow, however,  and quite incredibly, the UN have managed to top all of Israel’s shameless whitewashing – they’ve only gone and picked Alvaro fucking Uribe as the vice-chair of their ‘independent’ panel of inquiry into the attacks. Uribe is the outgoing President of Colombia, famous for his friendly, diplomatic and impartial bouts of killing trade unionist, funding right-wing guerillas and being best pals with some of the world’s most notorious drugs barons, at least when he’s not too busy stoking up war with his neighbours and receiving billions in aid from the United States, that is!

Israel has been in the news the past couple of days for practically provoking a war with Lebanon following military excursions which skirted the Lebanese border, leaving five dead – including a civilian journalist – when things spilled over into gunfire a few days ago. As it happens, Colombia has also been in the news for much the similar (without any killing… yet), constantly accusing neighbouring Venezuela, and the left-wing government of Hugo Chavez, of harbouring left-wing guerillas who form one side in the relatively low-intensity civil war that’s been going on in the country for decades. Although there’s absolutely no evidence that this is the case – all Uribe has been able to offer is a couple of dodgy photos from a few years ago that were probably taken in Ecuador anyway (which Colombia illegally invaded in 2008 on the same justification). Chavez has quite understandably been getting a bit unnerved at these persistent threats emanating from Colombia, given that it’s no secret that the US government would quite like to bump him off and a proxy war through Colombia is probably their best bet for doing so now, after their countless failures to depose Chavez domestically and halt the ongoing revolution .

Uribe and Bush share a joke about how many commies they killed last week

Uribe’s regime in Colombia have consistently failed to investigate reports of systematic torture, human rights abuses and extra-judicial murder in the country. Invariably, these have been against the left-wing opposition – including the now infamous cases of Coca Cola bottling plant workers who faced execution by paramilitary death squads because they’d tried to fight for better wages and conditions, or even just been a member of a trade union. It’s crazy that the UN thinks a man who has well documented links to fascist paramilitaries, cocaine trafficking and mass abuses of human rights in his own country is possibly capable of impartially investigating a massacre of civilians abroad.

And for the inquiry to be announced  in the same week that the UN Secretary General was summoned by the Venezuelan government over serious concerns about a Colombian attack is just taking the piss, and whether intentional or otherwise, sends a clear endorsement to Colombia’s US-sponsored imperialist warmongering. An MEP from the United Left party in Spain, Willy Meyer, has already slammed the decision as like “like leaving a fox to guard the chickens”, adding that Uribe presides over a country with “the largest mass grave in Latin America”.

Don’t hold your breath for the inquiry’s results!

Johnny Rotten is an arsehole. He betrayed his punk roots long ago and is now nothing more than a sad old man flogging things and selling his soul for kudos from capitalism. He recently said:

I showed what I can do with butter, right?  Eighty-five percent increase in sales. I’m very proud of them Country Life ads. They were funny and clever and classy like the Toblerone ads I grew up with. But no one’s come in for me with anything else. Like … Red Stripe lager! I drink lakes of this stuff. Why haven’t I been signed up for something like that? Or Marlboro fags? It amazes me that people don’t get the opportunity of me. I sell.

But he’s also revealed that he’s not just a capitalist fuckpig, he’s thick as a plank and racist at that.

Rotten was asked by Palestinian campaign groups not to perform in Israel, as part of a cultural boycott – the campaigners say cultural collaboration boosts Israel’s image on the international stage, and that refusing to participate in cultural exchange, artists and cultural institutions globally can send a clear message to Israel that their occupation and discrimination against Palestinians is unacceptable.

Surely such a politicised and aware person as Johnny Rotten would, even if he disagreed with the boycott, respond to the requests on a political level?

Nah. He has “absolutely one rule, right? Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won’t understand how anyone can have a problem with how they’re treated.”

Woah woah woah woah woah…! So, Johnny is acknowledging that the Palestinian people are treated like shit, and he just doesn’t care? And since when did ordinary Palestinians become responsible for the actions of everyone in the world who shares their religion? This is like saying that everyone of German descent deserves to be put into concentration camps just because of the actions of the Third Reich.

And, when he says that Muslims aren’t capable of democracy, he’s implying that Israel is a democracy, yeah? Despite removing Arab members of parliament for being too representative of the views of their constituents?

What a dick.

When faced with people slightly more reasonable than Rotten, the Palestinian campaigners’ requests to musicians have had some degree of success in the past, with artists such as Gil Scott-Heron, the Pixies, Massive Attack and Elvis Costello pulling out of scheduled gigs in Israel in order to show their support for the Palestinian struggle.

Interestingly, if internet hilarity merchants hadn’t hijacked Justin Beiber and voted for him to send his world tour to North Korea, Israel would have won the wee boy singer for their own. Is Israel suffering an epidemic of Bieber Fever? Or was Israel’s campaign orchestrated by zionists in the same way North Korea’s was orchestrated by online pranksters? One thing’s clear – the cultural boycott is definitely shaking things up and getting people to take notice of Israel’s appalling human rights record.

Here at Leftfield, we try very hard to see the funny side of many things. We had a good chortle at the fact that noted racist shit bag Eugene Terreblanche had gone to the big Bantustan in the sky, for example. We also made light of the fact that Nigel Farage, the leader of the barely concealed far right party UKIP, had been in a comedy plane crash (and survived!)

So we’re no strangers to sailing close to the comedy wind. Something even we think is outside of the realm of potentially funny things is last week’s brutal assault on a ship full of charity workers by Israeli naval commandos that left at least 9 dead. To try and justify the unjustifiable, the Israeli propaganda machine has tried to create all kinds of lies about these humanitarians, who aimed to bring aid to the people of Gaza suffering in the world’s biggest prison camp, under Israeli siege.

The Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post doesn’t agree, apparently. Caroline Glick has created something which is up there as a contender for most offensive thing on youtube (and we all know that’s a stiff competition.) Her video, ‘We Con the World,’ mocks the dead murdered by Israeli forces.

In the past, Glick has claimed in articles that there is a “totalitarian jihadist ideology which is ascendant throughout the Islamic world.” She’s advocated the unilateral bombing of Iran by Israel. Among the lyrics of the song in this video are “Itbach el Yahud!” (slaughter the Jews!) It also claims that children in Gaza lack “cheese and missiles.” This at a time when 65% of babies in Gaza suffer from anemia, according to the UN, as a result of the Israeli blockade.

The video is supported and endorsed by the Center for Security Policy and Christians United for Israel. Glick is a former Assistant foreign Policy adviser to far right Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. Maybe that’s why the PM’s press office “inadvertently” circulated the video to journalists on Friday night. On her blog she says:

“We think this is an important Israeli contribution to the discussion of recent events and we hope you distribute it far and wide.”

Well yes Caroline, we intend to do just that, in order to expose you as an unfunny, unpleasant, propaganda mongering racist knobhead. Here’s the offending video:

At times like this though, it’s really important to remember that not all Israelis are bastards. Many of them are extremely unhappy about the actions of their far right government, and have come out on to the streets to say so. On Saturday night over 6000 Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest the raid on the aid ship. Among their banners were slogans like “The government is drowning us all,” “We must stride for peace,” and “A right wing government = clear and immediate danger to state security.” Although right wingers did try to attack the demo, hurling abuse and a smoke grenade, they were greatly outnumbered by the left wing protesters.

Below is footage shot by the Latin American TV network TeleSur, (which was established with the help of the revolutionary government of Venezuela to bring news that wasn’t just western propaganda to the Spanish speaking world.)

Yesterday afternoon saw around three thousand demonstrators take to the streets of Edinburgh to oppose Israel’s ongoing attacks on humanitarian aid missions en route to Gaza. The protesters marched, in soaring temperatures, on a lengthy route around the city, going past both the US Consulate and Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister. The demo was noisy and colourful, with hundreds of Palestinian flags being waved. There was a brief flashpoint when demonstrators tried to storm the Marks & Spencers store on Princes Street -- M&S being a company with extensive financial and political links to the Israeli state.

The demo came on the same afternoon that news was emerging that Israel has stopped the latest attempt by activists to break the illegal blockade of Gaza, seizing aid ship The Rachel Corrie and diverting it to an Israeli port. Fortunately on this occasion the Israeli military restrained themselves and there was no repeat of the violence which left at least 9 aid activists dead in the early hours of Monday morning.

Gaza is under an absolute blockade by Israel -- who claim that allowing goods and traffic into Gaza would allow the Islamist Hamas movement , who form the elected government of Gaza, to smuggle in weapons and rockets to use against Israel. Israel lets in some limited supplies to Gaza -- but even basics like cement and building materials are banned, as well as, inexplicably, toys, chocolate and shampoo, amongst many other goods. So when Israel says it’s still going to let aid through -- as long as the activists let it by taken in through the established military checkpoints -- what they really mean is that they’re going to confiscate most of it, as they won’t allow half of it in anyway.

This is why the aid activists are so desperate to reach Gaza -- as well as being a symbolic gesture against the blockade, the people of Gaza are in a truly desperate situation, with 80% surviving on UN handouts and unemployment hovering around 40%. And rather than weakening Hamas, the blockade only strengthens the extremist group, by both building up even greater resentment against Israel, and giving them a total grip over basic commodities in the strip, which they smuggle in through tunnels from Egypt.

The movement to end the blockade must continue to keep up the pressure on Israel, who’re hoping that the whole furore will soon blow over. Israel is a pariah state that must be cut off from normal relations with the rest of the world -- already a number of countries, including South Africa, Turkey, Ecuador and Nicaragua, have withdrawn their ambassadors from Israel in protest at their actions. While the UN Security Council have called for an investigation, Israel has already rejected this -- which can be added to the list of the dozens of other UN resolutions, demands and requests that Israel has bluntly ignored throughout the years. No more -- Israel must abide by international law. End the seige now!

On Tuesday 8 June, SSY is hosting a joint meeting with the SSP in Glasgow on recent developments in Palestine. Speaking at it will be Hasan Nowarah, who was on last week’s Aid Flotilla and was injured in the brutal IDF assault, before being detained and then deported from Israel. SSY’s Jenny Haston, who studied at university in Palestine, will be also be speaking.  The meeting’s at 7.30pm, Tuesday 8 June, upstairs in the Piper Bar on the corner of George Square, Glasgow. Not to be missed!

Over at the Israeli Defence Force Propaganda Mouthpiece Spokesperson blog, they’ve put up pictures of the dangerous tools weapons and knives used by activists to defend themselves against attack by Israeli naval commandos.

Here’s a devastating collection of stuff you would need on a boat use to overthrow one of the most heavily armed states in the world. You can see such weapons as hammers, spanners and pliers that could never have a single peaceful use on a ship that sails the sea. Also, note that these deadly terrorists must have seen Shaun of the Dead, and noted the potential for records and CDs to be used as deadly shurikens.

Here’s a close up of the six-boat flotilla’s collection of kitchen and pocket knives deadly swords. These could easily be used to devastate a loaf of bread Israeli commando, and whip up a nice wee sandwich stab them to death.

The thing is, this pile of knives, to the casual viewer, looks kind of scary. If this were a street fight in Glasgow, the guy that owned that collection would be someone to worry about. Unfortunately for the propaganda blog, this wasn’t a knife fight in a scheme. The aid workers on the boats clearly actually just had these knives for practical purposes on a boat. If they were really intending to get in a fight with Israeli special forces, you’d think they’d prepare a little better. Especially when you have a look at what they would be up against.

This is the IWI Galil MAR, the standard issue weapon used by Israeli naval commandos. We don’t know for sure this was the rifle used to kill unarmed aid workers, but it probably was. It’s a sub-machine gun designed for close quarters combat and “crowd control”, rather than real military operations against other armies, as evidenced by the fact it’s not much use for penetrating body armour. The reason for this is it’s meant to be used against people who won’t be wearing any, in this case peaceful people trying to bring aid to the people of Gaza.

Here’s a picture of the highly trained, expensively equipped Shayetet 13 naval commandos. If the picture of the knives above gave you any sympathy for these guys, we hope we’ve dispelled that. These men boarded a boat carrying aid by helicopter, and conducted a completely unprovoked assault on a group of aid workers trying to bring help to the people that other Israeli soldiers have kept under a military siege in Gaza.

They used weapons that the Israeli government can only afford because of generous military and economic support from its western allies, including Britain, to murder at least 19 people in cold blood. At least three of the people who were on the boats,  were from Scotland. One of those, Hassan Ghani, a Stirling Uni student from Glasgow, remains unaccounted for, and his father spoke to the demo this evening in Glasgow.

Israeli state terrorists on board the boat

At 4am this morning, armed commandos from the Israeli army (IDF) stormed a convoy of boats owned by the Viva Palestina aid organisation, killing at least 19 and injuring at least 50. The boats were in international waters, 90 miles away from the intended destination of Gaza, and contained activists that hoped to deliver aid to desperate Palestinians, forced out of their homes and into dire situations by the aggressive Israeli state. Attacking boats in international waters is not within the legal power of the IDF, and as a result has drawn criticism from even those who would normally defend Israel’s right to murder on solid land, although of course anyone should know better than to expect unbiased reporting from major news sources where Israel is concerned.

Today (Monday 31st) there will be several demonstrations against Israeli state terrorism in towns and cities all over Scotland. So far demonstrations at 5pm have been announced in:

Edinburgh - Assemble 5pm at the Foot of the Mound, Princes Street (07958002591)

Glasgow - Assemble 5pm at George Square (07870701011)

Dundee - Assemble 5pm at City Square (07941751452)

Aberdeen - Assemble 5pm at St Nicholas Square (07980253337)

Moffat - Assemble 5pm at 2 Holm Street (07786508715)

Inverness - Assemble 5pm at the Townhouse (07881527062)

Banff - Assemble 5pm at Low Street, Council Buildings

Stirling - Assemble 5pm at Foot of King Street

If you condemn the murder of peaceful activists trying to deliver aid into Gaza, please take some time to come along and show our government that we don’t support Israel’s aggressive actions and continued oppression of Palestinian people.

You can keep up with new protests in other towns being announced here. There will also be a national demonstration this Saturday, 5th June, in Edinburgh at 2pm -- again assembling at the foot of the Mound.

Apparently under the NATO charter the attack on a NATO flagged ship in international waters puts all of NATO in a state of war with Israel. Somehow we doubt this will result in severe repercussions for Israel, who have the support of the most powerful Western governments, but we’ll be watching intently to see how many people now begin to realise that Israel officially went ‘too far’ quite a long time ago. Viva Palestina!