Refusers

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This week in New World Notes, #66, June 2 & 5:

I knew the Vietnam War could not last much longer when I saw news photos of members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War hurl their combat medals back onto the Capitol grounds. By then the VVAW's ranks included many soldiers still on active duty. In Vietnam, some American soldiers even sewed the VVAW patch to their uniforms.

"What are they going to do to me?" asked one of them. "Send me to Vietnam?" (NWN # 15).

Our soldiers' rebellion against a b.s. war also took forms that received less publicity than the VVAW: more than a half-million desertions; sabotage, GI-produced underground newspapers, rampant drug use, and much more "fragging" than we were led to believe.

Fragging was the killing by enlisted men of their gung-ho or reckless junior officers (following two or three more subtle notices that a change in attitude was recommended).

As we saw in the run-up to the Afghanistan invasion, the run-up to the Iraq war, and now the run-up to the Iran War, the ruling elite now feels entirely comfortable in ignoring massive protests by civilian citizens against its policies. And ignoring clear mandates from the voting booths (2006 and 2008).

Rebelling soldiers are harder to ignore. And rebelling officers might even get some news coverage!

Meanwhile, back at the kibbutz . . .

IDF Air Force Reserve Maj. Yonatan Shapira and
his Apache "assault and rescue" helicopter

In Israel, conscription is close to universal for citizens of both sexes, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)--the military--is held in very high regard by citizens. Yet even here, many soldiers, sailors, and airmen--including many officers--refuse to participate in the occupation, colonization, and ethnic cleansing of Palestine that has been underway without pause for many decades.

Some have their wish granted. With a wink and a nod from their commander, they are.assigned to serve only within Israel's 1967 borders. And some are thrown in jail. All are called, and call themselves, "Refusers." They are supported by several Israeli organizations including Yesh G'vul ("There Is a Limit"), New Profile, Courage to Refuse, and Combatants for Peace.

Shapira keeps up the fight

Major Yonatan Shapira is a Jew, a patriotic Israeli, the child of a career-military family, and an IDF helicopter pilot (now retired). In this week's installment he tells the fascinating story of his slow transformation into a Refuser.

Although he has no love for Hamas, he slowly came to understand why some members might become terrorists. He began to see that, in Palestine, his beloved IDF was failing to abide by its own professed principles. And he came to see that the Palestinian Resistance and Israel were, together, perpetuating a "circle of revenge" that was destroying both sides.

As he memorably says, "I was going to the Air Force course in order to become a pilot in the Israel Defense Forces . . . not the Israel Revenge Forces." He was pleased to discover that many of his fellow IDF pilots, and some of their commanders, saw things as he did.

This talk shows the transformation of an unthinking warrior into a citizen-soldier ready to defend his country . . . only. It also reveals many interesting details about warfare in the 21st century.

Logo of Yesh G'vul ("There Is a Limit")

This week's music:

• Chumbawamba, Walking Into Battle With the Lord

Coming soon (dates of WWUH Tuesday broadcast shown):

• June 9--Support the Troops! (the government's betrayal of soldiers & vets)
• June 16--George Galloway on War and Occupation

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/
• Fridays, 7:30 to 8:00 AM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/
• Saturdays, 7:00-7:30 PM, KRFP-FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New+World+Notes

Further information:

• www.refusersolidarity.net [Includes links to the four support organizations cited]
• www.btselem.org/English/index.asp [Focus on civil rights in Occupied Palestine]
  

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land -- Part 3

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New World Notes News

Volume 2, Number 11 -- March 17, 2009

This week in New World Notes, #56* -- March 17 & 20:

The third and final part of the documentary on the news media's bias in reporting on Palestine airs this week. The blog entry--actually pair of entries--is a photoessay about certain similarities between Germany's policies concerning Poland (1940-1943) and Israel's policies concerning Palestine (1967-present). You are reading the first of the photoessay's two halves. In this half, the click-to-enlarge function does not work; in the second half (= next blog entry), click-to-enlarge does work. To reach the second half of the photoessay, scroll upwards.

Introduction

"According to [UN Special Rapporteur Richard] Falk, 'A recent study reports that 46 percent of all Gazan children suffer from acute anemia. There are reports that the sonic booms associated with Israeli overflights have caused widespread deafness, especially among children. Gazan children need thousands of hearing aids. Malnutrition is extremely high in a number of different dimensions and affects 75 percent of Gazans. About 18 percent of Gaza's children have stunted growth. There are widespread mental disorders, especially among young people. Over 50 percent of Gazan children under the age of 12 have been found to have no will to live. . . .

"'It is macabre,' Falk said of the blockade. 'People have been referring to the Warsaw ghetto as the nearest analog in modern times.'"

-- Chris Hedges, from "Party to Murder," condensed by KD. http://newworldnotes.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-gaza-and-israel.html

The walls of the Warsaw ghetto--erected by the Nazi authorities beginning
1940--enclosed not only the olive-colored areas but also the orange area
and the Jewish Cemetary. Mila Street (in the orange section) was made
famous in the U.S. by Leon Uris' popular 1961 novel, Mila 18 ("18 Pleasant
Street," in English). Not to be confused with Milah 18, which would be "18
Circumcision Street." Mila 18 is was the address at which SS troops killed
the last of the resistance fighters, ending the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
The forces of Law and Order were led by SS Major-General Juergen Stroop
(likely pronounced "Schtrope"). The insurgency began in mid-January 1943;
the period of most intense fighting was April 19-May 16.

A pedestrian bridge over Chlodna St. connects the "Little Ghetto" in the south
with the "Large Ghetto." That part of Chlodna was not crossed by a wall, as
authorities did not wish to disrupt the (Gentile) streetcar line running along
the street.

Trivia (or not): 1961 also saw the appearance of Joseph Heller's first
novel, Catch-18. Mila 18 soon became so well-known that Heller's editor
at Simon & Schuster decided that a post-publication change of title--by the
newbie Heller, not by the established Uris--was called for. What to call
the damned thing? Catch-11 was too close to Ocean's 11 . . . . Could I
make this stuff up? Now everyone agrees that Catch-22 is the best title
imaginable for the book. See http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-stories-behind-some-of-literatures-bestknown-novels-760449.html

The German occupiers of Poland were not the only force to see the
advantages of a nice wall. The Israeli occupiers of Palestine concur.
Here is a map of Israeli enclosures, encroachments, ethnic cleansing,
and future Anschluess of just one region: the Bethlehem District of
the West Bank.

Key to Map
Colored areas: medium violet = Israeli colonies; light violet = land
between the segregation wall and the West Bank border; dark red =
Israeli military bases; yellow = Palestinian built-up areas.

Thick lines: red = existing wall; yellow = wall under construction;
magenta = planned wall; green = predicted wall; dashed green/
black = bypass road. Thin blue-green line: boundary of Bethlehem
District.

Walls

If the wanton destruction of Gaza recalls the Warsaw Ghetto of 1943, the building of confinement walls by the occupying forces recalls the Ghetto of 1940-41. Credit where due: the walls the Nazis ordered built in Warsaw were easier on the eye than those that others put up in Baghdad and throughout Palestine--being built of brick and to a more human scale.

Only remaining German-built section of the Warsaw Ghetto wall.

"O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie." Well, actually,
from the north we can't see much of thee at all. Except by Apache
helicopter and perhaps from the hilltop that is now part of an Israeli
colony--which CNN insists on calling a "Jewish neighborhood." Note
how the wall cuts the olive orchards off from the town. The hopes
(Israeli) and fears (Palestinian) of all the years are met in thee tonight!

Bethlehem

Belfast, Northern Ireland, U.K. U.K.-ians say "Happy Christmas,"
not "Merry. . . ." Who would have imagined that the Protestants and
the Catholics of Northern Ireland could ever live together in peace?

Fire & Smoke

Warsaw, 1943 -- Gaza, December 2008-January 2009

SS Major-General Juergen Stroop was placed in charge of
eradicating the Jewish insurgency in Warsaw and razing the
Ghetto. After the war he was sentenced to death by the
Nuremberg Tribunal, extradited to Poland, then tried, convicted,
and executed by Polish authorities.

Marched off to the Umschlagsplatz (railroad freight loading area)
just north of the Ghetto; thence to Treblinka.

Propaganda Minister J. Goebbels was one of the greats of the P.R. industry, but he wasn't perfect. It didn't occur to him to explain, "We had to destroy the Ghetto in order to save it!" --paraphrasing an obscure U.S. Army major's remarks on the village of Ben Tre, a generation later. Righteous outrage at the Warsaw inferno should be expressed cautiously by citizens of the country that intentionally torched Dresden and Tokyo at roughly the same time Stroop was burning a good deal of Warsaw.

Wait. . . . My photos are all mixed up! Is this a shot of Warsaw (just above), or is this one of my photos of Tokyo? Dresden? Beirut? Fallujah? The electrical hardware looks too old for this to be Gaza City, and I don't think Ben Tre had electricity.

Policeman signals.

City of Rafah, Gaza Strip.

UN facility in Gaza housing relief supplies for Gazans--food, fuel,
clothing--destroyed by Israeli missiles. The Israel Defense Forces
has frequently attacked UN humanitarian sites including aid
depots, temporary shelters, schools, and refugee camps.

* NWN installment #55 will be broadcast next week (if God permits).

Photoessay continued in next entry . . .

Please scroll upwards or click here:
http://newworldnotes.blogspot.com/2009/03/peace-propaganda-promised-land-part-3.html

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land -- Part 2

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New World Notes News
Volume 2, Number 8 -- February 24, 2009

This week in New World Notes, #53 -- February 24 & 27:

"The best, least biased presentation we have of all the
issues involved. A must-see documentary."
-- Chalmers Johnson

"Painstakingly stripping away the myths and inaccuracies
regularly passed off as truth by the U.S. media, this
film not only reveals the motivations and methods of
those responsible for skewing the picture, but also
manages to present the most concise and accurate account
of the history and implications of the Israeli/
Palestinian conflict and the role that the U.S. has played
in the continuation of that conflict that I have seen.

"This is a very important piece of work that challenges the
viewer to think twice before accepting a version of the
world that owes more to the special interests of a
powerful elite than to any notion of freedom of the press."
-- Donna Baillie, filmmaker

New World Notes continues its radio adaptation of this fine documentary film. Although made in 2003, the film is--unfortunately--still timely and relevant 6 years later. (They missed the "Separation Wall"--of which more, below.)

If you missed Part 1 and wish to hear it now, you'll find a link at the top of this page. For a general introduction to the documentary, page back to the blog entry for Part 1.

Not auspicious: militant Zionist Rahm Emanuel--now White House Chief of Staff

Here's a handy outline of the whole shebang. (I was hoping that shebang was an Arabic word, but no such luck.) Original section titles are in boldface.

Part 1 (3 weeks ago):

1. Introduction to the Israel-Palestine conflict (since 1968)

2. American Media: Occupied Territory. The U.S. media's pro-militant-Zionist bias--it's not fair to the Israeli people to call it a pro-Israel bias--has several causes, including the economic interests of the U.S. media owners and the business elite they serve. Another cause is the very effective public-relations machine set up by the Israeli government in the 1980s.

3. P.R. Strategy #1: Hidden Occupation. U.S. news coverage routinely refuses to acknowledge that since 1968, Palestine (Gaza and the West Bank) has been under a harsh and illegal military occupation by Israel. Events in Palestine ought to be seen in that context.

Dalia says: "I drew my house, a tree, a Palestinian flag, Israelis, jeeps, two people,
a martyr and a sun." She wrote: "The sweetest flag is the Palestine flag, we hope
the situation is fixed soon, inshallah" (note by photographer Moomin13,
flickr.com; photo taken June 2006).

Part 2 (this week):

1. P.R. Strategy #2: Invisible Colonization. For decades, the government of Israrel has been illegally settling its own citizens in the Occupied Territories. The "settlements" it builds--modern suburban housing developments--claim an inordinate share of Palestine's scarce water and disrupt Palestinians' lives. A huge network of Jews-only roads, connecting the setttlements, destroys farmland, truncates property, and makes life even more difficult for Palestinians. All this is almost never reported in America.

CNN instructed its reporters to cease using the term "settlements" and to use the term "neighborhoods" instead (as in, “a neighborhood near Jerusalem”). When Secretary of State, Colin Powell instructed U.S. diplomats to say “Disputed Territories” instead of “Occupied Territories.” In the West Bank, the occupying authorities (with massive funding from your tax dollars) are imprisoning whole communities of Palestinians behind a huge Berlin-wall replica--later called a "security barrier" and now a "fence" (see photo, below).

2. P.R. Strategy #3: Violence In a Vacuum. A small percentage of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories see violence against Israelis as their only option in fighting oppression. While rightly condemning violent attacks against the innocent, the U.S. media never consider the causes of such behavior. So far as we're ever told, suicide-bombers (for instance) are motivated only by inexplicable neurotic hate laced with “anti-semitism.” (In quotes because Palestinians too are semites.)

Furthermore, the occupying military's frequent gratuitous violence against innocent Palestinians--for instance, killing people in urgent need of medical care by preventing ambulances from reaching hospitals--is never reported in U.S. mass-media. When an occupying soldier shoots--or calls in a rocket-attack upon--a citizen of the territory he is occupying, the event is commonly described as Israeli "self-defense" against Palestinian "aggression." (Noam Chomsky says, "Call it what you will, it's not 'self-defense.'")

Two views of Ramallah. Top: A woman protests. The building in the background
appears to be part of an Israeli settlement. Bottom: A Palestinian neighborhood,
January 2008 (photo by Moomin13). The North-Pole-y cap makes me wonder if
the snowman celebrates Christmas. Americans often express surprise when
informed that a sizable minority of Palestinians are Christians. I don't know where
the hell they imagine Bethlehem is located. Fifty miles east of Rome, maybe.
Maybe we should encourage TV news to report the religious preferences of
casualties. "Israeli warplanes attacked Palestinian targets, killing seven Moslems
and four Christians including a nun." Imagine! One hates to think that the average
U.S. TV viewer values Christian lives more than Muslim. One hates to think of all
sorts of things that are obviously true.

3. P.R. Strategy #4: Defining Who Is Newsworthy. When an Israeli occupying soldier is killed in Palestine, U.S. news often shows his picture; tells his name, age, and home town; shows his funeral; interviews his grieving family; etc. Nothing wrong with that, in itself. Meanwhile, "Israeli warplanes attacked Palestinian targets, killing 11 people" [real U.S. TV news report, from this week's installment]. The weather up next. . . .

At least they said 11 "people"! You gotta admire the astute word-choice, though. “Palestinian targets” sounds much more appropriate than “Palestinian homes, soccer fields, and houses of worship.” And “attacked”--perhaps conjuring images of the charge of the light brigade or of freedom-loving Yanks attacking the beaches of Normandy--sounds much more heroic than “dropped high-explosive bombs upon defenseless . . . ."

Note to “anti-semitism” hunters: The device on the dictionary’s cover represents the
national flag that represents the U.N. member-state of Israel. The balding figure
is a good likeness of that nation-state's former head of government, Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert (resigned September 2008). Next time I criticize Norway's
whaling policies, somebody remind me to patiently explain that--contrary to
appearances--I don't hate either Lutheran Christianity or the Nordic people!

Coming up in Part 3 (3 weeks from now):
1. P.R. Strategy #5: Myth of U.S. Neutrality
2. P.R. Strategy #6: Myth of the Generous Offer
3. P.R. Strategy #7: Marginalized Voices
4. Is Peace Possible?

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern) . . .

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/
• Fridays, 7:30 to 8:00 AM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/
• Saturdays, 7:00-7:30 PM, KRFP-FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New%20World%20Notes

Up in the sky! It’s a wall! . . . It’s a separation barrier! . . .
No! . . . it's . . . Superfence! (Poster by Eric Drooker)

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land (Part 1)

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New World Notes News
Volume 2, Number 5 -- February 3, 2009

This week in New World Notes, #50 -- February 3 & 6:

We all can name at least one democracy that has remained committed to freedom of the press since its founding.

A country that does have its faults but has the great virtue of respecting--or at least tolerating--the media's expression of a wide range of opinions about government policies. Even in time of war.

The democracy I'm thinking of is Israel.

The United States? Puh-leeze!

So when we want to get a rounded view of the Israel-Palestine conflict . . . when we want better to understand the claims and grievances of both sides . . . when we want to appreciate a multitude of perspectives on the causes of and solutions to the conflict . . .

. . . we drop the New York Times into the recycle bin, toss the TV set out the window, turn on the computer, and read the online English edition of the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz (http://www.haaretz.com/).

On the other hand, if we want 175 media sources all repeating the same Government-approved Party Line--all making the same Official Talking Points in pretty much the same language . . . with the same omissions and distortions--well, just look around.


How did we get to this pretty pass?

The Media Education Foundation analyzed American media coverage of the Palestine conflict. In 2003 it presented its findings in a video documentary: Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land. Alas, the film is just as true and relevant today as it was six years ago. I've turned the film into a three-part series for radio.

To give you and me a break from Mideast strife, we'll broadcast the three installments over an eight-week period. (The piece survives such rough treatment nicely.) Dates of initial broadcast (on WWUH) are Feb. 3, Feb. 27, and March 20--three days later on WHUS.

Response to the film has been very positive. Chalmers Johnson, author of the Blowback trilogy, called it "The best, least biased presentation we have of all the issues involved. A must-see documentary."

Donna Baillie, herself a filmmaker, said this: "Painstakingly stripping away the myths and inaccuracies regularly passed off as truth by the U.S. media, this film not only reveals the motivations and methods of those responsible for skewing the picture, but also manages to present the most concise and accurate account of the history and implications of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the role that the U.S. has played in the continuation of that conflict that I have seen."

Baillie concludes, "This is a very important piece of work that challenges the viewer to think twice before accepting a version of the world that owes more to the special interests of a powerful elite than to any notion of freedom of the press."

This week's installment provides (1) a brief history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, (2) an explanation of why the media spin has taken the form it has--no, it's not all the fault of AIPAC--and (3) an exploration of the first of the seven means by which the media distort the truth.

The documentary uses many striking clips from network TV news. It adds excellent commentary by American, Israeli, and Palestinian "talking heads"--or maybe, for radio, "disembodied voices"--including Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Neve Gordon, Alisa Solomon, and Rabbi Michael Lerner.

Catch New World Notes . . .

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford) & http://wwuh.org/
• Fridays, 7:30 to 8:00 AM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs) & http://www.whus.org/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New%20World%20Notes
  
  
  This week's music: G'appeels, Jacob's Ladder (Not in My Name)
  
  Gratuitous graphics: Variations on a Palestinian theme. (More David Weinholtz coming soon.)