Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

October 31, 2023

Shutdown of Elbit, Maker of Tohono O'odham Spy Towers, Underway in Cambridge, MA

Shutdown of Elbit, Maker of Tohono O'odham Spy Towers, Underway in Cambridge, Massachusetts
"BREAKING: We are in Cambridge, MA shutting down Elbit Systems, Israel's biggest weapons supplier. "Elbit Systems won't conduct business as usual in our city while profiting from the mass murder of Palestinian people!" #ShutElbitDown" via Twitter/X, today Oct. 12, 2023

October 28, 2023

Ofelia Rivas: Food Delivery for O'odham and Reflections on Solidarity with Palestine

 

The Long Road Home

Ofelia Rivas: Food Delivery for O'odham and Reflections on Solidarity with Palestine

By Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham
Censored News

It was a wonderful day, visiting with people. We share old stories and everyday life stories. People on subsidy programs, fixed incomes and working families just working to pay bills every month. Nutritional food -- peaches, grapefruit, raisins, carrots, onions, potatoes, corn tortillas, and cheese was today’s pantry support.

Cultural desecration of burial places and holy places is Elbit Systems in O’odham lands. We live under surveillance and military presence along the US/MX border, United States homeland security.

Recent action by the Arizona prosecutor to call the killing of Raymond Mattia a justified ‘clean shot’ without justice for his children and family and community. All the innocent lives killed, raped, molested and imprisoned by the heavily armed military called the border patrol continues without justice. 

The genocide of a culture in the Gaza Strip was promoted by war criminals; the United States government and international bodies, created and enacted to protect all life, must be held accountable by the people. 

Solidarity for Palestine and all Life.


Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, is the longtime founder of O'odham Voice against the Wall, and has spent her life battling the US Border Patrol, and battling for human rights, on her homeland, the Tohono O'odham Nation. Ofelia's website is O'odham Rights https://www.oodhamrights.org/

Mohawk Nation News 'Call to Action: One Year to Go! 2024'

New at Mohawk Nation News https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2023/10/28/call-to-action-one-year-to-go-2024/ 

October 27, 2023

Targeting Buffy Sainte Marie: The Genocide Makers Have a New War to Promote

Targeting Buffy Sainte Marie: The Genocide Makers Have a New War to Promote

Buffy says, "I know who I am"

"For 60 years, I’ve shared my story with the world as honestly as I know how. I am humbled my truth is one so many others have connected with. Unfortunately, some wish to question my truth. So here it is - as I know it. From me to you. Big love, Buffy"

Buffy Targeted by the Genocide Makers

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News

It comes as no surprise that Buffy Sainte Marie is targeted by the genocide-makers. Buffy was blacklisted out of the music business in the US by President Johnson because of her stance against the Vietnam War, and her song 'Universal Soldier.'

Today, the genocide makers -- Canada, the US, and the UK -- have a new war to promote, the genocide in Palestine, in their endless wars killing millions of innocent people.

As the Internet is Cut in Gaza -- Voices Ring Out for Palestine Around the World


 Quds News Network reports| "Jawwal #Palestine announces that Israeli airstrikes have destroyed #Gaza's last international cable, which had been connecting the enclave with the world, resulting in a full telecommunications outage." Amnesty Mena said, "Palestinian civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip are now also trapped in a complete communications blackout, with data from internet monitoring networks reporting signals rapidly failing as air and ground strikes reportedly intensify."

October 26, 2023

United Nations Failed Indigenous in Peru: Copper Mining and Electric Vehicles Mean Death


In southern Peru, Indigenous protest the granting of an open-pit copper mine permit to Southern Copper, based in Phoenix, Arizona.

United Nations Failed Indigenous in Peru Where Copper Mining and Electric Vehicles Mean Death

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News

Indigenous mothers from the Amazon in Peru told the United Nations that they were being shot by the army from helicopters, their children were being murdered, and they were being stalked home from protests to defend their land from mining.

The United Nations failed them, refused to make them a priority, reduced their pleas to a series of numbers in their report, and failed to tell the world that the United States government sent its military in June to bolster the illegal regime that was killing them.

An Indigenous from Peru told the United Nations Human Rights Committee in October that the people were disappointed that the murder of their leaders was not included in the United Nations report.

Indigenous from Peru described "systematic violations of human rights." The military is attacking, torturing, and killing, those who are isolated and have marched against the current government.

October 25, 2023

Tohono O'odham Ofelia Rivas: Solidarity for Palestine

Ofelia Rivas. Photo by Jason Jaaks

While human rights defenders are shutting down Elbit Systems, the Israeli weapons maker, around the world in the UK, US and Australia, Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, living with the desecration and surveillance of Elbit's spy towers on the Tohono O'odham Nation, voices solidarity with Palestine.

By Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham
Censored News

Cultural desecration of burial places and holy places is Elbit Systems in O’odham lands. We live under surveillance and military presence along the US/MX border, United States homeland security.

Recent action by the Arizona prosecutor to call the killing of Raymond Mattia a justified ‘clean shot’ without justice for his children and family and community. All the innocent lives killed, raped, molested and imprisoned by the heavily armed military called the border patrol continues without justice.

The genocide of a culture in the Gaza Strip was promoted by war criminals -- the  United States government.

International bodies created and enacted to protect all life must be held accountable by the people.

Solidarity for Palestine and all Life


Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, has spent her life battling the US Border Patrol, and fighting for human rights, locally and internationally. She testified on the militarization of her homeland before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Jamaica and is the longtime founder of O'odham Voice Against the Wall. Ofelia's website, O'odham Rights, is https://www.oodhamrights.org/

October 21, 2023

Partnering with the Israeli Weapons Maker: University of Arizona and Navajo Nation


Photo: A rally was held on Thursday in support of Palestine at the University of Arizona after an earlier rally was canceled when the university president spoke out against it. Defense for Children said today that 1,873 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and shelling in the Gaza Strip since October 7. More than 4,600 children are injured as hospitals run out of fuel, electricity, and medical supplies.
Partnering with the Israeli Weapons Maker: University of Arizona and Navajo Nation

Photo: Rally for Palestine in downtown Tucson, Monday, Oct. 17, 2023 KOVA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt72UoX72UE

The University of Arizona president spoke out against support for Palestine and a rally was canceled. The university brags about its partnership with Raytheon Missile in Tucson, which provides weapons to Israel.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News

TUCSON, Arizona -- A Pro-Palestinian rally was canceled after the University of Arizona's president spoke out against it. The university in Tucson brags about its partnership with local Raytheon Missiles, now named RTX Corp., a provider of weapons to Israel. The university not only partners with the weapons maker, but it has a manufacturing plant on the Navajo Nation, where commercial crops are grown.

Raytheon's missile plant on the Navajo Nation was so censored by Indian Country Today, when I was a staff reporter there, that the editors told me not to even research it.

It all happened this way.

Mohawk Nation News: 'Reconciliation' @ PSAC Oct. 19, 2023


 New today at Mohawk Nation News 'Reconciliation' @PSAC Oct. 19, 2023

https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2023/10/21/reconciliation-psac-oct-19-2023/

United Nations -- US Questioned about Lifelong Incarceration of Leonard Peltier


Leonard Peltier

United Nations -- US Questioned about Lifelong Incarceration of Leonard Peltier

Censored News

GENEVA -- During the review of the United States record, at the United Nations Human Rights Committee, an UN expert, Vice Chair Mr. Changrok Soh, Republic of Korea, questioned the US representative about the lifelong incarceration of Leonard Peltier, reports Geneva Solutions independent news.

Soh "raised the case of the US’s longest-held Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier, wrongfully convicted of murdering two FBI agents five decades ago. The intervention drew applause from civil society groups in the room."

"Among the first issues raised by the UN committee was racial disparities within the US criminal justice system. Two million people are locked up in the US, making it the country with the highest rate of incarceration in the world."

"Committee experts pointed out that minority groups, including people of African descent, Hispanics and American Indians but also women, youth and people with mental health issues were disproportionately affected by their policies."

"The US is also the world’s leading country in the number of people to die in prison while serving lengthy sentences, according to Robert Saleem Holbrook, executive director of the Abolitionist Law Centre, which advocates against US prison sentences of life without parole and who traveled to Geneva."

.


October 20, 2023

U.S. Shamed Globally as Promoter of Genocide: Children Die in Palestine as Humanitarian Aid Waits at Border

Another hospital in Palestine, full of patients, women, and children, prepares to be bombed by Israel


PRCS, Palestine Red Crescent Society, humanitarian aid:

Urgent Appeal PRCS faces an imminent threat. The IOF demands the evacuation of Al-Quds Hospital, a sanctuary for over 400 patients and around 12,000 displaced civilians.

We call on the international community to act urgently, averting another catastrophe like Al-Ahli Hospital.
Video https://twitter.com/i/status/1715423053692166568

U.S. Shamed Globally as Promoter of Genocide: Children Die in Palestine as Humanitarian Aid Waits at Border

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News

Watching a plane on flight radar, it is Russia's emergency services, which was in Egypt. Russia delivered 27 tons of humanitarian aid in Egypt, but the border crossing at Rafah, Egypt, to Gaza, remains closed. A crowd is trying to push their way through with humanitarian aid. Doctors who have survived the bombings in Palestine are using vinegar, instead of antibacterials, to treat the wounded in hospitals.

Badly injured children, bleeding and burned, cry out for their mothers who have been killed, and many remain below the rubble. These horrific images are on Twitter. The people are screaming into CNN cameras to leave. CNN’s Sara Sidner is confronted by someone in the West Bank, who shouts: “You are genocide supporters! You are not welcome here! Genocide supporters! F--k CNN!”

Defense for Children said today:

GAZA UPDATE: 1,661 Palestinian children are confirmed killed by the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to the Ministry of Health. More than 4,000 Palestinian children are injured and hundreds are still missing under the rubble.

Twitter doesn't want you to know about this. Palestine Action launched a new Palestine Action US to Shut Down Elbit. Elbit Systems, the defense contractor based in Israel, built the spy towers on the Tohono O'odham Nation, and all along the Arizona border. If you click on 'follow,' and refresh your browser at Twitter, you'll see you are no longer 'following' this new Twitter account. The Shut Down Elbit campaign just began in the U.S. In England, activists have been shutting down Elbit manufacturers of weaponized drones and machines of death. The drones, weapons and surveillance are used now by Israel to kill Palestinians.
.

Below: Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems built the 11 spy towers on the Tohono O'odham Nation, which now allows the US Border Patrol to stalk vulnerable O'odham. US Border Patrol agents have been charged with murder, serial rape, assault, kidnapping, drug running and spotting for the cartels, all along the southern US border.



The Intercept reports on the US government's complicity with genocide and holding the U.S. responsible for the support of war crimes. 

Meanwhile, flight radar shows Air Force planes from countries around the world arriving in Israel, apparently evacuating foreign nationals. For Palestinians, there are no evacuation flights. They are trapped, and being bombed and killed in places where they are seeking refuge -- hospitals, mosques, and the UN school.

October 18, 2023

United Nations Participants Turn Their Backs on US Ambassador


Video screenshot by Censored News

Participants at the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva turned their backs on the US Ambassador today. Watch video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgU9oXHndPY



By Brenda Norrell, Censored News

GENEVA -- Indigenous and other activists who campaign against discrimination turned their backs on the US Ambassador in a silent protest at the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Led by human rights activists from Guam, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and beyond, they turned their backs on U.S. Ambassador to the UN Michele Taylor.

Stephanie Amiotte, Lakota, describes the failure of the United States government.

“The United States’ response referring to various policies that do nothing to advance free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples was offensive and serves as further failure to acknowledge Indigenous People’s rights who are constantly erased from visibility and subjected to policies that have furthered erasure,” said Stephanie Amiotte, Legal Director of the ACLU of North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming National Chapter and an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota.

Ki’I Kaho’ohanohano, a traditional midwife from Hawaii, said she came to speak to the maternal health care crisis in Hawaii and beyond and faulted U.S. officials for having “deflected” the committee’s repeat questions.

“Stonewall -- as usual,” she said, “Again we don’t have any responses, and it’s very infuriating.” https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/activists-turn-backs-us-officials-backed-human-rights-104078235

"We've crossed an ocean because the US justice system, laws, and policies have failed us," said Alliance San Diego Executive Director Andrea Guerrero, adding that she was "deeply disappointed" by the US' approach to the review, Tag24 reports.

Guerrero is a member of the 16-member Start With Dignity delegation from the US-Mexico borderlands fighting to end police violence in communities of color and update use-of-force standards for law enforcement. The group led a walkout at the US Mission in Geneva calling for real solutions to structural problems plaguing communities around the nation.

United States Vetoes Humanitarian Aid at United Nations, Partners in Genocide and War Crimes

The United Nations reports: US vetoes Security Council resolution that would have called for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza: Favor: 12 (Albania, Brazil, China, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, UAE) Against 1 (US) Abstain: 2 Russia, UK (Photo above US veto)

Today, the United States halted a global effort at the United Nations for humanitarian aid to Israel. The U.S. vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Wednesday that would have called for humanitarian pauses to allow humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Strip.

U.S. Civil Society Members Turn Backs on U.S. Ambassador During her Closing Remarks at UN Human Rights Committee Review of United States in Geneva

By the Center for Constitutional Rights
Contact: press@ccrjustice.org

October 18, 2023, Geneva, Switzerland – Today, members of the U.S. Civil Society turned their backs in silent protest of the U.S. delegation during the closing remarks were given by U.S. Ambassador Michele Taylor at the end of the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s (UNHCR) review of the United States human rights record and its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

“You have heard over the past two days about many of the concrete ways we are meeting our obligations under the convention, and you have also heard our pledge to do more,” said Taylor as the whole room turned their backs. “I recognize that the topics raised are often painful for all of us to discuss.”

“We chose to turn our backs on the U.S. as they have turned their backs on the state repression of Black, Indigenous, people of the global majority, LGBTQIA+ human rights, and the issue of Death by Incarceration (DBI). We have been silenced and met with no legitimate answers during every interaction with the U.S. delegation. Dignitaries from other countries who inquired about human rights violations were met with the same energy. The U.S. government has shown that it will violate the human rights of anyone who dares to oppose police militarization or stand in defense of environmental protection,” said Rev. Keyanna Jones,of Community Movement Builders, the movement to Stop Cop City.

Ms. Jones was one of more than 140 members of civil society who traveled to Geneva from dozens of organizations, including many directly impacted people, to petition the UN to hold the U.S. government accountable for policies and practices that violate the treaty.

The United States is obligated to abide by the ICCPR, one of only three international human rights treaties the country has ratified. Guided by input from the participating civil society members during in-person briefings and from shadow reports submitted earlier, committee members questioned the U.S. government officials on most of the fundamental human rights the groups had raised, including indigenous rights and decolonization, voting rights, freedom of expression and the crackdown on supporters of Palestinian rights, sexual and reproductive rights, trafficking, prisoners’ rights, immigrants’ rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, the criminalization of homelessness, children’s rights, and the failure to protect civilians and prevent mass atrocities in Gaza.

Those present said it was a spontaneous silent protest motivated by deep frustration and outrage over inadequate, canned responses from the U.S. delegation.

“The United States’ response referring to various policies that do nothing to advance free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoplse was offensive and serves as further failure to acknowledge Indigenous People’s rights who are constantly erased from visibility and subjected to policies that have furthered erasure,” said Stephanie Amiotte, Legal Director of the ACLU of North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming National Chapter and an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota.

“We are disappointed that not all of the groups were heard by the State Department or the U.N. Committees that are supposed to hold the U.S. accountable. How are they to hold them accountable for their human rights violations when they haven’t even heard from all of the working groups on exactly what human rights are being violated,” asked Lotus Lain with Free Speech Coalition/ DecrimSWCA/ Sex Workers & Survivors United.

Groups submitted shadow reports on many issues, including death-by-incarceration sentences, the continued colonization of U.S. territories, the metastasizing “war on terror” that is suppressing domestic social movements, the discriminatory denial of clean water to Black communities, the ongoing detention of Muslim men in Guantanamo, and the mistreatment of Black migrants. They offer a damning indictment of the U.S. government’s failure to uphold its human rights obligations.

“It is outrageous that the U.S. continues to ignore the egregious human rights violations following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Heath decision. The U.S. delegation's response to the committee's thorough questioning on abortion access was evasive and scripted at best. The committee asked detailed questions that merited direct answers, particularly on the criminalization of people who have abortions, people who help them, and people who provide them. Sadly, that did not happen this week,” said Bethany Van Kampen Saravia, Senior Legal and Policy Advisor, Ipas. “We can no longer quietly allow these human rights violations to continue. That is why we stood and turned our backs in protest and in solidarity with all of the human rights defenders who dared to have their voices heard in Geneva this week.”

For more information on the Center for Constitutional Rights work on the ICCPR visit our web page here.

The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. Learn more at ccrjustice.org.




                              Israel blew up a bakery, where the people buy their bread




"The largest bakery in the Mid-Gaza governorate was attacked last night. As a result, over 100,000 people who relied on this bakery are now without bread. Is a bakery a target? How can this be real?" via Twitter/X

October 16, 2023

The World Stands with Palestine -- UN: Palestinians in Grave Danger of Mass Ethnic Cleansing

The World Stands with Palestine -- UN: Palestinians in Grave Danger of Mass Ethnic Cleansing

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Native American scholar and member of the Red Nation Nick Estes speaks on Turtle Island's history of supporting genocides and how the Empire's partners silence speech with bombs. Here's part of his speech at a massive protest for Palestine in Minneapolis https://twitter.com/i/status/1713944654943522819
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAv15yxitpE
Defense for Children, Oct. 16, 2023

GAZA UPDATE: More than 1,030 Palestinian children in Gaza have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7, or about one child every 15 minutes, and more than one-third of the total death toll.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is at the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva:
“The public dehumanization of Palestinians at the highest level of U.S. government has led to skyrocketing repression of activism and all expressions of support for Palestine.” Oct. 16, 2023

Arrests underway at the White House
Now! Arrests are underway at the White House. "American Jews and allies have now blocked more than four doors to the White House. We’re prepared to put our bodies in the way of more slaughter — we’re ready to stay here until Biden forces a ceasefire. No ceasefire, no exit.” -- In Not Now, When

One million people marched in Karachi, Pakistan, for Palestine.


DUBLIN, Ireland now -- "Huge numbers turn out to support Palestine" https://twitter.com/i/status/1713204584980660226

A UN human rights expert warned today that Palestinians are in grave danger of mass ethnic cleansing and called on the international community to urgently mediate a ceasefire between warring Hamas and Israeli occupation forces.

October 15, 2023

Zapatistas 'Of Sowing and Reapings' The Murder of a Defenseless Population in Palestine




Of Sowing and Reapings

By Comandante Moises

Zapatistas EZLN

October, 2023


Almost 15 years ago, in our words, the nightmare was forwarned. It was during a Semillero and it was through the voice of the deceased SupMarcos that we spoke. Here it goes:

Of sowings and reapings
(January 2009)

Maybe, what I am about to say has nothing to do with the main theme of this roundtable, or maybe it has.

Two days ago, the same day in which our word spoke of violence, the ineffable Condoleezza Rice, US government official, declared that what was going on in Gaza was the fault of the Palestinians, due to their violent nature.

The subterranean rivers that run through the world are able to change their geography, but they sing the same song.

And the river we now listen to sings of war and grief.

Not far from here, in a place called Gaza, in Palestine, in the Middle East, just next door, a heavily armed and trained army, from the Israeli government, continues its advance of death and destruction.

The steps it has followed so far are those of a classic military war of conquest: first a massive and intense bombardment to destroy “neuralgic” military posts (so they are called by military manuals) and to “soften up” resistance fortifications; then an iron grip on information: everything that is heard and seen “in the outside world”, that is to say, outside of the theatre of operations must be selected according to military criteria; now intense artillery fire over enemy infantry to protect the advance of troops to their new positions: after that an encirclement and siege to weaken the enemy garrison; then an assault to conquer the position by annihilating the enemy; finally, the “cleansing” of the probable “nests of resistance”.

The military manual of modern warfare, with some variations or additions, is being followed step by step by invading military forces.

We don’t know much about this, and it is certain that there are specialists on the so-called “conflict in the Middle East”, but from this corner, we have something to say:

According to the photos from news agencies, the “neuralgic” military posts destroyed by the Airforce of the Israeli government are houses, huts, and civil buildings.

We have not seen any bunkers, barracks, military airports or cannon batteries among what has been destroyed. Then, we think, excuse our ignorance, that either the aircraft gunners have bad aim or in Gaza there are no such “neuralgic” military posts.

We don’t have the honor of having visited Palestine, but we suppose that in those houses, huts and buildings used to live people, men, women, children and elderlies, and not soldiers.

We have not seen resistance fortifications either, only debris.

What we have seen, is the so far futile effort to cordon off information and several governments of the world wavering between playing the fool or applauding the invasion, and a UN, already useless way back, publishing lukewarm press releases.

But wait. It now occurs to us that perhaps, for the Israeli government, these men, women, children and elderly people are enemy soldiers and, as such, the huts, houses and buildings where they live in are barracks that need to be destroyed.

And the enemy garrison that they want to weaken with the encirclement and siege of Gaza is none other than the Palestinian population living there. And that the assault will seek to annihilate that population. And that any man, woman, child or elderly person who manages to escape, by hiding from the predictably bloody assault, will then be «hunted down» so that the cleansing can be completed, and the military chief in command of the operation can report to his superiors «we have completed the mission.»

Excuse our ignorance again, perhaps what we are saying is, in fact, beside the point. And that instead of repudiating and condemning the crime in progress, as indigenous people and as warriors that we are, we should be discussing and taking a position on the discussion about whether it’s «Zionism» or «anti-Semitism», or that it was the Hamas bombs that started it.

Perhaps our thoughts are very simple, and we lack the nuances and the always very necessary marginal notes in the analysis, but, for us Zapatistas, in Gaza there is a professional army assassinating a defenseless population.

Who from below and to the left can remain silent?

-*-

Is it useful to say something? Do our screams stop any bombs? Is our word saving the life of a Palestinian child?

We think that it is useful, maybe we will not stop a bomb nor will our word become an armored shield that prevents that 5.56 mm or 9 mm caliber bullet, with the letters «IMI» («Israeli Military Industry») engraved on the base of the cartridge, from reaching the chest of a girl or a boy, but maybe our word will manage to join with others in Mexico and the world and maybe first it will become a murmur, then a loud voice, and then a cry that will be heard in Gaza.

We don’t know about you, but we Zapatistas of the EZLN know how important it is, in the midst of destruction and death, to hear a few words of encouragement.

I don’t know how to explain this, but it turns out that words from afar may not be enough to stop a bomb, but they are as if a crack opened in the black room of death for a small light to slip through.

Otherwise, what will happen will happen. The Israeli government will declare that it has dealt a severe blow to terrorism, it will hide the magnitude of the massacre from its people, the big producers of weapons will have gotten an economic break to face the crisis and «world public opinion,» that malleable entity, always in tune with the situation, will turn to look the other way.

But not only. It will also happen that the Palestinian people will resist and survive and continue fighting, and continue to have sympathy for their cause from those below.

And perhaps a boy or girl from Gaza will survive too. Perhaps they will grow and, with them, anger, indignation, rage. Perhaps they will become soldiers or partisans for one of the groups fighting in Palestine. Maybe he or she will face combat against Israel. Maybe he or she does it by firing a rifle. Maybe by blowing himself up with a belt of dynamite sticks around his waist.

And then, up there, someone will write about the violent nature of the Palestinians and make statements condemning that kind of violence and there will be another debate about whether Zionism or anti-Semitism.

And then no one will ask who sowed what was reaped.

On behalf of the men, women, children and elderly of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Mexico, 4rth of January 2009.

-*-

Those who were children then, almost 15 years ago, and who survived, well…

There are those who were responsible for sowing what is now being reaped, and there are those who, with impunity, repeat the sowing.

Those who just a few months ago justified and defended Putin’s Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing its «right to defend itself from a potential threat», must now be juggling (or betting on forgetfulness) to invalidate that argument in relation of Israel. And vice versa.

Today, in Palestine and Israel -and all over the world- there are children and young people learning what terrorisms teach: that there are no limits, no rules, no laws, no shame.

And no responsibilities.

-*-

Neither Hamas nor Netanyahu. The people of Israel will prevail. The people of Palestine will prevail. They only need to give themselves a chance and work hard at it.

Meanwhile, each war will continue to be only the prelude to the next, more ferocious, more destructive, more inhumane.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.
Mexico, October 2023.

Mohawk Nation News 'Our Resources Are Not For War!'

OUR RESOURCES ARE NOT FOR WAR!

Mohawk Nation News

 https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2023/10/15/our-resources-are-not-for-war/

Please post & distribute.

 

 

MNN. Oct. 15, 2023. This information comes from Demilitarize McGill and elsewhere.

Audio at MNN 

Demilitarize McGill explains, “Conventional weapons kill people and demolish structures by creating an enormous amount of explosive force containing sharp and deadly fragments. Thermobaric weapons produce a blast wave that is of longer duration. Fuel-air explosives first saturate the air with fuel, creating a cloud that expands in many directions and flows around objects. A second charge ignites this oxygen-fuel mix creating a very large explosion and pressure that can knock down structures, destroy equipment and goods and incinerate people. The US developed these weapons for Vietnam and works with the Canadian military. McGill also works with the police and intelligence agencies through their Network Dynamics Lab. They research social responses to sudden and rapidly evolving social conditions, both terror and otherwise. 

McGill’s School of Computer Sciences’ researchers are building computers [Artificial Intelligence AI] on how different segments of the population respond to perceived crises. Its school creates an “assessment system” on how different segments of the population are thinking and acting. Also being developed is “mapping the distribution of features of communities of concern. An “incident-specific” tweet collection system is created for the government. 

MILITARY RESEARCH AT MCGILL UNIVERSITY [MONTREAL]

At least 6 labs are at McGill University carrying out research on behalf of weapons monopolies: particularly for drone warfare, missile guidance, domestic surveillance, explosives and air combat. The university has been fighting an Access to Information requested by members of Demilitarize McGill for internal communications on McGill military research since 2102. On June 21, 2016 McGill released 600 pages of documents related to the mechanical engineering laboratory’s association with defence contractors. 90 per cent of the request for information has yet to be fulfilled. Below is information on some of the military initiatives and connections that activists have uncovered over the past several years.

MCGILL’S MILITARY ROBOTICS AND DRONE RESEARCH AEROSPACE MECHATRONICS LAB.  

McGill’s Mechatronics Lab is involved in both developing of ground and airborne robots for combat operations through contracts with Defence Research Development Canada DRDC, an agency of the Department of National Defence DND. With Suffield Research Centre, they aim to “study the enhancement of soldiers’ actions in combat missions” through unmanned technology. 

Their interest is to develop technology for “autonomous landing systems for unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs” “for decisive operations in the urban battle space”. “McGill could contribute to weaponized drone technology so that drones will make their own decisions to kill and execute them. 

COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS CFD LABORATORY. https://peaceanddisarmamentmcgill.wordpress.com/cfd/

CFD receives funding from Bombardier and Bell Textron, which are involved in war production. Obama used these weapons for targeting assassinations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. 

Demilitarize McGill stated that simulation software FENSAP-ICE was sold to Lockheed Martin in the early 2000s through a company owned and operated by the lab’s director. Lockheed Martin used the technology for the F-35 fighter jet. 

MISSILE GUIDANCE RESEARCH.

McGill’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering collaborated on missile guidance systems with Lockheed Martin, DRDC, and military researchers in Israel from 1999 to 2010 on projects such as “Decision Aids for Airborne Surveillance”, “guidance laws for the stabilization of missile trajectories”, “lethality and lethal radiuses to determine how many were killed by missile strikes”, “track or detect methods in tracking low-observable targets”, and “problems of detecting multiple targets”. 

Lockheed Martin, and. McGill researchers are often private partners. They sell at least 21 distinct guided missile products – including the shoulder-fired Javelin and air-to-ground Hellfire. The US and its allies use guided missiles developed by Lockheed Martin in such military campaigns as Iraq and Afghanistan. US military uses Hellfire missiles from Predator drones to deliver thermobaric payload targets.

HYPERSONIC WEAPONS.

The McGill Dept. of Mechanical Engineering’s Shock Wave Physics Group is the longest standing military research lab at McGill. Particularly air-breathing propulsion for hypersonic weapons and thermobaric explosives. This is a system for propelling aircraft and missiles through continuous intake of air from the atmosphere during flight and composition creates combustion when the air reacts with the fuel. 

McGill’s military-related research collaborates with DRDC’s Valcartier Research Centre on “solid fuel projectiles with long-range, shorter time-to-target and increased kinetic energy for higher kill probability. This is part of the US development of Prompt Global Strike. This gives the US military the capability to strike anywhere in the world with a non-nuclear weapon within one hour of permission to launch.

What strikes us is that if we look at all military expenditures all legitimate needs of humankind are ignored. Instead, the expenditure is on military whose major aim is to kill humanity. University students do not know what their academics are doing.  

Buffy Sainte Marie agrees that we have to stop greed, corporate laws and fear from running and ruining the world. 

“He’s five foot-two and he’s six feet-four. He fights with missiles and with spears. He’s all of 31 and he’s only 17. Been a soldier for a thousand years. He’s a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain. A Buddhist, and a Baptist, and a Jew. And he knows he shouldn’t kill. And he knows he always will. Kill you for me, my friend, and me for you. And he’s fighting for Canada. He’s fighting for France. He’s fighting for the U.S.A. And he’s fighting for the Russians. And he’s fighting for Japan. And he thinks we’ll put an end to war this way. And he’s fighting for Democracy. He’s fighting for the Reds. He says it’s for the peace of all. He’s the one who must decide, Who’s to live and who’s to die. And he never sees the writing on the wall. But without him How would Hitler have condemned them at Labau? Without him Caesar would have stood alone. He’s the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war. And without him all this killing can’t go on. He’s the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame. His orders come from far away no more. They come from here and there and you and me. And brothers, can’t you see? This is not the way we put the end to war”

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Universal Soldier

Video: Buffy Sainte Marie

https://youtu.be/VGWsGyNsw00

THE WORLD STANDS WITH PALESTINE:

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-world-stands-with-palestine-un.html

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