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PALESTINE TALKING POINTS: Blogging for Freedom
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Political Theory
Saul Alinsky:
Famous community organizer Saul Alinsky is known for developing skills for community organizing. His book "Rules for Radicals" describes common rules for tactics to topple he balance in favor of working classes pitted against financially powerful elites supported by legal establishment. Many of his rules appear crude and offensive, yet they represented only tools available to the oppressed. Many of these rules are relevant to the global Palestine freedom movement. Before we can have discussion on these rules, here are his famous rules as summarized on http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/communism/alinsky.htm:
1. "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have."
2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear and retreat.... [and] the collapse of communication.
3. "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."
5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage."
6. "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
7. "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time...."
8. "Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose."
9. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
10. "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign."
11. "If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside... every positive has its negative."
12. "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."
Famous community organizer Saul Alinsky is known for developing skills for community organizing. His book "Rules for Radicals" describes common rules for tactics to topple he balance in favor of working classes pitted against financially powerful elites supported by legal establishment. Many of his rules appear crude and offensive, yet they represented only tools available to the oppressed. Many of these rules are relevant to the global Palestine freedom movement. Before we can have discussion on these rules, here are his famous rules as summarized on http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/communism/alinsky.htm:
1. "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have."
2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear and retreat.... [and] the collapse of communication.
3. "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."
5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage."
6. "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
7. "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time...."
8. "Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose."
9. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
10. "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign."
11. "If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside... every positive has its negative."
12. "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."
13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and 'frozen.'...
"...any target can always say, 'Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?' When your 'freeze the target,' you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments.... Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the 'others' come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target...'
"One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other."
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Well-known activists who follow these traditions include democratic socialists Barbara Ehrenreich and Cornel West and left-libertarian egalitarians (libertarian socialists), best represented by the work of Noam Chomsky. Today, academics such as G. William Domhoff, Adolph Reed, Jr., and Jean Hardisty—as well as journalist-activists such as Holly Sklar, Roberto Lovato, and Amy Goodman—have refined the power structure research model inspired by Mills. What all of these perspectives share is an analysis of complex systems of power, rather than a fixation on individuals who may or may not be involved in conspiracies. As Domhoff observes, our “opponents are the corporate conservatives and the Republican Party, not the Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderbergers, and Bohemians. It is the same people more or less, but it puts them in their most important roles, as capitalists and political leaders,” where they are “readily identifiable and working through visible…institutions.”
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(The following is an important article on why we have to move beyond "conspiracy theories" and instead develop structural analysis of political events in the world)
Crackpots, the Left, and “Jewish Banker Cabals”
by Chip Berlet, Z Magazine, November 2007
A common perception is that the 1989 collapse of communism in Europe cast social change activists adrift without an ideological rudder. This is not accurate. For decades there have been other analytical frameworks used by organizers who stepped away from traditional Marxism and, instead, crafted approaches based in humanism, ecology, liberation theology, anarchism, and the politics of race and gender. C. Wright Mills’s famous study The Power Elite was published in 1956. Power structure research emerged from the student movement of the 1960s. Feminist theory, critical race theory, queer theory, and other models grew in the 1970s and 1980s.
Well-known activists who follow these traditions include democratic socialists Barbara Ehrenreich and Cornel West and left-libertarian egalitarians (libertarian socialists), best represented by the work of Noam Chomsky. Today, academics such as G. William Domhoff, Adolph Reed, Jr., and Jean Hardisty—as well as journalist-activists such as Holly Sklar, Roberto Lovato, and Amy Goodman—have refined the power structure research model inspired by Mills. What all of these perspectives share is an analysis of complex systems of power, rather than a fixation on individuals who may or may not be involved in conspiracies. As Domhoff observes, our “opponents are the corporate conservatives and the Republican Party, not the Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderbergers, and Bohemians. It is the same people more or less, but it puts them in their most important roles, as capitalists and political leaders,” where they are “readily identifiable and working through visible…institutions.”
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Debunking Pro-Occupaion Propaganda
Myth: Hamas uses the Palestinian population as human shields.
The difficulties that Israel has had in locating and destroying Hamas leaders has led to this myth. The Israeli PR machine uses quotes made by Hamas leaders that the Palestinian population is not afraid of death as proof that they are using Palestinians as human shields.
The truth is that the international law that forbids the use of human shields is referring to militants who use captured enemy civilians as hostages to prevent an attack. There is no evidence that Hamas is forcing its own population to be where it is. In fact, the irony is that Palestinian civilians have nowhere to go within the Gaza Strip even if they wanted to leave.
Read more at:
- Israeli use of Palestinians as human shield.
“On 6 October 2005, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that it was illegal for the IDF to use Palestinian civilians during military actions. The decision was made on a petition that B'Tselem and six other human rights organizations filed in 2002. The petition followed the IDF's use of Palestinian civilians as human shields since the beginning of the second intifada, primarily during IDF operations carried out in Palestinian population centers, as occurred in Operation Defensive Shield.
The method is the same each time: soldiers pick a civilian at random and force him to protect them by doing dangerous tasks that put his life at risk. For example, soldiers have ordered Palestinians to:
• enter buildings to check if they are booby-trapped, or to remove the occupants
• remove suspicious objects from roads used by the army
• stand inside houses where soldiers have set up military positions, so that Palestinians will not fire at the soldiers
• walk in front of soldiers to shield them from gunfire, while the soldiers hold a gun behind their backs and sometimes fire over their shoulders.
The soldiers in the field did not initiate this practice; rather, the order to use civilians as a means of protection was made by senior army officials.
Despite the High Court’s decision and army orders preceding and following it, security forces continue to use Palestinians as human shields. In 2007, for example, B'Tselem documented twelve such cases.
The IDF must act in accordance with the High Court’s ruling, issue clear commands and briefings, and direct the commanders to transmit to their forces the absolute prohibition on use of Palestinians to carry out military assignments. Also, the Judge Advocate General’s Office must open a Military Police investigation into every case of suspected violation of the prohibition, and prosecute every soldier, including the senior command echelon, if the findings of the investigation warrant it.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Human_Shields/Index.asp
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Myth: Palestinians are not sincere in peace with Israel or do not accept two state solution:
The vast majority of Palestinians (78%) believe in living peacefully with Israelis in a two-state solution as indicated by the following U.S. government report. Both Hamas and Palestinian Authority accept the idea of two-state solution within 1967 borders, as reported by the following Haartez reports:
http://www.america.gov/st/mena-english/2009/July/200907021105032SAdemahoM0.6612164.html
http://www.haaretz.com/news/abbas-accuses-israel-of-disfiguring-two-state-solution-1.266874
http://www.haaretz.com/news/haniyeh-hamas-willing-to-accept-palestinian-state-with-1967-borders-1.256915
***************************************************************************************************
Myth: Muslim extremism is rooted in Muslims inherent hatred against Western values:
Soon after 9/11, US officials claimed hatred against Western freedom and democracy was the main motive for 9/11 perpetrators. Similar argument is used by Israelis by accusing Islam is incompatible with peaceful coexistence. Every attempt is made to disconnect discontentment in Muslim world with occupation and oppressive policies of the West. There is also an attempt to hide the fact that Muslim extremists were often created and supported by West and Israel.
These myths have been debunked by 9/11 Commission report which found blind US support for Israeli occupation as a major factor in radicalizing 9/11 mastermind. These findings were acknowledged by professors Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Walt (Harvard). Finally, Gen. David Petraeus have echoed these thoughts and has even warned that blind support for Israel puts American troops in the Middle East in harm's way.
The case of Taliban:
The roots of Taliban go back to first Afghan Jihad in the 80s when USA generously provided weapons and cash to Afghan mujahideen to support their "Jihad" against Soviet Russians. Many of these Jihadists were propped up again in the 90s to create Taliban in order to provide stability in Afghanistan and access to Central Asian resources. US support was not limited to weapons and money but also included extreme ideological indoctrination to create fanatic warriors against Soviet Russians, many of them later turned against USA.
Here's Washington Post report from 2002 describing violent text-books published by University of Nebraska to indoctrinate Pushtuns into Islamic extremism and violence:
"Published in the dominant Afghan languages of Dari and Pashtu, the textbooks were developed in the early 1980s under an AID grant to the University of Nebraska-Omaha and its Center for Afghanistan Studies. The agency spent $51 million on the university's education programs in Afghanistan from 1984 to 1994.
"The pictures [in] the texts are horrendous to school students, but the texts are even much worse," said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, an Afghan educator who is a program coordinator for Cooperation for Peace and Unity, a Pakistan-based nonprofit.
An aid worker in the region reviewed an unrevised 100-page book and counted 43 pages containing violent images or passages.
The military content was included to "stimulate resistance against invasion," explained Yaquib Roshan of Nebraska's Afghanistan center. "Even in January, the books were absolutely the same . . . pictures of bullets and Kalashnikovs and you name it.""
http://www.washingtonpost.
**************************
Here's a report from a prominent Pakistani intellectual Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy on USA providing virulently violent textbooks to people in Pakistan. Dr. Hoodbhoy is outspoken in his campaign against Islamic extremism in Pakistan:
"Readers browsing through book bazaars in Rawalpindi and Peshawar (Pakistani cities closer to Afghan border) can, even today, find textbooks written as part of the series underwritten by a USAID $50 million grant to the University of Nebraska in the 1980's. These textbooks sought to counterbalance Marxism through creating enthusiasm in Islamic militancy. They exhorted Afghan children to "pluck out the eyes of the Soviet enemy and cut off his legs". Years after the books were first printed they were approved by the Taliban for use in madrassas - a stamp of their ideological correctness."
http://www.pugwash.org/rep
***************************************************************************************************
Myth: Muslim extremism is rooted in Muslims inherent hatred against Western values:
Soon after 9/11, US officials claimed hatred against Western freedom and democracy was the main motive for 9/11 perpetrators. Similar argument is used by Israelis by accusing Islam is incompatible with peaceful coexistence. Every attempt is made to disconnect discontentment in Muslim world with occupation and oppressive policies of the West. There is also an attempt to hide the fact that Muslim extremists were often created and supported by West and Israel.
These myths have been debunked by 9/11 Commission report which found blind US support for Israeli occupation as a major factor in radicalizing 9/11 mastermind. These findings were acknowledged by professors Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Walt (Harvard). Finally, Gen. David Petraeus have echoed these thoughts and has even warned that blind support for Israel puts American troops in the Middle East in harm's way.
The case of Taliban:
The roots of Taliban go back to first Afghan Jihad in the 80s when USA generously provided weapons and cash to Afghan mujahideen to support their "Jihad" against Soviet Russians. Many of these Jihadists were propped up again in the 90s to create Taliban in order to provide stability in Afghanistan and access to Central Asian resources. US support was not limited to weapons and money but also included extreme ideological indoctrination to create fanatic warriors against Soviet Russians, many of them later turned against USA.
Here's Washington Post report from 2002 describing violent text-books published by University of Nebraska to indoctrinate Pushtuns into Islamic extremism and violence:
"Published in the dominant Afghan languages of Dari and Pashtu, the textbooks were developed in the early 1980s under an AID grant to the University of Nebraska-Omaha and its Center for Afghanistan Studies. The agency spent $51 million on the university's education programs in Afghanistan from 1984 to 1994.
"The pictures [in] the texts are horrendous to school students, but the texts are even much worse," said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, an Afghan educator who is a program coordinator for Cooperation for Peace and Unity, a Pakistan-based nonprofit.
An aid worker in the region reviewed an unrevised 100-page book and counted 43 pages containing violent images or passages.
The military content was included to "stimulate resistance against invasion," explained Yaquib Roshan of Nebraska's Afghanistan center. "Even in January, the books were absolutely the same . . . pictures of bullets and Kalashnikovs and you name it.""
http://www.washingtonpost.
**************************
Here's a report from a prominent Pakistani intellectual Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy on USA providing virulently violent textbooks to people in Pakistan. Dr. Hoodbhoy is outspoken in his campaign against Islamic extremism in Pakistan:
"Readers browsing through book bazaars in Rawalpindi and Peshawar (Pakistani cities closer to Afghan border) can, even today, find textbooks written as part of the series underwritten by a USAID $50 million grant to the University of Nebraska in the 1980's. These textbooks sought to counterbalance Marxism through creating enthusiasm in Islamic militancy. They exhorted Afghan children to "pluck out the eyes of the Soviet enemy and cut off his legs". Years after the books were first printed they were approved by the Taliban for use in madrassas - a stamp of their ideological correctness."
http://www.pugwash.org/rep
Barbara Streisand and Other Ghosts of Mavi Marmara Haunt Israeli PR
A recent satirical youtube video "Gaza Flotilla Video Mashup: Internet Killed Israeli PR" turns Israeli propaganda on its head. This video is inspired by an earlier MondoWeiss.net post "Internet Killed the Hasbara Star".
Internet Killed Israeli PR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME_NpnH7jDc (please share extensively)
Song lyrics:
You had them on your wireless saying, 'Death to Jews'
You sliced & diced & circumcised & claimed Fair Use
600 Turks were singing 'Girl U Know It's True'
YouTube & Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, bit.ly
You spammed them all & then you even posted 3
Casual Encounters on CraigsList NYC
IDF spokesmen
Who freakin' trained them?
Bloggers came & broke your heart
Now you tweet your new surveillance video
Cyborg Al-Qaida from the future snorting blow
set to the theme music from Hawaii Five-O
He had a knife and
Wait a second: that's Barbra Streisand
You couldn't find my SD card
You're in a bind says Michael Sfard
The Shin Bet mined my SD card
& played it back on NPR
Born & raised in Arkansas
I brought 6 nukes for the Hamas
We are the Mavi Marmara
You are the sloppy hasbara
"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky
****************************************************************************************************************
This video "Internet Killed Israeli PR" was released two days ago and has been reported by LA Times and many Palestinian blogs. The youtube version has already been blocked in Israel and parts of Europe. Please spread these following links to friends. Satire is the best weapons for the oppressed!
http://www.youtube.com/wat
http://www.dailymotion.com
http://vimeo.com/14115290
****************************************************************************************************************
August 17, 2010
In the past, Israeli disinformation groups have openly talked about blocking free speech on Israel. Self proclaimed internet thought police, Jewish Internet Defense Force (JIDF), brags about hacking at least one Facebook group because of what it perceived as unacceptable speech.
Internet Killed Israeli PR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME_NpnH7jDc (please share extensively)
Song lyrics:
You had them on your wireless saying, 'Death to Jews'
You sliced & diced & circumcised & claimed Fair Use
600 Turks were singing 'Girl U Know It's True'
YouTube & Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, bit.ly
You spammed them all & then you even posted 3
Casual Encounters on CraigsList NYC
IDF spokesmen
Who freakin' trained them?
Bloggers came & broke your heart
Now you tweet your new surveillance video
Cyborg Al-Qaida from the future snorting blow
set to the theme music from Hawaii Five-O
He had a knife and
Wait a second: that's Barbra Streisand
You couldn't find my SD card
You're in a bind says Michael Sfard
The Shin Bet mined my SD card
& played it back on NPR
Born & raised in Arkansas
I brought 6 nukes for the Hamas
We are the Mavi Marmara
You are the sloppy hasbara
"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky
****************************************************************************************************************
This video "Internet Killed Israeli PR" was released two days ago and has been reported by LA Times and many Palestinian blogs. The youtube version has already been blocked in Israel and parts of Europe. Please spread these following links to friends. Satire is the best weapons for the oppressed!
http://www.youtube.com/wat
http://www.dailymotion.com
http://vimeo.com/14115290
****************************************************************************************************************
August 17, 2010
At this time we don' know who blocked this video in some countries and why. There are some suspicions of Israel or pro-Israeli groups involvement. One early negative comment to youtube video was from a user "rlandes7" who some believe is Richard Landes - a virulently anti-Palestnian academic at Boston University. Richard's daughter Aliza Landes is head of the North America desk of the "IDF New Media Unit" and was featured three times in the video. Pro-Israel blogger Israel Matzav also reported that Landes himself sent the video to them:
In the past, Israeli disinformation groups have openly talked about blocking free speech on Israel. Self proclaimed internet thought police, Jewish Internet Defense Force (JIDF), brags about hacking at least one Facebook group because of what it perceived as unacceptable speech.
Another pro-Israel propaganda group, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), tried to thwart and censor wikipedia posts on Israel-Palestine conflict. Once their plan was revealed, wikipedia indefinitely blocked wiki account of CAMERA's "senior research analyst" - Gilad Ini. Five other CAMERA recruits were sanctioned by wikipedia. CAMERA has attacked almost every major media organization for their "alleged" bias against Israel; including CNN, NBC, NPR, CBS, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Toronto Star, Time Magazine, and even Steven Spielberg (Munich), Norwegian doctors and UN Relief and Works Agency.
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