Speaking out against Holocaust deniers

Ban calls on world to fight Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism and bigotry

“We must continue to teach our children the lessons of history's darkest chapters. That will help them do a better job than their elders in building a world of peaceful coexistence. We must combat Holocaust denial, and speak out in the face of bigotry and hatred,” he added in the message, read at a ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York by Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro.

The Literary and Debating Society here at NUI Galway has invited a Holocaust denier to speak on campus. I hope I am in town if/when he comes, and I hope the local stores are stocked with posterboard and markers. I hope the format of his speech allows for audience particpation at some point. I hope I am not the only one who shows to counteract free speech of the atrocious variety with free speech based on humanity.

This all reminds me of the Free2choose post I made a few days ago

Not good enough, Israel

At a Border Crossing, Drivers and Truckloads of Aid for Gaza Go Nowhere

There has been an outpouring of support for Gazans, mostly from the Arab world, but also from Europe, Venezuela and nongovernmental organizations, officials here said. Medical supplies go straight into Gaza through Egypt’s crossing at Rafah.

But Egypt will not allow anything else to pass through Rafah, insisting that all other aid travel first into Israel and then into Gaza. That is where the bottleneck has occurred. Two of the main problems have been the short window for supplies to pass and Israel’s decision to let few trucks go through, officials and volunteers here said. But another problem has to do with Egypt’s being unprepared to meet strict Israeli packing requirements, which would allow the goods to be passed through security scanners and onto Israeli trucks for delivery to Gaza.

The Egyptians tried to send through trucks carrying bags of flour and sugar, for example, only to have the Israelis send them back. Much has been repacked and reshipped, but some of the returned items are spilled out over the sandy earth at the crossing.

Israel must allow full access for aid and supplies to rehabilitate Gaza – UN relief chief

“Israel has a particular responsibility as the occupying power in this context, because of its control of Gaza’s borders with Israel, to respect the relevant provisions of international humanitarian law,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told the Security Council in a report on his just-completed visit to Gaza, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

“It is therefore critical that new steps are taken immediately by the Israeli authorities to move to the sustained re-opening of crossing points,” he said, stressing that improving the living conditions of Gaza’s 1.5 million people was vital to avoid further despair and undermining the two-state diplomatic solution to the decades-old Middle East conflict.

As he did frequently during the assault Israel launched on 27 December with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza, Mr. Holmes meted out blame to both sides in the conflict.

Zimbabwean Refugees in South Africa

Deal or no deal in Zimbabwe?
Meanwhile...


NYT has a short slideshow about the refugees that I recommend.

Toky's Creation

Toky is a serious 11-yr old boy in Madagascar who builds toys for himself and for his neighborhood friends. His parents say he is very serious about his job.



From http://gasykool.wordpress.com/, via Global Voices. A note about this blog- the writer is part of Foko Madagascar's Blog Club, "which won the Rising Voices Micro-grant to teach youth how to use citizen media tools such as blogs, video and images to show others that Madagascar is more than jungle and lemurs."

2Pac Heals

From yesterday's PostSecret.

Peace in Gaza?

Will They Forgive? Will They Forget?

Back to a kind of life: A shaken people still want an end to the siege, Palestinian unity, and peace:

In the streets you hear only support for Hamas. In more secluded conversations, views are more nuanced, with expressions of anger, fear and exhaustion. “People are furious with Hamas for bringing this on us,” says a taxi driver from Jabaliya, a big refugee camp in the north of the strip, after first making sure that the car windows were closed and no one was eavesdropping. “But they are too afraid to speak out. They know that if they say the truth about this war they may disappear.”

But he also describes how people’s feelings changed as the war went on. At first, some were delighted by the prospect of Hamas’s demise. But after days of bombs, sentiment shifted. “The Israelis made a mistake when they killed so many women and children. Everyone then supported Hamas. The Israelis made a big mistake.” He repeats that last phrase several times.

...Even those who refuse to blame Hamas want some sort of peace deal to let them think that all the death and destruction was not for nothing. Many say a proposed year-long ceasefire is not enough. Their main desire is for the borders to be opened and for the economic and physical siege to be lifted. “My brother’s wedding is in Cairo on Friday,” says a Gazan waiting at the still-closed Rafah crossing. “I want to be there.”

I'm watching with great interest how the international community responds to the renewed cries for MidEast diplomacy. As an American, I am especially curious to see what Obama and his administration will do. While the U.S. should certainly play a role in the peace process, I do not think anyone, including the U.S., should fool himself into thinking of the U.S. strictly as a neutral mediator of some kind. We should not expect Palestinians to like this any more than Israelis would appreciate Iran acting as a neutral mediator of some kind. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...That said, I do think and hope we can play an important role. Go Georgie!

Some headlines from around the world

- Overcrowding of boat people on Italian island worries UN refugee agency

Available data shows that many boat arrivals on the island are persons originating from Somalia and Eritrea.

According to preliminary figures for 2008, about 75 per cent of those who arrived in Italy by sea last year applied for asylum, and around 50 percent of those who applied were granted refugee status or protection on other humanitarian grounds.

- Bolivia’s divisive new constitution grants greater rights to indigenous people

Mr Morales, a socialist of Amerindian descent, has followed up his historic victory that made him the country’s first indigenous president with a triumph that will give a greater voice and share of land and resources to the country’s indigenous population. In the throng of miners in tin hats and indigenous women in bowler hats and heavy skirts there was an unmistakable sense of history on the march. After centuries of subservience to the “white” minority, they have mastered the country’s politics and reshaped its guiding documents.

But "the new charter risks further dividing an already polarised country". As an example, YahooNews points out that 2007 anti-government riots led to the deaths of 3 college students as well as an incident in September where "13 mostly indigenous Morals supporters died...when protestors seized government buildings to block a vote on the proposed constitution."

- International Court Begins First Trial :

Wearing a dark suit and red tie, Lubanga showed no emotion as his French lawyer, Catherine Mabille, said he pleaded not guilty to using children under age 15 as soldiers in the armed wing of his Union of Congolese Patriots political party in 2002-03.

Lubanga's militia ''recruited, trained and used hundreds of young children to kill, pillage and rape. The children still suffer the consequences of Lubanga's crimes,'' prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told a three-judge panel in his opening statement. ''They cannot forget what they suffered, what they saw, what they did.''

-Turkey changes some of its textbooks from "so-called genocide" of Armenians to "1915 events" (Via GlobalVoices)

- In Pakistan, Radio Amplifies Terror of Taliban

Using a portable radio transmitter, a local Taliban leader, Shah Doran, on most nights outlines newly proscribed “un-Islamic” activities in Swat, like selling DVDs, watching cable television, singing and dancing, criticizing the Taliban, shaving beards and allowing girls to attend school. He also reveals names of people the Taliban have recently killed for violating their decrees — and those they plan to kill.

- Skateboarding in Afghanistan Provides a Diversion From Desolation

“Afghan kids are the same as kids all over the world,” Percovich said. “They just haven’t been given the same opportunities. They need a positive environment to do positive things for Afghanistan and for themselves.”

The article also addresses the difficulties some girls have trying to participate:

But for Hadisa, a 10-year-old girl from a conservative family, skateboarding has not been accepted. She said two older brothers beat her with wires for skating with poorer children in September. Several friends said they had seen blood flowing from her leg.

“I’m not upset with my brothers for beating me,” Hadisa whispered on a recent day when she did not skate because her oldest brother was nearby. “They have the right.”

But some girls cannot skate enough because their window for participation is short. When Afghan girls reach puberty, they must be veiled and can no longer associate with men outside the family. Percovich said his indoor skate park could be part of the solution, with boys and girls in separate classes.

- Pope launches Vatican on YouTube:

The 81-year-old Pope's first YouTube message spoke of a new way to spread hope around the world:

"You must find ways to spread - in a new manner - voices and pictures of hope, through the internet, which wraps all of our planet in an increasingly close-knitted way," he said in Italian.

With Leader Captured, Congo Rebel Force Is Dissolving

...the fierce rebellion in eastern Congo headed by Gen. Laurent Nkunda may be ending with his arrest. Rwandan troops captured General Nkunda along the Congo-Rwanda border on Thursday night.

...Peace, however, is far from assured. There are still many other rebel groups haunting the hills of eastern Congo. General Nkunda’s force was thought to number around 5,000 fighters, and many have simply melted back into the bush, possibly to fight on. His former chief of staff, Jean Bosco Ntaganda, a ruthless commander known as the Terminator, is the new rebel figurehead after having defected from General Nkunda.

...The Congolese government is urging Rwanda to hand him over to face war crimes and treason charges. But Rwanda may have a hard time doing that.

General Nkunda used to be a Rwandan Army officer, and until recently, top Rwandan officials were suspected of supplying him with weapons and soldiers. The Rwandan government seems to have struck a deal with Congo in which the Rwandans agreed to neutralize General Nkunda and in return Congo would let thousands of Rwandan troops hunt down Hutu militants on Congolese soil. ...

A joint Congolese-Rwandan force has killed nine Hutu militants in eastern Congo since Friday, Reuters reported.

Article.

Article on Nkunda's apprehension here.

Free2choose

My friend and I capped off the end of last semester with a weekend rendezvous in Amsterdam. As we finished up our tour of the Anne Frank Museum, we noticed a film presentation going on called Free2choose. Intrigued, we took some seats, which were equipped with little clickers. The film would show a short clip highlighting an incident where human rights and freedoms come into conflict with one another. For example, every year in Northern Ireland, the Orange Order has parades to celebrate Prince William of Orange's victory over King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Sometimes the marches go through Catholic neighborhoods. Opponents of this say that this is triumphalist and generally in poor taste given the history of Protestant-Catholic relations. On several occasions, violence has erupted as a result of tensions.

After the issue is presented, the screen asks the audience whether or not this should be allowed: should the Orange marches be allowed to go through Catholic neighborhoods? You respond on your clicker, and then the audience results show. Sometimes it was really hard to answer, but that also made some of the results all the more interesting.

I did get frutrated, however, with some the wording of the questions: should this be done vs. should the government let this be done? Because of course there are many things I do not think should be done, but it is another question entirely whether or not the government should play a role in answering that question. Sometimes it was not clear what was meant.

I also got a pamphlet highlighting some of the main themes. I think some of the quotes in here are interesting:

"Each person's freedom ends where another person's freedom begins."
-Proverb

"There are people who think that the right to ingratitude is the most important freedom."
-H. Poincare, French mathematician

"A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights."
-Napolean Bonaparte, French statesman and dictator

"It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them."
-Mark Twain, American author

"When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free."
-Charles Evans Hughes, American Supreme Court Justice

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedomm of thought which they seldom use."
-Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher

"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."
-H.L. Menckn, American journalist

"Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a pooping tom to install your window blinds."
-John Perry Barlow, American singer and poet

"A free press can of course be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad...Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better."
-Albert Camus, French author

"Freedom is fragile and must be protected. to sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it."
-Germaine Greer, Australian writer and activist

"It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting."
-Tom Stoppard, English playwright

Very enjoyable presentation, and according to the pamphlet, it has been financed with support from the European Commission to be presented in more European cities. So if you are traveling in Europe, keep an eye open!

Jumping back in

I took about a month-long break here, mostly because I was home for the holidays without a very good internet connection. It's hard enough to keep up with headlines in one day; skip a week or month and it feels pretty overwhelming to try to catch up. So I suppose it's better for me to just pick back up and go. Bbesides, I vented a lot of my frustration over the Gaza situation on Facebook- probably got to more people there anyway considering the current readership here is like...2 people? Still, there's much more to be said and, more importantly, to be done.

On Gaza in the aftermath of this latest war:

Ban gets first-hand look at Gaza devastation

“This is shocking and alarming. These are heartbreaking scenes. I am deeply grieved by what I have seen today,” the Secretary-General said as he surveyed the aftermath.

Mr. Ban said a true end to violence, and true security for both Israelis and Palestinians, would only come through a just and comprehensive settlement to the long-festering Arab-Israeli conflict, including the creation of the State of Palestine living side by side with the State of Israel, in peace and security, consistent with relevant Security Council resolutions.

UN to embark on humanitarian assessment in post-conflict Gaza

“Mr. Holmes plans to stress the need to facilitate quick delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a news release.

The 22-day offensive, which Israel launched on 27 December with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks, claimed over 1,300 lives, 412 of them children, and wounded more than 5,450, 1,855 of them children, as well as causing widespread destruction and suffering.

The bombing and shelling caused extensive damage to civilian facilities throughout the Strip, and supplies of basic food and fuel, and the provision of electricity, water and sanitation services remain critical.

...OCHA reported today that Gazans displaced during the military operation continue to make their way home, but many of them are now homeless due to the extensive destruction of homes. As a result, they remain with host families or in UNRWA-run shelters. There were more than 18,000 people remaining in 30 shelters as of yesterday.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), for its part, will be working on two main fronts during the early recovery phase – restoring reproductive health care, including maternal and neonatal services, and providing psychosocial support to traumatized survivors.

UNFPA will focus on rehabilitating and restoring reproductive health infrastructure and services, including emergency obstetric and newborn care units. Some 3,700 women went into labour during the 22-day conflict, according to the agency. A number of them suffered death and delivery-related injuries due to lack of services to fully support them.

The Fund added that the entire population of Gaza, including health professionals, is at risk of post-traumatic stress in varying degrees. It will deploy social workers, counsellors and other trained professionals to work with those affected.

OCHA added that only $63 million of the $117 million needed for priority projects in Gaza has been committed or pledged so far.