Sat, 31 March 2012
Ahead of a demonstration in Philadelphia at the annual fundraiser of the Jewish National Fund (video now available here), and demonstrations across the world marking the 36th anniversary of Palestinian Land Day, Matt Graber stops to ask the questions: "What is the international campaign to Stop the JNF?"
We speak with Hazem Jamjoum, editor of al Majdal Magazine from Badil Resource Center, Mick Napier of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee, and Sara Kershnar of the US Stop the JNF Campaign.
HUGE thanks to Hazem, Mick, Sara, Eric, Frank, and Nidal at Badil for making this show possible.
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Thu, 22 March 2012
On this week's Radio Against Apartheid, DJ Ev Daddy and Matt Graber discuss institutional racism in the USA. First and foremost, we remember those whose lives have been taken. Many people in the United States have been talking about the murder of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26. The shooter, George Zimmerman, still remains free. Yesterday, March 21, the parents of Trayvon Martin, Tracey Martin and Sabrina Fulton, and thousands of supporters, took part in a Million Hoodie March in New York City to demand justice for Trayvon. Participants took to the streets donning hoodies and calling for people to sign and share a petition on Change.org calling for the police to prosecute Trayvon's murderer.
As of right now, the petition has 990,000 signatures. Please add yours and let's make it to 2 million demanding justice for Trayvon.
Then Matt covered the latest campaigns in Israel and Iran to prevent a war between their two countries. The politicians in the two countries have been speaking in bellicose terms for months, if not years. But, as an article at +972 Magazine by Haggai Matar reflects, social media has provided the means for an alternative discourse: one highlighting the brutality of war, and calling for a de-escalation of force, and love and mutual support between Israelis and Iranians.
The campaigns began with a statement by the Iranian women's collective, Change for Equality, with their press release, 'Iranian Women’s Rights Activists Say No to War On March 8' and a series of 13 eloquent videos denouncing the prospect of war (with English subtitles).
An exchange between activists in Iran and Israel followed online, culminating in a series of photos on the blog, IsraelovesIran.com.
Activism will go from the digital realm to the streets this Saturday, as demonstrators say "No to War with Iran" in Tel Aviv, Israel.
As people in the streets of Israel plea for peace, those taking a "pro-Israel" stance at the annual American Israeli Public Affairs Committee meeting earlier this month in Washington, D.C. were taking a harsh line and calling for war with Iran. So I hope we can all consider what it means for many Americans to be considered "pro-Israel".
Then, DJ Ev marks the 9-year anniversary of the start of the current Iraq War, and then commemorates the 16 Afghanis massacred by US and NATO troops on Sunday, March 11. The latest probe by Afghanistan's parliament found that up to 20 troops were involved in the massacre, while the United States maintains that there was a sole actor, Staff Sergeant Robert Bales.
This radio broadcast, and all of our previous broadcasts, first aired live on West Philadelphia's community radio station, WPEB 88.1 FM. WPEB is a project of Scribe Video, a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia. We hope that you'll check out the website of Scribe, consider enrolling in one of their spectacular workshops, and consider donating to Scribe to allow all of this programming to continue.
Thanks!
Direct download: Show_21_Too_Many_Criminals_Are_Walking_These_Streets.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:09 PM
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Wed, 21 March 2012
The Equality Forum, an annual LGBTQ conference held in Philadelphia, has announced that Israel is their featured nation of 2012, and they have invited the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, to deliver the keynote speech.
Ambassador Oren, who personally has an atrocious record of supporting Israel's war crimes and was the object of a demonstration by students in 2010 at UC Irvine (the Irvine 11), has no business delivering the keynote speech at a conference dedicated to social justice and equality. This year's Equality Forum conference, which is partnered with the Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, is an attempt at Pinkwashing.
What is Pinkwashing? From Pinkwatchingisrael.com:
Pinkwashing is the appropriation of queer voices from Israel and Palestine and the gay rights struggle to distract from and normalize the numerous human rights and international law violations and the colonial and apartheid policies that the Israeli State has established on the ground. Pinkwashing is meant to cover up these violations with a facade of progressiveness and equality. In short, Israeli Pinkwashing aims to change the standard of a progressive, civilized nation from one that respects and protects human rights to on that respects and protects gay rights, while deliberately ignoring basic rights to a repressed and occupied population (rights to water, movement, speech, education). Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, or PQBDS, a coalition of Palestinian LGBTQ groups, has released a statement in which they write: "We call upon the Equality Forum leadership to reverse their complicity in Israel’s propaganda campaign."
I have just e-mailed the Executive Director of the Equality Forum, Malcolm Lazin, and the Chair of the Board, Professor Debra Blair, to tell them not to pinkwash Israel's crimes.
I hope you'll take a moment and write to Malcolm Lazin at mlazin@equalityforum.com and Professor Debra Blair at dblair@temple.edu.
Feel free to use the letter that I sent - available below - or to write your own!
Solidarity,
Matthew Graber
Sincerely,
Category:general
-- posted at: 3:33 AM
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Thu, 15 March 2012
March 16, 2012 marks the nine year anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie. Rachel was killed in the Gaza Strip when, as an international activist with the International Solidarity Movement, she stood between an Israeli bulldozer and a Palestinian home. Rachel's back was broken by the bulldozer, and she died shortly thereafter from her wounds. On this week's program, DJ Ev Daddy and DJ Matt Graber are joined by the parents of Rachel Corrie, Craig and Cindy Corrie, who called in from Olympia, Washington.
Craig and Cindy tell the story of an intelligent, caring young daughter who laughed, danced, played and taught with the people in the Gaza Strip, giving them hope and joy in the midst of war and suffering; and they update us on their continued efforts to find justice and hold the Israeli government and military accountable for the murder of their daughter and continuing crimes against the Palestinian people.
From the interview:
Craig Corrie: "She was killed there that day, but also, there were 5 children and 4 adults that were behind that wall that Rachel stood in front of. Those people have become our friends; we've watched those children grow up. And that boy that was learning English, we saw him in the spring of 2009 - he was in college by then - he switched his major to English. So that was a huge thing for us to be able to watch those children grow up."
Also on the program: news from South Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Palestine News Network reports on the latest assault on the Gaza Strip, which left 26 dead and over 70 injured.
A massacre last Sunday by an American soldier in Afghanistan. In the early hours of Sunday morning, one soldier (or multiple soldiers, according to village accounts) left his military base near Kandahar and massacred 16 civilians, including 9 children.
US and Yemini airstrikes beginning late Friday have killed at least 45 according to varying reports from the region. The US has increased its drone attacks in Yemen as tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in recent violence there.
March 15 marks the one year anniversary of the start of the Syrian revolution to overthrow the Assad government. On March 15, 2011, Syrians took to the streets for the first public demonstration since 1968. There will be events and demonstrations throughout the world to commemorate the advances and to remember those we have lost in the past year. Check out the Alliance for Syria for events near you.
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Fri, 9 March 2012
On this week's Radio Against Apartheid, Pastor Doug Gestwick of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Yorktown, Virginia, joins us on the program. Pastor Doug speaks with DJ Matt Graber about his pilgrimages to the Holy Land, his personal relationship with Father Elias Chakour, the Archbishop of the Galilee, and about his work as a delegate to the World Methodist Council.
Also on the program:
Palestine News Network answered listeners' nominations of inspirational women in recognition of International Women's Day on March 8. PNN's Lydia David updated us on Palestinian prisoner Hana al Shalabi, who has not eaten for 21 days in protest of her arbitrary detention by the Israeli military. Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, today released a call to action to people of conscience for the release of all female Palestinian political prisoners.
DJ Ev Daddy and DJ Matt Graber returned from a trip to Washington, D.C. last weekend to demonstrate as a part of Occupy AIPAC. The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, commonly referred to as the Israeli lobby, held their annual conference at the DC convention center and DJ Ev Daddy and DJ Matt Graber joined over 130 other organizations from across the country, including Occupy Wall Street, to protest the pandering of the US congress and President Barack Obama to the Israeli lobby group. The Real News reports, "Occupy AIPAC Opposes War and Sanctions Against Iran"; and Occupy AIPAC's website has everything related to the weekend, including several disruptions of the AIPAC convention.
Direct download: Show_19_United_Methodist_Pastor_Doug_Gestwick.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:04 AM
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Fri, 2 March 2012
On Wednesday, February 29, Sarab al Jijakli joined Radio Against Apartheid to get us and our listeners up to speed on the Syrian Revolution. Sarab is an organizer with the Network of Arab-American Professionals and the Alliance for Syria. He explained the origins of discontent in Syria, and told us of the extreme violence of the regime of Bashar Al Assad which has claimed over 9,000 lives, incarcerated and tortured over 100,000, and displaced thousands more. Sarab concluded by giving listeners means to affect change positively for the people of Syria:
Also on the program:
DJ Ev Daddy and Matt are heading to Occupy AIPAC this weekend! See the compelling article by last week's guest, Medea Benjamin, "Ten reasons why AIPAC is so dangerous".
News directly from Bethlehem, in the Occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank, with Palestine News Network. PNN told listeners about demonstrations last Friday, and the Israeli Occupation Forces' attempts to quash the demonstrations in Jerusalem at al Aqsa Mosque and Qalandia checkpoint, and in Hebron. At the demonstration at Qalandia checkpoint, the IOF shot and killed one unarmed demonstrator, Tal'at Ramia. In Hebron, the IOF detained Mohammad Zughayar, the spokesperson for Youth Against the Settlements, at demonstrations to open Shuhada Street, a Jewish-only road through the Palestinian city.
PNN brought attention to Hana Shalabi, a Palestinian who has been on hunger strike for 14 days.
Next week, PNN will be honoring inspirational women in Palestine for International Women's Day. Nominate a woman in Palestine who inspires you! E-mail your nominations to pnnenglishnews@gmail.com.
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Radio Against Apartheid
Amplifying voices for justice and equality in the Middle East
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