Bulletin N° 382

Subject: ON LIFE AFTER CAPITALISM AND THE ISRAELI STATE OF DENIAL TODAY.

 


30 December 2008
Grenoble, France

Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,

The violence of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant imperialist history includes the 17th-century massacres of the Irish and the Pequot Indians, the massacre of the Sioux Indians [see photographs from Wounded Knee] in 1890, the massacres of the Great Mutiny on 1857 in India, the colonization of Egypt from 1882 to 1953, beginning with the bombardment of Alexandria on 10 June 1881 and including the genocidal Battle of Omdurman in 1898, the infamous massacres in Australia, including the Myall Creek massacre of 1838 and the Coniston Massacre of 1926, the W.A.S.P. colonization of South Africa begun 1815 and continued until 1994, when Nelson Mandela, the first Black president, was elected, following decades of violent, racist injustices, including the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 and the Sweto Massacre in 1976.

This centuries-old W.A.S.P. imperialist project extends to the history of Palestine, where in 1917 British imperialists sought an alliance with European Zionists, in preference to an alliance with the French state apparatus, to occupy and "pacify" Palestinian territories. Today a hysterical Israeli leadership is caught up in a fantastic ideology of blood lineage and feudal alliances, at the same time that the world is preparing for a post-capitalist, post-colonialist future. The deep sadness to have to exclude most Israelis and their Sayans who are caught up in their own hysterical idiocy of mass murder, deceit, and self-deception is palpable. Right now, they have nothing to contribute to the future; they are anachronistic morale failures and should be recognized as such by progressive communities whose authentic concerns are for equality and justice, in opposition to the reactionary search for seigniorial-vassal relationships.

The current crises we are now experiencing invite us to reevaluate our lives, and to reconsider the relationship of knowledge to power. In the conclusion of his book, Michel Foucault: The Will to Truth (1980), the British translator, Alan Sheridan, writes:

The régime of "truth" gave the intellectual, whose business truth was, a certain
"universal" status. The "disinterested" intellectual represented the conscience
of society as a whole. But Foucault shows that truth does not exist outside power,
still less in opposition to it. Each society has its own régime of truth: the types of
discourse accepted as true, the mechanisms that make it possible to distinguish
between truth and error. In place of the "universal" intellectual, Foucault places
the "specific" intellectual who, like everyone else, is competent to speak only of
what he knows and experiences. His task is not to enlighten, but to work upon the
particular régime of truth in which he operates. He is called upon neither to reveal
the truth nor to represent others. The will to the power of truth is a pitiless tyrant: it
requires a singular and total devotion. It is a service that has tempted the European
mind since Plato. Nietzsche gave the first signs of its possible end: he also provided
a way out, which he called genealogy. Genealogy was a "grey" activity, but it was
also a gay science, a science of the hypothetical. That gaiety, that love of hypothesis,
pervades all Foucault's work
.(p.222)

The 4 items below contribute to the start of rethinking real strategies to end the Imperialist war against the Palestinian people.

Item A. is a call from Ahmed El Aïdi for a local mobilization in Grenoble this evening, Tuesday 30 December, at 5:30 to protest Israeli barbarity in Gaza.
Item B., an article by Ali Abunimah, co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, and author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books, 2006) calls for prompt action to transform the Gaza tragedy into a definitive peace movement.
Item C. is an article by Robert Fisk, who is questioning the amazing non-action of world leaders, including President-elect, Barack Obama & Co (not to mention the predictable and banal collaboration of leaders like U.S. president George Bush and Australia's acting prime minister, Julia Gillard, who posses a whole closet full of genocidal credentials).
Item D. is an appeal from the Council for the National Interest Foundation to the Israelis, in the name of humanity, to stop the violent murder and slow starvation of innocent men, women and children in Gaza.


And for more video coverage of the brutal Israeli aggressions in Gaza, we refer CEIMSA readers to the courageous BBC coverage of the current murders being perpetrated with impunity, as we read, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7802515.stm.

Finally, with apologies, we feel compelled to invite CEIMSA readers to wake up of the reality of violence, with this very graphic short film on the banality of cruelty and the taking of life from the CEIMSA archives on the rapport de force in capitalist society = http://www.peta2.com/takecharge/swf/fur_farm.swf.



Sincerely,
Francis McCollum Feeley
Professor of American Studies
Director of Research
Université Stendhal Grenoble 3
http://www.ceimsa.org/


______________
A.
from Ahmed El Aïdi :
Date: 29 December 2008
Subject: Manif pour Gaza.



Rassemblement pour la Palestine

Contre les raides à Gaza

Mardi 30 décembre

à 17h30

Place Félix Poulat à grenoble

(arret bus et tram Victor Hugo)

A faire diffuser largement SVP




________________
B.
from Ali Abunimah :
Date: 28 December 2008
Subject: The Gaza Massacres by Israeli Forces.
The Electronic Intifada



Gaza Massacres Must Spur Us to Action


[] 
Palestinians carry the body of a victim of an Israeli air strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 27 December 2008. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages)


(Dec 27) -- "I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing." Those were the words, spoken on Al Jazeera today by Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in the Sderot area adjacent to Gaza, as images of Israel's latest massacres were broadcast around the world.

A short time earlier, US-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters dropped over 100 bombs on dozens of locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip killing at least 195 persons and injuring hundreds more. Many of these locations were police stations located, like police stations the world over, in the middle of civilian areas. The US government was one of the first to offer its support for Israel's attacks, and others will follow.

Reports said that many of the dead were Palestinian police officers. Among those Israel labels "terrorists" were more than a dozen traffic police officers undergoing training. An as yet unknown number of civilians were killed and injured; Al Jazeera showed images of several dead children, and the Israeli attacks came at the time thousands of Palestinian children were in the streets on their way home from school.

Shmerling's joy has been echoed by Israelis and their supporters around the world; their violence is righteous violence. It is "self-defense" against "terrorists" and therefore justified. Israeli bombing -- like American and NATO bombing in Iraq and Afghanistan -- is bombing for freedom, peace and democracy.

The rationalization for Israel's massacres, already being faithfully transmitted by the English-language media, is that Israel is acting in "retaliation" for Palestinian rockets fired with increasing intensity ever since the six-month truce expired on 19 December (until today, no Israeli had been killed or injured by these recent rocket attacks).

But today's horrific attacks mark only a change in Israel's method of killing Palestinians recently. In recent months they died mostly silent deaths, the elderly and sick especially, deprived of food and necessary medicine by the two year-old Israeli blockade calculated and intended to cause suffering and deprivation to 1.5 million Palestinians, the vast majority refugees and children, caged into the Gaza Strip. In Gaza, Palestinians died silently, for want of basic medications: insulin, cancer treatment, products for dialysis prohibited from reaching them by Israel.

What the media never question is Israel's idea of a truce. It is very simple. Under an Israeli-style truce, Palestinians have the right to remain silent while Israel starves them, kills them and continues to violently colonize their land. Israel has not only banned food and medicine to sustain Palestinian bodies in Gaza but it is also intent on starving minds: due to the blockade, there is not even ink, paper and glue to print textbooks for schoolchildren.

As John Ging, the head of operations of the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), told The Electronic Intifada in November: "there was five months of a ceasefire in the last couple of months, where the people of Gaza did not benefit; they did not have any restoration of a dignified existence. We in fact at the UN, our supplies were also restricted during the period of the ceasefire, to the point where we were left in a very vulnerable and precarious position and with a few days of closure we ran out of food."

That is an Israeli truce. Any response to Israeli attacks -- whether peaceful protests against the apartheid wall in Bilin and Nilin in the West Bank is met with bullets and bombs. There are no rockets launched at Israel from the West Bank, and yet Israel's attacks, killings, land theft, settler pogroms and kidnappings never ceased for one single day during the truce. The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah has acceded to all of Israel's demands, even assembling "security forces" to fight the resistance on Israel's behalf. None of that has spared a single Palestinian or her property or livelihood from Israel's relentless violent colonization. It did not save, for instance, the al-Kurd family from seeing their home of 50 years in occupied East Jerusalem demolished on 9 November, so the land it sits on could be taken by settlers.

Once again we are watching massacres in Gaza, as we did last March when 110 Palestinians, including dozens of children, were killed by Israel in just a few days. Once again people everywhere feel rage, anger and despair that this outlaw state carries out such crimes with impunity.

But all over the Arab media and internet today the rage being expressed is not directed solely at Israel. Notably, it is directed more sharply than ever at Arab states. The images that stick are of Israel's foreign minister Tzipi Livni in Cairo on Christmas day. There she sat smiling with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Then there are the pictures of Livni and Egypt's foreign minister smiling and slapping their palms together.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported today that last wednesday the Israeli "cabinet authorized the prime minister, the defense minister, and the foreign minister to determine the timing and the method" of Israel's attacks on Gaza. Everywhere people ask, what did Livni tell the Egyptians and more importantly what did they tell her? Did Israel get a green light to turn Gaza's streets red once again? Few are ready to give Egypt the benefit of the doubt after it has helped Israel besiege Gaza by keeping the Rafah border crossing closed for more than a year.

On top of the intense anger and sadness so many people feel at Israel's renewed mass killings in Gaza is a sense of frustration that there seem to be so few ways to channel it into a political response that can change the course of events, end the suffering, and bring justice.

But there are ways, and this is a moment to focus on them. Already I have received notices of demonstrations and solidarity actions being planned in cities all over the world. That is important. But what will happen after the demonstrations disperse and the anger dies down? Will we continue to let Palestinians in Gaza die in silence?

Palestinians everywhere are asking for solidarity, real solidarity, in the form of sustained, determined political action. The Gaza-based One Democratic State Group reaffirmed this today as it "called upon all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately in any possible way to put pressure on their governments to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it."

The global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement for Palestine (http://www.bdsmovement.net/) provides the framework for this. Now is the time to channel our raw emotions into a long-term commitment to make sure we do not wake up to "another Gaza" ever again.

_____________
Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books, 2006).


_______________
C.
from Robert Fisk :
Date: 29 December 2008
Subject: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Robert Fisk's ZSpace Page

How Can Anyone Believe There is 'Progress' in the Middle East?
by Robert Fisk


If reporting is, as I suspect, a record of mankind's folly, then the end of 2008 is proving my point.

Let's kick off with the man who is not going to change the Middle East, Barack Obama, who last week, with infinite predictability, became Time's "person of the year". But buried in a long and immensely tedious interview inside the magazine, Obama devotes just one sentence to the Arab-Israeli conflict: "And seeing if we can build on some of the progress, at least in conversation, that's been made around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be a priority."

What is this man talking about? "Building on progress?" What progress? On the verge of another civil war between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, with Benjamin Netanyahu a contender for Israeli prime minister, with Israel's monstrous wall and its Jewish colonies still taking more Arab land, and Palestinians still firing rockets at Sderot, and Obama thinks there's "progress" to build on?

I suspect this nonsensical language comes from the mental mists of his future Secretary of State. "At least in conversation" is pure Hillary Clinton - its meaning totally eludes me - and the giveaway phrase about progress being made "around" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is even weirder. Of course if Obama had talked about an end to Jewish settlement building on Arab land - the only actual "building" that is going on in the conflict - relations with Hamas as well as the Palestinian Authority, justice for both sides in the conflict, along with security for Palestinians as well as Israelis, then he might actually effect a little change.

An interesting test of Obama's gumption is going to come scarcely three months after his inauguration when he will have a little promise to honor. Yup, it's that dratted 24 April commemoration of the Armenian genocide when Armenians remember the 1.5 million of their countrymen - citizens of the Ottoman empire slaughtered by the Turks - on the anniversary of the day in 1915 when the first Armenian professors, artists and others were taken off to execution by the Ottoman authorities.

Bill Clinton promised Armenians he'd call it a "genocide" if they helped to elect him to office. George Bush did the same. So did Obama. The first two broke their word and resorted to "tragedy" rather than "genocide" once they'd got the votes, because they were frightened of all those bellowing Turkish generals, not to mention - in Bush's case - the US military supply routes through Turkey, the "roads and so on" as Robert Gates called them in one of history's more gripping ironies, these being the same "roads and so on" upon which the Armenians were sent on their death marches in 1915. And Mr Gates will be there to remind Obama of this. So I bet you - I absolutely bet on the family cat - that Obama is going to find that "genocide" is "tragedy" by 24 April. 

By chance, I browsed through Turkish Airlines' in-flight magazine while cruising into Istanbul earlier this month and found an article on the historical Turkish region of Harput. "Asia's natural garden", "a popular holiday resort", the article calls Harput, "where churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary rise next to tombs of the ancestors of Mehmet the Conqueror".

Odd, all those churches, isn't it? And you have to shake your head to remember that Harput was the centre of the Christian Armenian genocide, the city from which Leslie Davis, the brave American consul in Harput, sent back his devastating eyewitness dispatches of the thousands of butchered Armenian men and women whose corpses he saw with his own eyes. But I guess that all would spoil the "natural garden" effect. It's a bit like inviting tourists to the Polish town of Oswiecim - without mentioning that its German name is Auschwitz.

But these days, we can all rewrite history. Take Nicolas Sarkozy, France's cuddliest ever president, who not only toadies up to Bashar al-Assad of Syria but is now buttering up the sick and awful Algerian head of state Abdelaziz Bouteflika who's just been "modifying" the Algerian constitution to give himself a third term in office.

There was no parliamentary debate, just a show of hands - 500 out of 529 - and what was Sarko's response? "Better Bouteflika than the Taliban!" I always thought the Taliban operated a bit more to the east - in Afghanistan, where Sarko's lads are busy fighting them - but you never can tell. Not least when exiled former Algerian army officers revealed that undercover soldiers as well as the Algerian Islamists (Sarko's "Taliban") were involved in the brutal village massacres of the 1990s.

Talking of "undercover", I was amazed to learn of the training system adopted by the Met lads who put Jean Charles de Menezes to death on the Tube. According to former police commander Brian Paddick, the Met's secret rules for "dealing" with suicide bombers were drawn up "with the help of Israeli experts". What? Who were these so-called "experts" advising British policemen how to shoot civilians on the streets of London? The same men who assassinate wanted Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and brazenly kill Palestinian civilians at the same time? The same people who outrageously talk about "targeted killings" when they murder their opponents? Were these the thugs who were advising Lady Cressida Dick and her boys?

Not that our brave peace envoy, Lord Blair, would have much to say about it. He's the man, remember, whose only proposed trip to Gaza was called off when yet more "Israeli experts" advised him that his life might be in danger. Anyway, he'd still rather be president of Europe, something Sarko wants to award him. That, I suppose, is why Blair wrote such a fawning article in the same issue of Time which made Obama "person" of the year. "There are times when Nicolas Sarkozy resembles a force of nature," Blair grovels. It's all first names, of course. "Nicolas has the hallmark of any true leader"; "Nicolas has adopted..."; "Nicolas recognizes"; "Nicolas reaching out...". In all, 15 "Nicolases". Is that the price of the Euro presidency? Or will Blair now tell us he's going to be involved in those "conversations" with Obama to "build on some of the progress" in the Middle East?


__________________
D.
from Council for the National Interest Foundation :
Date: 29 December 2008
Subject: Emergency Mobilization to Protest Israeli Attacks on the People of Gaza.
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/

I
n response to recent attacks on Gaza, CNI encourages all  members to participate in local demonstations to vocalize your opposition to the bombings. The Associated Press is reporting that the Israeli air strikes have killed an estimated 300 people, and have wounded hundreds more. The Israeli attacks come on top of a brutal siege of the Gaza Strip. The siege has created a humanitarian catastrophe of dire proportions for Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinian residents by restricting the provision of food, fuel, medicine, electricity, and other necessities of life.

Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip could not have happened without the support of the United States. We need to take action to end these attacks, and demand that the US act swiftly to end the violence diplomaticaly as a honest broker.

Please make plans to attend a demonstration in your hometown listed below. If not, please make an effort to contact your local congressman or senator. The attacks on Gaza must end, and without a voice of opposition here in the US innocent lives will continue to be wasted.

(The list below was provided by www.endtheoccupation.org)


EMERGENCY PROTESTS TO STOP
THE ATTACKS ON GAZA


The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has compiled the following list of events taking place in the United States and Canada to protest Israel's attacks yesterday on the occupied Gaza Strip. Inclusion of an event does not imply endorsement by the US Campaign.


CALIFORNIA

Anaheim
Sunday, December 28, 2:00 pm
512 S. Brookhurst St. (between Orange Ave. & Broadway)
Initiated by a coalition with a large number of groups
Los Angeles
Tuesday, December 30, 4:30 pm
Israeli Consulate: 6380 Wilshire Blvd.
Contact: 213-251-1025, answerla@answerla.org
San Francisco
Sunday, December 28, 12:00PM
Protest the Massacres in Gaza
Powell and Market
Contact: Arab Resource and Organizing Center
 
EMERGENCY ACTION! STOP THE ATTACK ON GAZA

Silent Vigil at Feinstein's Office
5PM Monday Dec. 29th - Montgomery and Market
Bring candles, posters, and banners; wear black.
Rain or Shine
Co-Sponsored by Direct Action to Stop the War; the Middle East
Children's Alliance; Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism; SF Women in Black
Tuesday, December 30, 5:00 pm
Israeli Consulate: 456 Montgomery St.
Contact: 415-821-6545, answer@answersf.org


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Washington, DC

Monday, December 29, 4:30PM
Barack Obama Transition Office
451 6th St. NW (1 block from Verizon Center)
Contact: 301-523-4197 or email me at zelamine@gmail.com

Tuesday, December 30, 4:30 pm
State Department: 22nd St & C St NW
Contact: 202-544-3389 x14, dc@answercoalition.org
Friday, January 9, 12:00PM
Lafayette Square and march to UpperSenatePark
Contact: National Association of Muslim Women, namaw01@gmail.com


FLORIDA

Fort Lauderdale
Tuesday, December 30, 5:00 pm
FederalBuilding: 299 E. Broward Blvd.
Contact: 954-707-0155, FtLauderdale@answerfl.org


GEORGIA

Atlanta

Sunday, December 28, 2:00PM
Outside the Israeli Consulate, 1100 Spring St. NW
Contact: Emory Advocates for Justice in Palestine, 770-597-0276 or 404-844-3202

Tuesday, December 30, 4:00PM
Outside the Israeli Consulate, 1100 Spring St. NW
Organizers: Emory Advocate for Justice in Palestine and other local groups
Contact details:Saba Khalid, 770-597-0276, skhali3@emory.edu


ILLINOIS

Chicago
Sunday, December 28, 12-2pm
Water Tower Park 830 N. Michigan (Michigan and Pearson) Chicago
Chicago-area Arabs and Jews, along with Chicagoans of all faiths, join to protest the horrific and bloody Israeli air strikes on Gaza that have left at least 200 Palestinians slain and another 700 wounded, including many civilians. 
***Bring bouquets of flowers to commemorate the memory of the hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza who have been killed by Israeli bombardments today***
Sponsored by (list in formation):
American Friends Service Committee, Jewish Voice for Peace, Arab American Action Network, Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, American Arab Anti Discrimination-Chicago Chapter, Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism, Chicago Faith Coalition on Middle East Policy, Voices for Creative Non-Violence, International Solidarity Movement-Chicago Chapter, US Palestine Conference Network, Students for Justice in Palestine (UIC), American Muslims for Palestine, Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom Foundation, Mosque Foundation, Tikkun-Chicago, Wright College Students for Peace and Justice, Fight Back Newspaper.

Separate event in Chicago:
Details to be announced
Contact: 773-463-0311, answer@chicagoanswer.net


KENTUCKY

Louisville

Monday, December 29, 4-6PM
Broadway and Baxter across from Cave Hill cemetery


MASSACHUSETTS

Boston
Wednesday, December 31, 2:00PM
Copley Square
Contact: Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights, info@bcpr.net, (617) 491-2313
Details to be announced
Contact: 857-334-5084, boston@answercoalition.org
Brookline

Sunday, December 28, 3PM-5PM
Coolidge Corner, Harvard and Beacon Streets

Northampton and Hadley
Monday, December 29, 7:30-9AM and 4-5PM
Coolidge Bridge between Northampton and Hadley
Contact Paki at paki43@gmail.com


MICHIGAN

Dearborn

Monday, December 29, 6PM
Community Leadership Meeting
Lebanese American Heritage Club ,4337 Maple Road
Contact: Congress of Arab American Organizations, Osama Siblani / 313.505.4889

Tuesday, December 30, 4PM
Human Chain Protest
Gathering at corner of Warren and Chase in Dearborn.  Following the protest a memorial service will be held at Byblos Banquet Hall, 7258 Chase Road in Dearborn at 5:15 PM. Program will end at 6:30 PM.
Contact: Congress of Arab American Organizations, Osama Siblani / 313.505.4889


MINNESOTA

Various

Protests at Senator Amy Klobuchar and Congressman Keith Ellison's offices
Tuesday December 30th
10 am-closing
No "holding their feet to the fire" but instead hold them accountable.
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
Office of Senator Klobuchar
Minneapolis
1200 Washington Avenue South, Suite 250
Minneapolis, MN55415
Main Line: 612-727-5220
Main Fax: 612-727-5223
Toll Free: 1-888-224-9043
Rochester Office
1134 7th Street NW
Rochester, MN55901
Main Line: 507-288-5321
Fax: 507-288-2922
Moorhead Office
121 4th Street South
Moorhead, MN56560
Main Line: 218-287-2219
Fax: 218-287-2930
IronRange Office
OlcottPlaza, Suite 105
820 9th Street North
Virginia, MN 55792
Main Line: 218-741-9690
Fax:218-741-3692
Keith Ellison office
Minneapolis office is located at:
2100 Plymouth Ave North
Minneapolis, MN55411
For directions you can call our office, 612-522-1212


MISSOURI

St. Louis

Sunday, December 28, 7PM
3628 Lindell, corner of Grand and Lindell
Contact: Colleen Kelly, Instead of War, 314-761-7428


NEW HAMPSHIRE

Concord
Tuesday, December 30, 3PM
In front of the State House
Contact: New Hampshire Peace Action, 603-228-0559


NEW MEXICO

Albuquerque

Tuesday, December 30, 12-2PM
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
1801 Mountain Rd, NW (in Old Town)
Contact: Called by Stop the War Machine, 505-401-4808, stopthewarmachine@comcast.net


NEW YORK

New York City
Sunday, December 28, 2:00-4:00 pm
Gather at RockefellerCenter
March to the Israeli Consulate: 800 2nd Ave (b/w 42nd and 43rd Sts)
Initiated by Al-AwdaNew York
Monday, December 29, 5:00PM
Adalah-NY is organizing two meeting locations for fliering on Monday at 5:00:

The south end of Union Square, near the corner of 14th St and 5th Ave.

The triangular park at 6th Av. & 32nd Street.

We welcome you to join us and we encourage other organizations to choose their own flyering locations and then to join the procession.

We will all meet-up for the procession up 6th Ave at 6:30. We will be meeting at the triangular park at 6th Av. & 32nd Street. Look for the Palestinian Flag.
Contact

Tuesday, December 30, 5:00 pm
Israeli Consulate: 800 2nd Ave (b/w 42nd and 43rd Sts)
Contact: 212-694-8720, nyc@answercoalition.org


OHIO

Columbus
Sunday December 28th - 5:00 PM
Ohio State University - Committee for Justice in Palestine
15th and High St.
Columbus, Ohio

Youngstown

Monday, December 29, 5-9PM
Vigil
15 Belgrade Ave.
Contact: Arab American Community Center, 330-759-9186

Tuesday, December 30, 1-3PM
Demonstration
In front of the Lobardi Federal Building and Court, downtown Youngstown
Contact: Arab American Community Center, 330-759-9186


ONTARIO

Toronto
Sunday, December 28, 2:00 pm
Israeli Embassy Consulate: 180 Bloor St. West
Initiated by a number of local organizations


OREGON

Eugene

Monday, December 29, 2-5PM
Al-Nakba Awareness Project and Veterans for Peace will erect signage and provide detailed handout materials along the high-traffic FerryStreetBridge approach parkway.

Portland

Tuesday December 30, 2008
Gather at 4:30 and Rally 5:00 pm
Where: FederalBuilding, Downtown Portland, SW 3rd & Madison
Organized by: Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, Portland
Peaceful Response Coalition, and others.
 
Contact: (503) 344-5078


RHODEISLAND

Providence

Wednesday, December 31, 6-7PM
Burnside Park (opposite KennedyPlaza)
Contact: Martha Yager, AFSC-SENE, 401-521-3584 or MYager@afsc.org


SOUTH CAROLINA

Columbia

Wednesday, December 31, 5-6PM
In front of the State Capitol Building
Gervais and Main St.
Contact: Women in Black, 803-446-2772


TEXAS

Austin

Monday, December 29, 5PM-7PM
In front of the State Capitol
Contact: Haithem El-Zabri, cell. (832) 660-6665, e-mail haithemelzabri@yahoo.com

Houston

Sunday, December 28, 2008, 4-6PM
Westheimer and Post Oak (in front of the Starbucks across the Galleria)
Contact: Houston Palestinian Community

San Antonio

Tuesday, December 30, 6-7PM
Candle Light Silent Prayer Vigil for Peace
Around the Peace Pole in front of the Brackenridge Village, University of the Incarnate Word, enter at 4301 Broadway

You are invited to bring candles.


VERMONT

Burlington

Tuesday, December 30, 4:15PM
Main St. Landing, Burlington
1 Main St.; corner of Main & Battery Sts.)

 
MEET in Burlington at Main Street Landing at 4:15 to march to Representative
Welch's, Senator Leahy's, and to Senator Bernie Sander's offices, to
arrive at the top of Church St. at 5pm to stand in solidarity with the
vigil opposing further war profiteering and war crimes--the US Occupation
of Iraq.
 
This march is endorsed by Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
(VTJP), Peace and JusticeCenter, and the International Socialist
Organization (ISO).
 
TO ENDORSE THIS ACTION OR FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
hilarymartin@riseup.net or gypsy7@riseup.net


WASHINGTON

Seattle
Saturday, January 3, 12:00noon - 2:00 pm
WestlakePark: 4th and Pine
Initiated by Voices of Palestine
Contact: general@voicesofpalestine.org


TAKE ACTION


1. Contact the White House to protest the attack and demand an immediate cease-fire. Call 202-456-1111 or send an email to comments@whitehouse.gov.

2. Contact the State Department at 202-647-6575 or send an email by clicking here.

3. Contact your Representative and Senators in Congress at 202-224-3121 or find contact info for your Members of Congress by clicking here.

4. Contact your local media by phoning into a talk show or writing a letter to the editor. To find contact info for your local media, click here.

5. Organize a local protest or vigil and tell us about it by clicking here.

6. Sign our open letter to President-Elect Obama calling for a new U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine and find out other steps you can take to influence the incoming Administration by clicking here.