The Israeli feminist organisation Coalition of Women for Peace released an open letter to Justice Richard Goldstone on April 6. It is published below. It is in response to Goldstone鈥檚 recent statements retracting some of the findings of the United Nations-commissioned Goldstone report into Israel鈥檚 2008-09 war on Gaza that were critical of Israel. It is abridged from Coalitionofwomen.org.
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Dear Justice Richard Goldstone,
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Below is an extract of a letter Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent to the student leaders at UC Berkeley in March 2010 regarding Berkeley鈥檚 decision to divest from Israel.
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I am writing to tell you that, despite what detractors may allege, you are doing the right thing. You are doing the moral thing. You are doing that which is incumbent on you as humans who believe that all people have dignity and rights, and that all those being denied their dignity and rights deserve the solidarity of their fellow human beings.
I read an article by Greg Sheridan on multiculturalism in the April 2 Weekend Australian and there are a few points that need to be said.
First of all, Sheridan says he sees no future to multiculturalism. He says it is a failure and that it doesn't work in Australia. Well, I believe that we live in a world where borders are less important than ever before.
The suicide of Mohammed Asif Atay in Curtin detention centre on March 28 was 鈥渢ragic news鈥 to Prime Minister Julia Gillard. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure all Australians hearing this news would feel very sorry,鈥 she said on March 29.
He was the sixth known refugee to die in detention in the past seven months and one of hundreds of refugees suffering under the system of mandatory detention.
Refugee advocates told 91自拍论坛 Weekly that self-harm happened daily at the Curtin detention centre.
One hundred and thirty people packed out a room in the Crowne Plaza hotel to hear traditional owners and nuclear experts call for the closure of the Ranger uranium mine in the world heritage-listed Kakadu national park.
Yvonne Margarula condemned the mine for its presence on land that is sacred to her people 鈥 the Mirrar people. 鈥淭he promises never last,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut the problems always do.鈥
While Palestinian, Israeli and international non-violent protesters who march against Israel鈥檚 policies in the Occupied Territories are literally showered in sewage, beaten, arbitrarily arrested and sometimes killed by Israeli forces, the battle against non-violent resistance has taken its own ugly form in Australia.
Below is a letter published in March by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network that endorses the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
The letter was issued in response to a February 15 statement by Zionist (pro-Israel) groups that said the BDS campaign was anti-Semitic and 鈥渁ntithetical to freedom of speech鈥.
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Because academic, cultural and commercial boycotts, divestments and sanctions of Israel:
鈥 are being called for by Palestinian civil society in response to the occupation and colonisation of their land,
Transport Workers Union national secretary, Tony Sheldon, has condemned Qantas鈥檚 training of overseas strikebreakers after the company鈥檚 chief executive, Alan Joyce, admitted to the practice in media reports.
Sheldon said in an April 5 media release: 鈥淭hey really need to come clean on who they are training, who is doing the training and why it has to be done in secret in another country? Why are they hiding it around the other side of the world?
A poll by Roy Morgan Research several days into the Fukushima nuclear crisis found that 61% of Australians oppose the development of nuclear power in Australia, nearly double the 34% who support it.
The growth in support for nuclear power over the past five years has been totally erased 鈥 and then some.
There was undoubtedly growing support for nuclear power until Fukushima, but the issue had been the subject of a great deal of hype and spin.
The Australian鈥檚 pro Israel bias
The letter below was sent to The Australian on March 8.
How apt that The Australian (7/4/2011) has front page photos of placards demanding 鈥楽top the massacre in Gaza鈥 and 鈥楽top killing children鈥 and then Israel launched a new massacre (Operation Scorching Summer) of Palestinians in Gaza the next morning.
Three former members of the left-wing student group Capitalism Research Society (CRC) were taken into police custody on March 21.
Among those arrested was the group鈥檚 former president Choi Ho-hyeon. They were charged under the National Security Act, a draconian anti-communist law that was enacted in 1948 during the height of bloody right-wing suppressions of popular grassroots democratic movements.
The law has been repeatedly used to crack down on political opposition and progressive movements.
Transport Workers Union national secretary, Tony Sheldon, has condemned Qantas鈥檚 training of overseas strikebreakers after the company鈥檚 chief executive, Alan Joyce, admitted to the practice.
Sheldon said on April 5: 鈥淭hey really need to come clean on who they are training, who is doing the training and why it has to be done in secret in another country? Why are they hiding it around the other side of the world?
鈥淨antas has said they forecast a 7 per cent increase in international capacity and 8 per cent in domestic 鈥 they have the capacity to pay their workforce a decent wage.
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