To Kill the Future, Zero the Past

Posted on by admin

Armed Conflicts, Civil Society, Global Governance, Headlines, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa, TerraViva United Nations

Opinion

Credit: UNRWA

ATLANTA, Georgia, Sep 17 2024 (IPS) – Today’s weapons are capable of wiping out entire swaths of humanity, demolishing remaining shreds of culture along with them. News coverage of the one-sided Gaza campaign make it plain that’s exactly what’s happening. Destroying the past destroys the future too. The world must band together to make sure these atrocities stop.

Israel’s war crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza have now reached a new low, despite continuing international protests and UNESCO complaints over the destruction of culture. After nearly a year of overkill, Israeli jets continue to drop bombs on hospitals, schools, and refugees in flimsy tent camps, killing increasing numbers of people who never had anything to do with starting the war.

Four months ago on May 15, Israeli’s Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, reported to Prime Minister Netanyahu that “HAMAS no longer functions as a military organization.” Lately it has been clear to everybody that there are no more military objectives left in Gaza.

It can only mean that the incessant bombing of the last four months, killing scores of innocent people every week, were intended to punish Gaza by intentionally killing civilians. Despite the claim that those being bombed are terrorists, there is no evidence to support that claim. It’s an outrage. War crimes keep piling up.

Just last week, on September 10 2024, after nearly a year of incredibly destructive bombing, Israeli jets struck the flimsy tents in al-Mawasi Camp, formerly declared a safe zone by the IDF itself, killing dozens of people and leaving three craters 30 feet deep.

A day later, the UN school in Jabalia Camp used as a shelter was bombed for the umpteenth time, killing at least 18, including 6 UN/UNRWA staff members, with local people claiming up to 60 deaths. After so many months and so many innocent people killed, what could possibly account for this continuing barbarity?

Deliberately targeting civilians anywhere is illegal under international law, and especially in declared safe zones within United Nations shelters and tent camps. Such overkill is incomprehensible to most of the civilized world, but also to nearly a million Israelis who regularly protest their government’s unwillingness to accept a cease-fire.

They have been in the streets for months begging the Likud-dominated War Cabinet to stop the war and free the diminishing number of Israeli captives. Weak cautions from the US White House have had no effect.

It is difficult to see how any of this benefits Israel. Their actions have raised worldwide scorn for the government in Jerusalem that insists on continuing the war. They have only succeeded in empowering the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement.

How can continued bombing reach any rational objective except to incite Israel’s enemies with more hatred and revenge killing extending far into the future? A military doctrine of “maximum force” can only mean killing large numbers of non-combatant women and children. These one-sided attacks will soon reach the one-year mark.

The only possible reasons for continuing Israel’s eleven-month killing spree in Gaza—since Netanyahu recently blocked a cease fire with HAMAS that might have rescued the hostages—is to decimate Palestine’s future along with its past, an important goal for the government in Jerusalem.

Targeting Palestine’s youth by bombing schools inevitably destroys their future opportunities along with the historical memory of the Palestinian people’s collective nationhood. Young people will be unable either to get jobs or reclaim their rightful heritage.

This barbaric one-sided atrocity in Gaza continues despite President Joe Biden and Democratic Candidate Kamala Harris’ words supporting two states. That formulation is now an improbable dream—far off if it ever happens. Most analysts believe it’s undo-able at this point, after hundreds of thousands of settlers have moved into the West Bank.

Humanity—meaning all of us—continues to struggle today amid an atmosphere of fear and lust for power. Bloody Gaza is at the center of a growing vortex in today’s sea of troubles.

James E. Jennings, PhD is President of Conscience International www.conscienceinternational.org and Executive Director of US Academics for Peace. Jennings has delivered humanitarian aid to Gaza’s hospitals since 1987, including during the first intifada, the al-Aqsa intifada, and Israel’s “Cast Lead” bombing attacks in 2009 and 2014.

IPS UN Bureau

  Source

25TH Anniversary Message to the UN: Prioritize the Culture of Peace in its Leadership Agenda

Posted on by admin

Civil Society, Democracy, Education, Featured, Global, Global Governance, Headlines, Human Rights, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Peace, TerraViva United Nations

Opinion

NEW YORK, Sep 13 2024 (IPS) – This opinion piece is being published exactly on the date when twenty-five years ago today the UN took its most forward-looking stride in ensuring a peaceful planet for all of us since the signing of the Charter of the United Nations in 1945.

The UN Charter arose out of the ashes of the Second World War and the UN Declaration and the Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace emerged in the aftermath of the long-drawn Cold War.

On this very day, the United Nations adopted by consensus and without reservation a monumental document on the Culture of Peace that transcends boundaries, cultures, societies, and nations.

Arduous journey

It was an honour for me to Chair the nine-month long open-ended negotiations that led to the agreement on that historic norm-setting document which is considered as one of the most significant legacies of the United Nations that would endure generations.

I introduced the agreed text of that document (A/RES/53/243) on behalf of all Member States for adoption by the Assembly with its President Didier Opertti of Uruguay chairing the meeting. Through this landmark adoption, the General Assembly laid down humanity’s charter for the new approaching millennium.

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury

This document explains, outlines, and defines everything that the international community has agreed on as the focus of the culture of peace. I would always treasure and cherish the opportunity to lead the process in its adoption and in its subsequent advocacy.

For me this has been a realization of my personal commitment to peace and my humble contribution to humanity. For more than two and a half decades, my focus has been on advancing the culture of peace and I have continued to devote considerable time, energy, and effort to do that.

It has been a long, arduous journey – a journey ridden curiously with both obstacles and indifference. Since July 1997, when I took the initiative to write to our much-loved and highly respected Secretary-General Kofi Annan to create a separate item of agenda of the General Assembly, the path and progress of the culture of peace at UN have been uneven to say the least. For being a part of this journey, I pay tribute to Bangladeshi diplomats who have been true co-travellers.

My life’s experience has taught me to value peace and equality as the essential components of our existence. They unleash the positive forces of good that are so needed for human progress. It is essential to remember that the culture of peace requires a change of our hearts, change of our mindset.

The objective of the culture of peace is the empowerment of people. We should not isolate peace as something separate. It is important to realize that the absence of peace takes away the opportunities that we need to better ourselves, to prepare ourselves, to empower ourselves to face the challenges of our lives, individually and collectively.

Transformation is the essence

The essence of the culture of peace is its message of self-transformation and its message of inclusiveness, of global solidarity, of the oneness of humanity. These elements—individual and global, individual to global—constitute the way forward for the culture of peace.

‘Transformation’ is of the most essential relevance here. The Programme of Action identifies eight specific areas which encourage actions at all levels – the individual, the family, the community, the national, the regional and, of course, the global levels.

Though the Declaration and Programme of Action is an agreement among nations, governments, civil society, media, and individuals are all identified in this document as key actors.

The culture of peace begins with each one of us – unless we are ready to integrate peace and non-violence as part of our daily existence, we cannot expect our communities, our nations, our planet to be peaceful. We should be prepared and confident in resolving the challenges of our lives in a non-aggressive manner. In today’s world, more so, the humanity’s creed should be based on inner oneness and outer diversity.

Enhancing Member States engagement

To accord an enhanced profile to the concept of the culture of peace, since 2012, successive UN General Assembly Presidents convened an annual UN High Level Forum on The Culture of Peace to provide an inclusive, participatory platform for UN Member States, civil society, media, private sector and other interested parties to exchange ideas on the implementation of the Declaration and Programme of Action.

Since 2012, when the first UN High Level Forum was convened by the President of the 66th Session of the General Assembly Ambassador Nassir Al-Nasser, the UNGA mandated this annual Forum as “an opportunity for renewing the commitments to strengthen further the global movement for the culture of peace.”

At the global level, the Global Movement for The Culture of Peace (GMCoP), a coalition of civil society organizations, have been spearheading advocacy initiatives effectively since 2011 as well as in organizing the annual High-Level Forums on The Culture of Peace convened by the President of UN General Assembly.

Peace and Culture of Peace

Many treat peace and culture of peace synonymously. When we speak of peace, we expect others namely politicians, diplomats, or other practitioners to take the initiative while when we speak of the culture of peace, we know that initial action begins with each one of us.

SDGs and the Culture of Peace

The UN General Assembly decided on the culture of peace before the Millennium Development Goals. SDGs came 15 years later. Many would recall that Goal 16 – the so-called peace goal – was almost dropped when the developing countries wanted to include a reference to the culture of peace.

A compromise excluded it so that the negotiated Goal 16 could be agreed without it. Bangladesh brought the reference to the culture of peace in Goal 4 in its target 4.7 which identified culture of peace and non-violence as well as global citizenship in educational context.

All eight areas of action in the culture of peace programme are reflected in various SDGs. I can however say with pride that the Culture of Peace would outlast the SDGs and make more deep-rooted and longer-lasting contribution to a sustainable and peaceful planet of ours when the UN observes the 30th anniversary of The Culture of Peace.

Let me end by outlining the three integrated mainstream for the coming years bolstering the global movement for the culture of peace.

Education for global citizenship

Number one: education. All educational institutions need to offer opportunities that prepare the students not only to live fulfilling lives but also to be responsible and productive citizens of the world. This should more appropriately be called “education for global citizenship”. If our minds could be likened to a computer, then education provides the software with which to “reboot” our priorities and actions for transition from force to reason, from conflict to dialogue.

Equality of women’s participation

Number two: women. As I always say emphatically –
“Without peace, development cannot be realized, without development, peace is not achievable, but without women, neither peace nor development is possible.”

Youth and children

And number three: youth and children. It is essential to recognize the empowerment of young people as a major element in building the culture of peace. Young people of today should embrace the culture of peace in a way that can not only shape their lives but can also shape the future of the world.

For this, I believe that early childhood affords a window of opportunity for us to sow the seeds of transition to the culture of peace from an early life.

Way forward

As former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace laureate Kofi Annan had profoundly said, “Over the years we have come to realize that it is not enough to send peacekeeping forces to separate warring parties. It is not enough to engage in peace-building efforts after societies have been ravaged by conflict. It is not enough to conduct preventive diplomacy. All of this is essential work, but we want enduring results. We need, in short, the culture of peace.”

How do we build and promote the culture of peace? To turn the culture of peace into a global, universal movement, the most crucial element that is needed is for every one of us to be a true believer in peace and non-violence. A lot can be achieved in promoting the culture of peace through individual resolve and action.

By immersing ourselves in a culture that supports and promotes peace, individual efforts will–over time–combine and unite, and peace, security and sustainability will emerge. This is the only way we shall achieve a just and sustainable peace in the world.

The culture of peace is not a quick fix. It is a movement, not a revolution.

The seed of peace exists in all of us. It must be nurtured, cared for and promoted by us all to flourish. Peace cannot be imposed from outside – it must be realized from within.

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, is Former Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN; President of the UN Security Council (2000 and 2001); Senior Special Adviser to UN General Assembly President (2011-2012) and Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the UN.

IPS UN Bureau

  Source

The Deadly US Weapons of Civilian Destruction

Posted on by admin

Armed Conflicts, Civil Society, Democracy, Featured, Global Governance, Headlines, Human Rights, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Middle East & North Africa, Peace, TerraViva United Nations

Much of the Gaza Strip has been destroyed in the conflict. Credit: UNRWA

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 13 2024 (IPS) – As the devastating 11-month-old conflict in Gaza keeps escalating, with over 41,000 mostly civilian killings, and more than 92,000 Palestinians injured –in retaliation for the 1,200 killings inside Israel last October– the Israelis continue to defy the United States which maintains its uninterrupted flow of heavy weapons to Tel Aviv.

There are two hardcore lessons in this conflict. Perhaps Israel should realize that you cannot continue biting the hand that feeds you while the Biden administration should realize that you cannot continue to feed the mouth that bites you.

The world’s weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) are categorized mostly as nuclear, chemical, biological and radiological weapons. But the US-supplied missiles and 2,000-pound bombs dropped on Gaza are best described as weapons of civilian destruction (WCDs) which have also reduced cities to rubble.

On September 11, the New York Times ran a story on the latest killings of civilians, titled “Israel Kills Gazans as its Air Power Hits a Humanitarian Zone”

The Times quoted Trevor Ball, a former US army explosive ordnance-disposal technician, as identifying a fragment found at the most recent bombing in Gaza as “the tail section of a SPICE-2000 kit, a precision guided kit used with 2,000-pound bombs.

If Israel is accused of genocide and war crimes, where does the US fit in as the major supplier of arms that are killing all these civilians?

And, on August 13, as the civilian killings continued unabated, the Biden Administration formally notified Congress of its plan to authorize the sale of a staggering list of arms to Israel including:

An $18.8 billion sale of 50 F-15 fighter jets and related equipment;
A $774 million sale of up to 32,739 120mm tank cartridges and related equipment;
A $583 million sale of Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV)s and related equipment;
A $102 million sale of 30 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) and related equipment; and, A $61 million sale of 50,000 M933A1 120mm High Explosive mortar cartridges and related equipment.

In June 2024, Reuters reported that the Administration had transferred at least 14,000 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions.

Dr Ramzy Baroud, a journalist and Editor of The Palestine Chronicle, told IPS “for Israel to commit its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, it requires a large and steady supply of weapons. Most of these weapons come from the United States.”

“In fact, over 11 months of Israeli genocide and following numerous reports by international organizations, we know precisely how US bunker busters and other weapons and munitions intended for mass killings have been used,” he pointed out.

Yet, despite all of this, the US continues to give Israel all the bombs and rockets necessary to inflict most deadly violence against Palestinians, including those sheltered in displacement camps, at UN schools, at hospitals, and other areas that are intended to be ‘safe zones’.

But American support for Israel cannot be confined to that of weapon supplies, Dr Baroud said, because Washington remains Israel’s strongest backer and defender at international institutions, including the UN Security Council. This blind and unconditional support has emboldened Israel to carry on with the most despicable genocide against an innocent and besieged nation.

Even Biden’s so-called ‘ceasefire proposal’ last May was supposedly communicated on behalf of Israel, then, oddly rejected also on behalf of Israel.

There can be no other interpretation of this: the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza is carried out jointly by Israel and the United States, said Dr Baroud, a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). www.ramzybaroud.net

According to a Cable News Network (CNN) report early this week US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has called for “fundamental changes” to the way Israeli forces operate in the occupied West Bank after the killing of American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi at a protest last week.

US President Joe Biden condemned Eygi’s killing on Wednesday. ““I am outraged and deeply saddened by the death of Aysenur Eygi,” Biden said in a statement, adding that the shooting “is totally unacceptable.”

Biden called for “full accountability” for her death after Israel “has acknowledged its responsibility.” Israel, he added, “must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”

As an old Middle East saying goes: The dogs bark but the caravan moves on.

Is this a reflection of the unrestrained power of the Israeli lobby in the US Congress, which one-time Republican US presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, called “Israeli-occupied territory”? Does this now include the White House?

Unfortunately, there will be no accountability for the killing of the American-Turkish activist, Dr Baroud pointed out. “We know this for a fact because there has never been a precedent in history in which the US has held Israel accountable for anything”.

The family of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was deliberately run over by an Israeli army bulldozer, knows exactly how frivolous the US use of language in this kind of situation can be.

The US speaks of “accountability”, “responsibility”, “full investigations”, yet ultimately accepts the Israeli narrative as the truth. More recently, the US has used similar language following the murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, before circling back to accepting the Israeli story that her killing was not deliberate and was not part of a larger policy to target civilians.

Infuriatingly, but still unsurprisingly, the US is using the above language at a time when over 41,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed in Gaza, with thousands more missing and tens of thousands wounded, he said.

Not only no such accountability has been achieved or even called for, but the US continues to give Israel the very murder weapon so that it may continue its genocide against Palestinian civilians, said Dr Baroud.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the death of at least 18 people, including children, women, and six UNRWA staff, in Israeli airstrikes that hit a school serving as a shelter in Nuseirat on 11 September.

This incident raises the number of UNRWA staff killed in this conflict to 220. The IDF stated that they had targeted a command-and-control center in the compound. This incident must be independently and thoroughly investigated to ensure accountability.

The continued lack of effective protection for civilians in Gaza is unconscionable. Civilians and the infrastructure they rely on must be protected and the essential needs of civilians met. The Secretary-General calls upon all parties to refrain from using schools, shelters, or the areas around them for military purposes. All parties to the conflict have the obligation to comply with international humanitarian law at all times.

The Secretary-General also reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. This horrific violence must stop, he declared.

According to an October 2023 report from the US State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, steadfast support for Israel’s security has been a cornerstone of American foreign policy for every U.S. Administration since the presidency of Harry S. Truman.

Since its founding in 1948, the United States has provided Israel with over $130 billion in bilateral assistance focused on addressing new and complex security threats, bridging Israel’s capability gaps through security assistance and cooperation, increasing interoperability through joint exercises, and helping Israel maintain its Qualitative Military Edge (QME).

This assistance has helped transform the Israel Defense Forces into “one of the world’s most capable, effective militaries and turned the Israeli military industry and technology sector into one of the largest exporters of military capabilities worldwide”.

Israel has also been designated as a U.S. Major Non-NATO Ally under U.S. law. This status provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation and is a powerful symbol of their close relationship with the United States.

Thalif Deen, Senior Editor, UN Bureau, Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, is a former Director, Foreign Military Markets at Defense Marketing Services; Senior Defense Analyst at Forecast International; military editor Middle East/Africa at Jane’s Information Group, USA; and one-time UN correspondent for Jane’s Defense Weekly, London.

IPS UN Bureau Report

  Source

A Better Tomorrow with South-South Cooperation

Posted on by admin

Civil Society, Development & Aid, Economy & Trade, Global, Global Governance, Headlines, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, South-South, Sustainable Development Goals, TerraViva United Nations

Opinion

Credit: United Nations

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 12 2024 (IPS) – The annual United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, commemorated annually on September 12, serves as a powerful reminder of the spirit of solidarity and cooperation that transcends geographic borders — a spirit that is crucial for securing a better and thriving future for all. In a world facing cross-cutting challenges, the importance of this South-South solidarity cannot be overstated.

We are now at a pivotal moment in our journey towards the 2030 Agenda. Regrettably, our progress has been far from satisfactory. Only 17 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets are on track to be achieved. Nearly half of the targets show minimal or moderate progress, and alarmingly, progress on over a third of them has stalled or even regressed.

These figures are not just numbers; they represent lives, futures, and the hope of billions around the world.

The global landscape is increasingly marked by a growing number of conflicts, escalating geopolitical and trade tensions, and the devastating impacts of climate change. These challenges have placed the SDGs in serious jeopardy, and it is the world’s most vulnerable populations who are bearing the brunt of these crises. In this context, the potential of South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation to catalyze progress towards the SDGs has never been more critical.

As we look ahead to the Summit of the Future, the commemoration of the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation offers us a timely opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made together through this modality. More importantly, it compels us to recognize the vast potential that South-South cooperation holds in building a more equitable and sustainable future.

South-South cooperation is no longer a peripheral concept; it is now widely recognized as a powerful vehicle that fosters inclusive growth, mutual learning, and shared success.

Across the developing world, we are witnessing remarkable strides in resilience building, innovation, and collaboration. These achievements demonstrate that by mobilizing international solidarity and forging global partnerships through South-South and triangular cooperation, we can accelerate the achievement of the SDGs.

Dima Al-Khatib, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation

This potential has been highlighted in numerous global discussions and summits, both within the United Nations and beyond. Whether the focus is on Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, Middle-Income Countries, water, or trade, the message is clear: South-South cooperation is delivering results.

We are seeing incredible successes in the Global South, from improving health systems and enhancing agricultural productivity to advancing education and technology.

Consider the Republic of Congo, which is drawing on Brazil’s expertise in family farming and school feeding programs to improve food security and nutrition. Or Cuba, whose medical professionals have been on the frontlines, combatting disease across the South.

In the Pacific, UNESCO is facilitating exchanges among countries like Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu to build teachers’ capacities. These are just a few examples of how countries of the Global South are not only sharing knowledge and resources, but are also building enduring partnerships that transcend borders.

The United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) plays a pivotal role in promoting, coordinating, and supporting these efforts globally and within the UN system. Our work involves identifying synergies and promoting collaboration between partners to attain all internationally agreed development goals.

One of the key tools we have developed in this endeavor is the South-South Galaxy — a digital platform that offers more than 950 Southern-grown SDG good practices. These practices are available to all countries for experience sharing and scaling up, providing a wealth of knowledge that has already lifted millions out of poverty and contributed to a more equitable world.

The South-South and Triangular Cooperation Solutions Lab, hosted on the same platform, is another innovative initiative. This Lab has begun incubating and testing scalable South-South and triangular cooperation solutions, driving forward new ways to tackle the complex challenges we face.

Our South-South Trust Funds are another testament to the solidarity of Southern partners. For example, the Government of India has channeled over $55.5 million into 63 projects that support sustainable development across more than 30 Small Island Developing States through the India-UN Development Partnership Fund.

Similarly, the IBSA Fund — supported by India, Brazil, and South Africa — continues to leverage the tried-and-tested power of South-South and triangular cooperation to bring tangible improvements to the daily lives of people across the globe. From providing safe drinking water to 12,000 people in Cabo Verde to developing a national universal health insurance program in Grenada, these initiatives showcase the impact of collaborative efforts.

Triangular cooperation – where South-South cooperation is supported by a developed country(ies) or multilateral organization(s) – also plays a critical role. For instance, the Republic of Korea and the Mekong River Commission are working together to share science and technology know-how, implementing the water, food, and energy nexus for vulnerable communities in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

Later this year, we will launch a dedicated Triangular Cooperation Window to optimize this modality of support and enhance the sharing of experiences among partners.

Despite these achievements, we recognize that significant work remains ahead. We are navigating a world shaped by new and complex global challenges — what some have called a poly-crisis.

Climate change, economic uncertainties, debt injustice, conflict, and the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continue to test our resilience. Yet, I remain confident that through South-South and triangular cooperation, we can turn these challenges into opportunities for transformative equitably change.

On this United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, I call on all stakeholders — including governments, our UN family, civil society, academia and the private sector — to join hands in strengthening South-South cooperation. Let us commit to expanding partnerships, deepening our collaborations, and ensuring that no one is left behind.

Together, we can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and build a future that is prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable for all.

Please join us!

Dima Al-Khatib is the Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation. She took up her duties as Director of UNOSSC on 1 March 2023. She is a Sustainable Development Professional bringing more than 25 years of leadership and management experience in several duty stations to her role.

Prior to joining UNOSSC, Ms. Al-Khatib served as the UNDP Resident Representative in the Republic of Moldova. Prior to that, she held several positions including that of Programme and Policy Coordinator at the UNDP Regional Hub in Amman, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Kuwait, and UNDP Deputy Country Director in Libya.

Ms. Al-Khatib holds a Diplome d’Etudes Approfondies (DEA) in Environmental Health from the Lebanese University and France University of Bordeaux II, and a Bachelor of Science and a Teaching Diploma in Environmental Health from the American University of Beirut. Dima Al-Khatib tweets at @dimaalkhatib1

IPS UN Bureau

  Source

Knowledge is Power. Gaza War Supporters Don’t Want Students to Have Both

Posted on by admin

Civil Society, Democracy, Featured, Global Governance, Headlines, Human Rights, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Middle East & North Africa, TerraViva United Nations

Opinion

Student protesters at Columbia University, New York. Credit: IPS

SAN FRANCISCO, USA, Sep 6 2024 (IPS) – With nearly 18 million students on U.S. college campuses this fall, defenders of the war on Gaza don’t want to hear any backtalk. Silence is complicity, and that’s the way Israel’s allies like it.

For them, the new academic term restarts a threat to the status quo. But for supporters of human rights, it’s a renewed opportunity to turn higher education into something more than a comfort zone.

In the United States, the extent and arrogance of the emerging collegiate repression is, quite literally, breathtaking. Every day, people are dying due to their transgression of breathing while Palestinian.

The Gaza death toll adds up to more than one Kristallnacht per day — for upwards of 333 days and counting, with no end in sight. The shattering of a society’s entire infrastructure has been horrendous.

Months ago, citing data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, ABC News reported that “25,000 buildings have been destroyed, 32 hospitals forced out of service, and three churches, 341 mosques and 100 universities and schools destroyed.”

Not that this should disturb the tranquility of campuses in the country whose taxpayers and elected leaders make it all possible. Top college officials wax eloquent about the sanctity of higher learning and academic freedom while they suppress protests against policies that have destroyed scores of universities in Palestine.

A key rationale for quashing dissent is that anti-Israel protests make some Jewish students uncomfortable. But the purposes of college education shouldn’t include always making people feel comfortable. How comfortable should students be in a nation enabling mass murder in Gaza?

What would we say about claims that students in the North with southern accents should not have been made uncomfortable by on-campus civil rights protests and denunciations of Jim Crow in the 1950s and 1960s? Or white students from South Africa, studying in the United States, made uncomfortable by anti-apartheid protests in the 1980s?

A bedrock for the edifice of speech suppression and virtual thought-policing is the old standby of equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Likewise, the ideology of Zionism that tries to justify Israeli policies is supposed to get a pass no matter what — while opponents, including many Jews, are liable to be denounced as antisemites.

But polling shows that more younger Americans are supportive of Palestinians than they are of Israelis. The ongoing atrocities by the Israel “Defense” Forces in Gaza, killing a daily average of more than 100 people — mostly children and women — have galvanized many young people to take action in the United States.

“Protests rocked American campuses toward the end of the last academic year,” a front-page New York Times story reported in late August, adding: “Many administrators remain shaken by the closing weeks of the spring semester, when encampments, building occupations and clashes with the police helped lead to thousands of arrests across the country.” (Overall, the phrase “clashes with the police” served as a euphemism for police violently attacking nonviolent protesters.)

From the hazy ivory towers and corporate suites inhabited by so many college presidents and boards of trustees, Palestinian people are scarcely more than abstractions compared to far more real priorities. An understated sentence from the Times sheds a bit of light: “The strategies that are coming into public view suggest that some administrators at schools large and small have concluded that permissiveness is perilous, and that a harder line may be the best option — or perhaps just the one least likely to invite blowback from elected officials and donors who have demanded that universities take stronger action against protesters.”

Much more clarity is available from a new Mondoweiss article by activist Carrie Zaremba, a researcher with training in anthropology. “University administrators across the United States have declared an indefinite state of emergency on college campuses,” she wrote. “Schools are rolling out policies in preparation for quashing pro-Palestine student activism this fall semester, and reshaping regulations and even campuses in the process to suit this new normal.

“Many of these policies being instituted share a common formula: more militarization, more law enforcement, more criminalization, and more consolidation of institutional power. But where do these policies originate and why are they so similar across all campuses? The answer lies in the fact that they have been provided by the ‘risk and crisis management’ consulting industries, with the tacit support of trustees, Zionist advocacy groups, and federal agencies. Together, they deploy the language of safety to disguise a deeper logic of control and securitization.”

Countering such top-down moves will require intensive grassroots organizing. Sustained pushback against campus repression will be essential, to continually assert the right to speak out and protest as guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Insistence on acquiring knowledge while gaining power for progressive forces will be vital. That’s why the national Teach-In Network was launched this week by the RootsAction Education Fund (which I help lead), under the banner “Knowledge Is Power — and Our Grassroots Movements Need Both.”

The elites that were appalled by the moral uprising on college campuses against Israel’s slaughter in Gaza are now doing all they can to prevent a resurgence of that uprising. But the mass murder continues, subsidized by the U.S. government. When students insist that true knowledge and ethical action need each other, they can help make history and not just study it.

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, was published in paperback this month with a new afterword about the Gaza war.

IPS UN Bureau

  Source

Nicaragua, China, India among 55 Nations Restricting Freedom of Movement

Posted on by admin

Civil Society, Democracy, Featured, Global, Global Governance, Headlines, Human Rights, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Latin America & the Caribbean, Press Freedom, TerraViva United Nations

Opinion

Credit: Freedom House

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 2024 (IPS) – At least 55 governments in the past decade have restricted the freedom of movement for people they deem as threats, including journalists, according to a Freedom House report published last Thursday.

Governments control freedom of movement via travel bans, revoking citizenship, document control and denial of consular services, the report found. All the tactics are designed to coerce and punish government critics, according to Jessica White, the report’s London-based co-author.

“This is a type of tactic that really shows the vindictive and punitive nature of some countries,” White said. This form of repression “is an attempt to really stifle peoples’ ability to speak out freely from wherever they are.”

Belarus, China, India, Nicaragua, Russia, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia are among the countries that engage in this form of repression, the report found. Freedom House based its findings in part on interviews with more than 30 people affected by mobility controls.

Travel bans are the most common tactic, according to White, with Freedom House identifying at least 40 governments who prevent citizens leaving or returning to the country.

Revoking citizenship is another strategy, despite being prohibited by international law. The Nicaraguan government in 2023 stripped more than 200 political prisoners of their citizenship shortly after deporting them to the United States.

Among them were Juan Lorenzo Holmann, head of Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, La Prensa. “It is as if I do not exist anymore. It is another attack on my human rights,” he told VOA after being freed. “But you cannot do away with the person’s personality. In the Nicaraguan constitution, it says that you cannot wipe out a person’s personal records or take away their nationality. I feel Nicaraguan, and they cannot take that away from me.”

Before being expelled from his own country, Lorenzo had spent 545 days in prison, in what was widely viewed as a politically motivated case.

Blocking access to passports and other travel documents is another tactic. In one example, Hong Kong in June canceled the passports of six pro-democracy activists who were living in exile in Britain.

In some cases, governments refuse to issue people passports to trap them in the country. And in cases where the individual is already abroad, embassies deny passport renewals to block the individual from traveling anywhere, including back home.

Myanmar’s embassy in Berlin, for instance, has refused to renew the passport of Ma Thida, a Burmese writer in exile in Germany. Ma Thida told VOA earlier this year she believes the refusal is in retaliation for her writing.

White said Ma Thida’s case was a classic example of mobility restrictions. For now, the German government has issued a passport reserved for people who are unable to obtain a passport from their home country — which White applauded but said is still rare.

“Our ability to freely leave and return to our home country is something that in democratic societies, people often take for granted. It’s one of our fundamental human rights, but it’s one that is being undermined and violated across many parts of the world,” White said.

Mobility restrictions can have devastating consequences, including making it difficult to work, travel and visit family. What makes matters even worse is the emotional toll, according to White.

“There is a huge psychological impact,” White said. “A lot of our interviewees mention especially the pain of being separated from family members and not being able to return to their country.”

In the report, Freedom House called on democratic governments to impose sanctions on actors that engage in mobility controls.

White said that democratic governments should do more to help dissidents, including by providing them with alternative travel documents if they can’t obtain them from their home countries.

https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/FIW_2024_DigitalBooklet.pdf

Source: Voice of America (VOA)

IPS UN Bureau

  Source