By Herbert Docena In 1947, the future of the Middle East stood before a vote at the United Nations General Assembly. The British empire had earlier expressed support for a Jewish “national home” in colonized Palestine,...
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stopthewarpic
PRESS RELEASE
13 January 2008
‘SEVER TIES WITH WAR CRIMINALS’ SAYS GROUP
Carrying a giant eviction order and a mock padlock, the broad anti-war group, Stop the War Coalition-Philippines, went to the Israeli embassy today to symbolically order its closure.
The group sought to express its opposition to Israel’s ongoing aggression in Gaza which has already killed more than 800 people, a third of which are children.
The coalition had earlier called for the Philippine government to sever its ties with Israel and to expel the Israel ambassador to express its rejection of Israel’s aggression in Gaza.
For three weeks, Israeli bombs and rockets have pounded the Gaza strip placing almost 1.5 million fearing for their lives and have shunned initiatives by the international community to put an end to the attacks.
“We want to drive home the point that no country and no people should tolerate Israel’s barbarity,” said Atty Corazon Fabros, one of the group’s spokespersons.
“Israel is guilty of war crimes and we should not have diplomatic relations with criminals,” she added. “The world has to sanction and isolate Israel otherwise its mass murder of the Palestinians will continue.”
Israel, the group says, is guilty of violations of international law such as collective punishment, targeting of civilians, and disproportionate military response.
“The embassy should only be re-opened and diplomatic ties should only be restored once Israel complies with international law,” said Fabros.
Stop the War Coalition-Philippines is a coalition of over 50 organizations and networks.#
CONTACT:
Cora Fabros: (0917) 8871153 // Dj Janier (0926)4263516
Read MoreSTATEMENT ON ISRAEL'S WAR CRIMES by the Stop the War Coalition-Philippines 5 January 2008 We at Stop the War Coalition Philippines, a broad coalition of civil society organizations, social movements, labor unions, political...
Read MoreSunday, January 04, 2009 KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Resource-hungry nations are snapping up huge tracts of agricultural land in poor Asian nations, in what activists say is a “land grab” that will worsen poverty and...
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Statement by Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights for the Palestininan Territories, on Israel’s Agression in Gaza. In an unprecedented move, Israel expelled Falk from Israel on Dec. 17, 2008.
In recent days the desperate plight of the civilian population of Gaza has been acknowledged by such respected international figures as the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of the General Assembly, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Such a flurry of denunciations has not occurred on a global level since the heyday of South African apartheid. And still Israel maintains its Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease. Such a policy of collective punishment, initiated by Israel to punish the 1.5 million Gazans for political developments within the strip, constitutes a continuing flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as set forth in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
by Walden Bello* Published on Wednesday, December 24, 2008 by Foreign Policy in Focus Not surprisingly, the swift unraveling of the global economy combined with the ascent to the U.S. presidency of an African-American liberal...
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by SMITU KOTHARI & BENNY KURUVILLA
Interview with Egyptian economist Samir Amin.
SMITU KOTHARI
Samir Amin: “It was the financial corporations that asked the governments to step in and ‘nationalise’ them. The rescue package was drafted by them, and they are in control of most of the bailout money.”
The financial crisis continues to spread rapidly across the world, crippling banks, stock markets and manufacturing industries and leaving hundreds of thousands jobless in its wake. Two days after the much hyped meeting of the Group of 20 in Washington, D.C., economist Samir Amin shared his insights into and analysis of the arduous road ahead for economic globalisation and the urgent need for a course change from capitalism and the possibilities of a new internationalism in the form of a Bandung II initiative.
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climatejusticelogo
Poznan statement from the Climate Justice Now! alliance
12 December 2008
THE URGENCY OF CLIMATE JUSTICE
We believe that any ´shared vision´ on addressing the climate crisis must start with climate justice and with a radical re-thinking of the dominant development model
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Nations are gathering in Poznan, Poland under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). To meet their obligations towards developing countries and repay their climate debt, industrialized countries must agree to appropriately and adequately finance adaptation, mitigation, and technology development and transfer. The World Bank Group is positioning itself to control key financial mechanisms of the UNFCCC.
We, the undersigned organizations, oppose any World Bank role in aninternational climate change convention regime, for the following reasons:
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We, the undersigned representatives of indigenous peoples, local communities and non-governmental organizations monitoring the progress of negotiations in Poznan are outraged that the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand opposed the inclusion of recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in a decision on REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) drafted today by government delegates at the UN Climate Conference.
These four countries (often known as the ‘CANZUS Group’) want to include REDD in the future climate agreement, but they oppose protecting the rights of the indigenous and forest peoples who will be directly affected by REDD measures. In discussions today, these countries insisted that the word “rights” and references to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples be struck from the text.
We, representatives of peasant organizations, women, migrants, workers, consumers, urban and rural poor, fisherfolks, social movements and civil society organizations are writing to express our alarm that efforts are being made...
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The UN´s Clean Development Mechanism is beyond repair and should be dumped, climate justice campaigners told delegates at the UN ClimateChange Conference in Poznan today. *1
“The CDM is a ´lose-lose´ proposition. Its projects generate windfalls for major polluters in the global South while providing Northern-based transnational corporations and governments a way to buy their way out the responsibility to make their own emissions cuts” says Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environment Network.
The future of the CDM is currently under discussion at the Poznan climate talks. Most of the rule changes and reforms being considered will expand the mechanism. These include proposals to include nuclear power and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in the CDM. None of the proposals will address the fundamental flaws of ´carbon offsetting´, however.
Read MoreFocus on the Global South supports the call for a human chain in Mumbai on 12 December 2008 by the Mumbai for Peace campaign, as a people’s response to the recent attacks on Mumbai. The tragic and horrific events that unfolded...
Read MoreIn seizing Suvarnabhumi Airport, the People’s Alliance for Democracy has escalated its mass protest to new heights. No one would question PAD’s democratic right to employ the method of direct...
Read MoreBy Walden Bello From Foreign Policy in Focus, Nov. 8, 2008 It came together spontaneously, the rally at Lafayette Park across from the White House, even before the concession speech by John McCain. The crowd was multiracial, but...
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