Dear friends,
The US-Russia nuclear pact is a major step -- but experts are pleading with governments that disarmament is the only way to prevent a nuclear nightmare. Sign the petition calling for zero nukes and bring a powerful public voice to the crucial Nuclear Security Summit next week:
Just a few hours ago, President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia signed a new treaty on nuclear arms control.
It's a crucial step, and at just the right time. Next week could see the beginning of the end of all these monstrous weapons at a crucial global disarmament summit in Washington.
Experts are pleading with governments to disarm or risk disaster, but politicians cite the lack of a public movement on this issue. Let's show them where people stand -- sign the petition for "global zero" nuclear weapons -- it will be delivered directly to leaders at the summit!
http://www.avaaz.org/en/together_for_zero/?vl
There are over 23,000 nuclear weapons in the world, and as many as 13 countries are on the edge of building them. Experts say we can’t maintain the status quo -- the risks of regional nuclear war, nuclear terrorism, or catastrophic accidents are rising daily. The only workable solution is for all countries to give these weapons up.
Avaaz is helping to build the Global Zero campaign, backed by hundreds of former heads of state, foreign ministers, national security advisers, and thousands of grassroots activists across the world. Last year we saw that this movement can have influence -- over 115,000 Avaaz members signed a petition and helped secure a historic US-Russian agreement to slash their nuclear arsenals by one third!
But now we need stronger action globally: with fears of a Mideast nuclear arms race mounting, and tensions in the Korean Peninsula and Pakistan far from over, the chance of a military or terrorist nuclear attack remains a chilling threat.
The Presidents of the US and Russia have agreed in principle to Global Zero, but the hard part is getting them to do it in practice. The Washington summit next week is a major chance to hold them to their word. Let's join together and make sure our leaders hear a powerful call for Global Zero. Click below to sign the petition:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/together_for_zero/?vl
With hope,
Luis, Ricken, Pascal, Ben, Alice, Raluca and the entire Avaaz team.
Reaching Zero, Jonathan Schell (The Nation):
hhttp://www.thenation.com/doc/20100419/schell/2
Huge cut in warheads banishes legacy of the Cold War, The Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/huge-cut-in-warheads-banishes-legacy-of-the-cold-war-1928733.html
Obama Limits U.S. Use Of Nuclear Arms, New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/04/06/world/international-uk-nuclear-usa-review.html
Scrapping nuclear arms is now realpolitik. Six security experts urge America and Russia to act today
http://www.avaaz.org/the_times_nukes
More information about the Global Zero Campaign:
http://www.avaaz.org/the_times_nukes
Full Global Zero Action Plan available at:
http://www.globalzero.org/en/about-campaign
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE STATEMENT: U.S. SETTLEMENT FUNDERS
As an organization that focuses on the critical role of the United States in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish Voice for Peace is deeply concerned by the ongoing activities of U.S. organizations whose 501c3 (non-profit) status enables them to raise money from American donors to support and maintain settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
In the Washington Post last year, David Ignatius noted that from 2004-2007, 28 U.S. tax exempt organizations raised $33.4 million in funding for settlements and related organizations.[1]
The construction of settlements in occupied territory is a violation of international law.
Non-profit settlement funders include New York-based Hebron Fund, which supports the extremist Jewish settlement of 700 settlers in the center of Hebron, making the area inaccessible and unlivable to its 150,000 Palestinian residents. Israeli organizations such as B’tselem describe the settlement in Hebron as a severe violation of the most basic human rights of the Palestinians in the city and an ongoing war crime.[2] The Hebron Fund contributes almost $1 million dollars annually to support this settlement.[3]
An additional example is Friends of Ir David, which raises money to expand Jewish settlement in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem. From 2004-2006, Friends of Ir David contributed over $10 million dollars to activities that include fraudulent home purchases and ideological archaeological excavations that are used as a pretext to demolish Palestinian homes. Since 1967, thirty five percent of East Jerusalem has been taken over by the Jerusalem municipality for the sake of housing Jewish citizens—and changing the facts on the ground in anticipation of a final status settlement.[4]
While many of these organizations claim to merely fund “social and educational” activities, the Center Fund, also based in New York, contributed over 100,000 shekels (over $27,000) to the Od Yosef Chai Shechem yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar near Nablus. This is the same yeshiva whose rabbi said it was permissible to kill gentile babies because of "the future danger that will arise if they are allowed to grow into evil people like their parents." [5] The Center Fund also funds settler organized “security” organizations—ie, militias[6]. Indeed the violence from the Yitzhar settlement has been so pronounced that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described it as "pogroms against non-Jews."[7]
The Colorado-based Christian Friends of Israeli Communities encourages churches and
ministries to connect with "the pioneers of Biblical Israel" through
the "adopt-a-settlement” program. The director of the organization’s Israeli office estimates that more than half the settlements in the West Bank receive direct or indirect support from Christian organizations.[8]
The impact of American dollars on helping settlers deepen and broaden their hold on Palestinian neighborhoods and cities is clear. These are just four examples of how U.S.-based organizations, taking advantage of their tax-exempt status, are contributing to creating “facts on the ground” in flagrant opposition to international law, as well as materially contributing to the ongoing human rights violations and daily misery of Palestinians struggling to survive and remain in the West Bank.
Unfortunately, these settlements, and their U.S. fundraising counterparts, are in no way outside the Jewish mainstream in either Israel or the United States. The Israeli beneficiary of Friends of Ir David, for example, known as Elad, has been in and out of a contractual relationship with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. That relationship gives Elad control over the very archaeological site that itis using to pursue its political goal of increasing Jewish control over Silwan The yeshiva in Yitzar funded by the Central Fund received over a million shekels in funding from Israel’s Education and Welfare ministries in 2007 and 2008. [9]
Even mainstream American non-profit organizations like Nefesh B’Nefesh, which works in partnership with the Jewish Agency to promote North American immigration to Israel, receives one third of its aliyah related funding from the Israeli Absorption Ministry each year. Nefesh B’Nefesh encourages North American Jews to move to settlements in the West Bank, both by promoting those “communities” on their website, without mentioning that they are situated in the West Bank, and by helping new immigrants access increased fiscal benefit packages they receive from the Israeli government for settling in West Bank settlements.[10]
Thus the Israeli settlement enterprise, despite an avowed settlement “freeze,” is a conscious target for expansion, aided and abetted both by the Israeli government and the American organizations that support them.
In the Washington Post last year, David Ignatius noted that from 2004-2007, 28 U.S. tax exempt organizations raised $33.4 million in funding for settlements and related organizations.[1]
The construction of settlements in occupied territory is a violation of international law.
Non-profit settlement funders include New York-based Hebron Fund, which supports the extremist Jewish settlement of 700 settlers in the center of Hebron, making the area inaccessible and unlivable to its 150,000 Palestinian residents. Israeli organizations such as B’tselem describe the settlement in Hebron as a severe violation of the most basic human rights of the Palestinians in the city and an ongoing war crime.[2] The Hebron Fund contributes almost $1 million dollars annually to support this settlement.[3]
An additional example is Friends of Ir David, which raises money to expand Jewish settlement in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem. From 2004-2006, Friends of Ir David contributed over $10 million dollars to activities that include fraudulent home purchases and ideological archaeological excavations that are used as a pretext to demolish Palestinian homes. Since 1967, thirty five percent of East Jerusalem has been taken over by the Jerusalem municipality for the sake of housing Jewish citizens—and changing the facts on the ground in anticipation of a final status settlement.[4]
While many of these organizations claim to merely fund “social and educational” activities, the Center Fund, also based in New York, contributed over 100,000 shekels (over $27,000) to the Od Yosef Chai Shechem yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar near Nablus. This is the same yeshiva whose rabbi said it was permissible to kill gentile babies because of "the future danger that will arise if they are allowed to grow into evil people like their parents." [5] The Center Fund also funds settler organized “security” organizations—ie, militias[6]. Indeed the violence from the Yitzhar settlement has been so pronounced that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described it as "pogroms against non-Jews."[7]
The Colorado-based Christian Friends of Israeli Communities encourages churches and
ministries to connect with "the pioneers of Biblical Israel" through
the "adopt-a-settlement” program. The director of the organization’s Israeli office estimates that more than half the settlements in the West Bank receive direct or indirect support from Christian organizations.[8]
The impact of American dollars on helping settlers deepen and broaden their hold on Palestinian neighborhoods and cities is clear. These are just four examples of how U.S.-based organizations, taking advantage of their tax-exempt status, are contributing to creating “facts on the ground” in flagrant opposition to international law, as well as materially contributing to the ongoing human rights violations and daily misery of Palestinians struggling to survive and remain in the West Bank.
Unfortunately, these settlements, and their U.S. fundraising counterparts, are in no way outside the Jewish mainstream in either Israel or the United States. The Israeli beneficiary of Friends of Ir David, for example, known as Elad, has been in and out of a contractual relationship with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. That relationship gives Elad control over the very archaeological site that itis using to pursue its political goal of increasing Jewish control over Silwan The yeshiva in Yitzar funded by the Central Fund received over a million shekels in funding from Israel’s Education and Welfare ministries in 2007 and 2008. [9]
Even mainstream American non-profit organizations like Nefesh B’Nefesh, which works in partnership with the Jewish Agency to promote North American immigration to Israel, receives one third of its aliyah related funding from the Israeli Absorption Ministry each year. Nefesh B’Nefesh encourages North American Jews to move to settlements in the West Bank, both by promoting those “communities” on their website, without mentioning that they are situated in the West Bank, and by helping new immigrants access increased fiscal benefit packages they receive from the Israeli government for settling in West Bank settlements.[10]
Thus the Israeli settlement enterprise, despite an avowed settlement “freeze,” is a conscious target for expansion, aided and abetted both by the Israeli government and the American organizations that support them.
Friday, February 19, 2010
A STATEMENT FROM THE CONFERENCE OF MAJOR RELIGIOUS SUPERIORS SRI LANKA (CMRS)
We, the members of the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Sri Lanka (CMRS) composed of Religious Congregations of priests, brothers and sisters, met on Tuesday 16th February 2010 at the CMRS Secretariat in Mutwal, during which grave concerns about the situation of our country were expressed.
The lamentable erosion of moral values, the lawlessness that prevails, and the impunity with which the wrongdoers are protected, have led to a loss of faith in the democratic process and even just governance. On the whole there is a sense of helplessness and hopelessness.
Impacted by the perception of the current events and trends in our society, we as a Religious body cannot but heed the call of God to respond to the signs of the times. Desirous of being faithful to our Prophetic calling as consecrated persons, we call upon the people of our country and especially the political leaders to respect the Rule of Law and basic Human Rights which are inherent part of the democratic process, and uphold the principles of reconciliation, forgiveness, freedom of media, freedom of speech and the right to dissent.
Sr. Bernadette Fernando SCC
Executive Secretary CMRS
The lamentable erosion of moral values, the lawlessness that prevails, and the impunity with which the wrongdoers are protected, have led to a loss of faith in the democratic process and even just governance. On the whole there is a sense of helplessness and hopelessness.
Impacted by the perception of the current events and trends in our society, we as a Religious body cannot but heed the call of God to respond to the signs of the times. Desirous of being faithful to our Prophetic calling as consecrated persons, we call upon the people of our country and especially the political leaders to respect the Rule of Law and basic Human Rights which are inherent part of the democratic process, and uphold the principles of reconciliation, forgiveness, freedom of media, freedom of speech and the right to dissent.
Sr. Bernadette Fernando SCC
Executive Secretary CMRS
Sunday, February 14, 2010
'Outcast' Aborigines stage red desert walk-out
'Outcast' Aborigines stage red desert walk-out
LINDSAY MURDOCH
The Age, February 13, 2010
BANJO Morton forced the owners of the vast Lake Nash cattle station in the Northern Territory to pay him and other Aboriginal stockmen £1 a month when he led a walk-off from there in 1942.
‘We were getting paid only in rations, clothes and boots and we had a good win although we still grumbled it wasn't enough,’ he says.
Sixty-eight years later Mr Morton has led another walk-off, this time from Ampilatwatja, a settlement in central Australia's red desert country, where his Alyawarr people say they have been treated as outcasts and isolated from white man's decision-making under the 2007 federal indigenous intervention.
They are carving a new community from mulga scrub three kilometres from Ampilatwatja - just outside an area prescribed under the intervention - at a place called Honeymoon Bore, 350 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs.
‘We feel free and happy here, away from the all the rules and interference of the intervention,’ says Mr Morton, who is living in a tin hut at the camp, which has no running water and where up to 70 people are living in tents and crude shelters, including the rusty shell of a long-abandoned vehicle.
Mr Morton, 83, and other Alyawarr leaders moved to Honeymoon Bore in July last year to protest against the neglected and overcrowded state of Ampilatwatja, where raw sewage was ankle deep in some houses and overflowing into the street.
They were also upset about the forced takeover of their community store and lack of consultation with white bureaucrats sent to the community under the intervention.
But as the protest - and their plight - fell on deaf ears, they decided to make the walk-off permanent, abandoning Ampilatwatja, where a government-appointed business manager is living in a $500,000 home and office complex and where a sign outside the store names the people who have been ordered to work at the local council or face cuts in their welfare payments.
Mr Morton objects to the intervention's income management, where half of a person's Centrelink payments must be spent on food and other essentials. ‘It's like the ration days all over again,’ he says. ‘We have gone backwards. There's no incentive for my people to work. This makes me feel no good … it's about our pride.’
Mr Morton says the only benefit Ampilatwatja has received from the $1.5 billion intervention is a BMX bicycle track, which is now eroded and unsafe to use and which most residents did not want. Bicycles remain locked in a container.
‘We wanted grass for the football oval,’ Mr Morton says, because the favoured sport is Australian rules football. ‘They shut us out … they didn't ask us what we wanted,’ he says.
Mr Morton says little work has been done to repair houses in Ampilatwatja, some of which are little more than tin shanties.
This week, raw sewage was flowing from an open hole there.
Ampilatwatja, population 450, has not been allocated any houses under a $672 million government housing program under which 700 homes will be built in 20 bigger remote communities across the territory.
But three kilometres away at Honeymoon Bore volunteers this week poured a concrete slab, and a $25,000 kit home donated by an Adelaide company arrived by truck and was expected to be erected in time for a traditional smoking ceremony opening tomorrow.
Richard Downs, another Alyawarr leader, says he envisages up to 100 people will be living at the bore within two years, with wind generators and gardens and work for all in an indigenous ‘utopia’ about 70 kilometres away from a clutch of disadvantaged outstations that are actually called Utopia.
‘Our aim is to show that Aboriginal people can break the cycle of dependency, that we can look after ourselves on our country,’ Mr Downs says.
Plans for Honeymoon Bore include families making 3000 mud bricks.
‘When they are made, everyone will chip in and help build a mud-brick house for the family,’ he says.
‘This will give my people pride in owning homes they built themselves as well and developing building skills and knowledge . . we think with some hard work, sweat and tears we can create a special place.’
Mr Downs, 56, says his people's stand has attracted support from around Australia, including most trade unions, while no federal or NT government MP or minister has visited to listen to their complaints. Protest letters have gone unanswered.
The Age asked federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin about the walk-off and complaints from Ampilatwatja residents.
A spokeswoman replied that decades of successive government failure meant infrastructure in many indigenous communities like Ampilatwatja, was in serious disrepair.
The spokeswoman said work on a significant number of houses in Ampilatwatja was expected to begin in late April.
Speaking with the laconic drawl of a man who has spent all his life in the bush, much of it on the back of a horse, Banjo Morton, says living in Ampilatwatja under the intervention was like being cattle in a yard.
‘We were being prodded and pushed around,’ he says.
‘We needed to get away from there, to build our own community and live the way we want to, on our country.’
Related Coverage
Sorry not enough for stolen generations
Two years after Kevin Rudd's historic apology to the stolen generations ...
Many gaps remain in indigenous policy
The apology two years ago was a good start, but much work is still ...
LINDSAY MURDOCH
The Age, February 13, 2010
BANJO Morton forced the owners of the vast Lake Nash cattle station in the Northern Territory to pay him and other Aboriginal stockmen £1 a month when he led a walk-off from there in 1942.
‘We were getting paid only in rations, clothes and boots and we had a good win although we still grumbled it wasn't enough,’ he says.
Sixty-eight years later Mr Morton has led another walk-off, this time from Ampilatwatja, a settlement in central Australia's red desert country, where his Alyawarr people say they have been treated as outcasts and isolated from white man's decision-making under the 2007 federal indigenous intervention.
They are carving a new community from mulga scrub three kilometres from Ampilatwatja - just outside an area prescribed under the intervention - at a place called Honeymoon Bore, 350 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs.
‘We feel free and happy here, away from the all the rules and interference of the intervention,’ says Mr Morton, who is living in a tin hut at the camp, which has no running water and where up to 70 people are living in tents and crude shelters, including the rusty shell of a long-abandoned vehicle.
Mr Morton, 83, and other Alyawarr leaders moved to Honeymoon Bore in July last year to protest against the neglected and overcrowded state of Ampilatwatja, where raw sewage was ankle deep in some houses and overflowing into the street.
They were also upset about the forced takeover of their community store and lack of consultation with white bureaucrats sent to the community under the intervention.
But as the protest - and their plight - fell on deaf ears, they decided to make the walk-off permanent, abandoning Ampilatwatja, where a government-appointed business manager is living in a $500,000 home and office complex and where a sign outside the store names the people who have been ordered to work at the local council or face cuts in their welfare payments.
Mr Morton objects to the intervention's income management, where half of a person's Centrelink payments must be spent on food and other essentials. ‘It's like the ration days all over again,’ he says. ‘We have gone backwards. There's no incentive for my people to work. This makes me feel no good … it's about our pride.’
Mr Morton says the only benefit Ampilatwatja has received from the $1.5 billion intervention is a BMX bicycle track, which is now eroded and unsafe to use and which most residents did not want. Bicycles remain locked in a container.
‘We wanted grass for the football oval,’ Mr Morton says, because the favoured sport is Australian rules football. ‘They shut us out … they didn't ask us what we wanted,’ he says.
Mr Morton says little work has been done to repair houses in Ampilatwatja, some of which are little more than tin shanties.
This week, raw sewage was flowing from an open hole there.
Ampilatwatja, population 450, has not been allocated any houses under a $672 million government housing program under which 700 homes will be built in 20 bigger remote communities across the territory.
But three kilometres away at Honeymoon Bore volunteers this week poured a concrete slab, and a $25,000 kit home donated by an Adelaide company arrived by truck and was expected to be erected in time for a traditional smoking ceremony opening tomorrow.
Richard Downs, another Alyawarr leader, says he envisages up to 100 people will be living at the bore within two years, with wind generators and gardens and work for all in an indigenous ‘utopia’ about 70 kilometres away from a clutch of disadvantaged outstations that are actually called Utopia.
‘Our aim is to show that Aboriginal people can break the cycle of dependency, that we can look after ourselves on our country,’ Mr Downs says.
Plans for Honeymoon Bore include families making 3000 mud bricks.
‘When they are made, everyone will chip in and help build a mud-brick house for the family,’ he says.
‘This will give my people pride in owning homes they built themselves as well and developing building skills and knowledge . . we think with some hard work, sweat and tears we can create a special place.’
Mr Downs, 56, says his people's stand has attracted support from around Australia, including most trade unions, while no federal or NT government MP or minister has visited to listen to their complaints. Protest letters have gone unanswered.
The Age asked federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin about the walk-off and complaints from Ampilatwatja residents.
A spokeswoman replied that decades of successive government failure meant infrastructure in many indigenous communities like Ampilatwatja, was in serious disrepair.
The spokeswoman said work on a significant number of houses in Ampilatwatja was expected to begin in late April.
Speaking with the laconic drawl of a man who has spent all his life in the bush, much of it on the back of a horse, Banjo Morton, says living in Ampilatwatja under the intervention was like being cattle in a yard.
‘We were being prodded and pushed around,’ he says.
‘We needed to get away from there, to build our own community and live the way we want to, on our country.’
Related Coverage
Sorry not enough for stolen generations
Two years after Kevin Rudd's historic apology to the stolen generations ...
Many gaps remain in indigenous policy
The apology two years ago was a good start, but much work is still ...
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Launch of Donna Mulhearn's Book 29 January 2010
Murdoch Books and The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at The University of Sydney are delighted to invite you to the launch of Donna Mulhearn’s first book, Ordinary Courage
To be launched by journalist and author Antony Loewenstein
Date: Tuesday 2nd February Time: 6.00-8.00pm Venue: Footbridge Theatre, The University of Sydney Parramatta Road, Camperdown Please RSVP by 29th January to claireg@murdochbooks.com.au
‘In this powerful memoir, Donna Mulhearn’s courage and principles stand in damning contrast to the lies told in our name. I salute her.’
John Pilger
All those who know Donna or have heard her speak will be delighted that the book is finished and published, you are invited to come along and make the book launch a great celebration!
Crisis Group quote: Sri Lanka
"Now, put yourself in a Tamil's shoes, and decide whom to vote for in the presidential election: Choose either the head of the government that ordered the attacks against you and your family, or the head of the army that carried it all out. Tamil humiliation and frustration could well lead to militancy again."
Chris Patten, Co-chair, on the 26 January elections in Sri Lanka, United Press International, 19 January
Chris Patten, Co-chair, on the 26 January elections in Sri Lanka, United Press International, 19 January
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Religions for Peace urgently appeals to you to contribute to relief efforts in Haiti. Religious communities and their humanitarian agencies are uniquely well-positioned to help people in Haiti right now.
Religions for Peace will work with our experienced, credible, faith-based partners with aid networks on the ground in Haiti now. Your contribution will be forwarded to the following:
ACT International: www.act-intl.org
Caritas Internationalis: www.caritas.org
Islamic Relief Worldwide: www.islamic-relief.org.uk
The Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief: www.jdc.org/jcdr_about.html
Your generosity will help provide immediate life-saving relief and contribute to urgently needed rebuilding of communities, families and lives.
Importantly, Haitian religious communities and their leaders will be in the forefront of the immediate and long-term efforts to bring hope through concrete action and spiritual support. Your contribution will be used to support them in their vital work through our partners.
Religions for Peace will work with our experienced, credible, faith-based partners with aid networks on the ground in Haiti now. Your contribution will be forwarded to the following:
ACT International: www.act-intl.org
Caritas Internationalis: www.caritas.org
Islamic Relief Worldwide: www.islamic-relief.org.uk
The Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief: www.jdc.org/jcdr_about.html
Your generosity will help provide immediate life-saving relief and contribute to urgently needed rebuilding of communities, families and lives.
Importantly, Haitian religious communities and their leaders will be in the forefront of the immediate and long-term efforts to bring hope through concrete action and spiritual support. Your contribution will be used to support them in their vital work through our partners.
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