Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Partisan Politics is Off the Table by Cindy Sheehan
After Camp Casey in the summer of 2005 (before MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter were invented), three RVs filled with campers took off from Crawford, Texas to take three routes to the large “antiwar” rally in Washington, DC. On September 23rd that year. Now, I, and so many others, thought it was going to be an antiwar rally, but the longer I have been in the movement and the more I know, I now realize it was just an Anti-Republican War Rally. Hundreds of thousands gathered and we, unfortunately, haven’t seen anything like it since.
During that crazy time, I, myself, flew from route to route and made appearances all over the country between the last day of Camp Casey (August 31) and the rally. While I was on that whirlwind tour, (which included a stop in New Orleans shortly after Katrina), someone named Nancy Pelosi called me on my cell phone.
I am a little embarrassed to say that I had never, ever heard of Nancy Pelosi before that phone call—after all, she was only the House Representative for the next Congressional district over from my own in San Francisco and House Minority Leader—somehow, she had never entered my consciousness.
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| Nancy and I in "better times" |
Anyway, she called me to express her support and invite me to meet with her when I arrived in DC. I visited many, many Congress people when I arrived in DC, and most of the Democrats I met with, including Pelosi, told me: “Cindy, you help us take back the House an we’ll help you end the wars.” So, I thought that was a great deal and the movement worked hard to “take back the House.”
Consequently, with MoveOn.org, the Democrats proceeded to exploit the energy the Camp Casey movement to regain the majority. Pelosi became Speaker and one of the first things the new Democratic Majority did with their toadies in MoveOn.org supporting them, approved the supplemental funding to continue and expand the wars while NOT holding the Bush Crime Family accountable.
So, I went back to Congress and basically asked the Democrat Members, “what the hell?” I was told, “Cindy, we need MORE Democrats.” That’s when I left the party.
May I remind you all that in 2008, Democrats took majority in BOTH Houses of Congress and the Presidency; yet the wars rage on and Obama has added a few more, while the war economy is sucking the very life out of our communities and families. Obama just recently introduced a jobs’ bill that he could have proposed for the first two years of his presidency, but with a virtual tyranny of Democrats, how would he have explained it when he failed? Kind of hard to blame a small minority for the actions of a vast majority—but he would have blamed the Republicans, and some Democrat toadies would have gladly lapped it up.
Today, the House Minority Leader, one of the wealthiest women in Congress, our gal, Pelosi, expressed her support of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, saying people are “angry.”
Hell yes, we are angry, lady. Can you even hear us from behind the walls of your mansion in Pac Heights? As someone who has always been in the 99% while you exploit the labor of others and play politics with people’s very lives, I know why we are angry and we are not only angry at the Republicans. I know, and I hope every person reading this or hearing the sound of her lying voice knows, that the only reason Pelosi “supports” this movement is because she wants to be Speaker of the House again.
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| Mighty cozy for "enemies" |
Nancy Pelosi has supported war by paying for it; torture because she was briefed on the inhumane practice in 2002; The Bush Crime Family because she has more in common with it than she has with us; and bailouts for Wall Street while Main Street is shriveling under the deepening Great Recession. Pelosi has used her influence to make family members wealthier (and she, herself) while we are growing poorer and Nancy has absolutely no clue what we down here living in the streets or in humble homes actually go through.
I am heading to the Occupy Wall Street protest on the 15th of this month and, besides observing and supporting, my message will be for the movement to not allow itself to be co-opted by the hypocritical Democrats and their toadies just for electoral purposes.
The Democrats are just one-half of the Capitalist War Party and they WILL demobilize the movement and betray it and we will be left holding our signs and trying to make a difference while the political process here in this nation works diligently against us and the partisan hacks have Moved On.
It’s obvious to me that along with the Republicans, Democrats are not friends of peace or of the worker. The rhetoric of the Democrats may be supportive, but Nancy and her ilk will be waiting to plunge their knives into the guts of the movement and rip it apart as soon as they get their way. It’s an evil game and I am speaking from experience.
Not this time, I hope.
The people must stand firm against partisan politicking.
The Death Penalty is F@ck^ng Stupid. New Show with the Sister of Troy Davis
It's f*^&%ing STUPID to hand out Death Penalties! Click here to listen or download, beginning at 2:00 PM San Francisco time. Today, (October 9th), Cindy brings aboard Martina Correia, sister of the likely innocent - but still executed - Troy Davis. Today we all dwell in a dungeon of economically-driven inequality, where so-called "cop-killers" are put to death but killer cops go free with at most a slap on the wrist. (Ask the relatives of Oscar Grant, executed by BART police as he lay on the ground, unarmed and fully cooperating. The unprovoked killing was captured on numerous videos and went viral on YouTube. Oscar's killer was eventually found guilty of "involuntary manslaughter.)" Now it's too late for Oscar. It's also too late for Troy. And back in the present day, Martina is carrying on the fight for accountability. Cindy and Martina discuss this killing, who is responsible and how they can be held to account for what they've done. They talk about the Georgia Parole Board - which will spare the life of one who pleads "guilty," but vengefully kills any who insist on their innocence. This is state sponsored killing of the innocent. Of course, bear in mind that some who proclaim their "innocence" are actually guilty; but who among us are wise enough to NEVER make a mistake? Who is wise enough to carry the burden of choosing life or death - for others? Cindy and Martina continue to explore the relevant issues here, including many not quite so well publicized aspects. Listen to them. It's well worth it!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Transcript for Cynthia McKinney (10/2) Show
Cynthia McKinney
CS: Cindy Sheehan
CM: Cynthia McKinney
CS: Welcome back to Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox. I am your host Cindy Sheehan and you are listening at CindySheehansSoapbox.com.
I am recording this from a faculty member’s office at Dominican University in a suburb of Chicago Illinois. I am going to be speaking there as soon as I finish recording our conversation and interview at Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox.
I am speaking to the students and the subject is called women in the Peace Movement. I am also supposed to talk about the case of the Cuban 5 and I am writing an article about that that I am going to post at Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox blogspot. I am also going to talk about Cuban American relations. I just found out something very exciting. I probably will be going back to Cuba next month to do a colloquium around the Cuban 5 in Holguin, Cuba. Cuba is a country and a subject that is very near and dear to my heart.
Today we are going to be speaking to somebody who is also near and dear to my heart and a very good friend of mine. A very courageous woman. A friend of Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox and probably somebody you consider a friend whether you’ve met her or not and somebody who is to me always on the side of peace and justice.
Our guest today is ex-congresswoman from the state of Georgia Cynthia McKinney.
Cynthia McKinney, welcome back to Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox.
CM: I know it’s been too long Cindy I have been missing you.
CS: Well you’ve been extremely busy, well we’ve both been busy but you’ve been extraordinarily busy in the past few months haven’t you? Tell my listeners, I think most of my listeners know what you’ve been up to, but tell them about your grueling schedule since you returned from Libya.
CM: Well oh my goodness. I went on a tour and it just kept expanding so I think the final count was 29 cities in about 40 days.
CS: Wow.
CM: So it was literally amazing. The reason it was like in 30 days I had to take a week out because I started a PHD program and I actually had to do some work.
The reason that I have been sort of low key is of course that I got very behind in my work and I have been putting my nose literally to the grindstone to make sure that I get all of my work done so that eventually maybe I can get back out on the road. But you caught me at a very interesting time because all of the, this is the first day actually that I have had to unpack and to wash my clothes and repack. Then go through the mountain of materials that people gave me along the tour. So the message is, if you haven’t heard from me it is coming. Those of you who were there with me on the tour and gave me a packet of information or gave me your card and told me to get back to you that is what I am in the process of doing literally right now.
When you called me Cindy that’s what I was doing going through everything so I can make the contact and reconnect with the people. Literally thousands of people in the 29 cities that included three cities in Canada. Every venue was a standing room only crowd and the reason I believe is because by now the people have clearly understood that they cannot rely on what they see on the television, what they hear over the airwaves. They can’t rely on that and they have to search for other opportunities to hear what’s going on. And then hopefully what they will do is weigh the two and then make their own minds up.
CS: I saw you when you were out on your tour to a really overflow crowd in San Francisco. Part of the people that were there were criticizing you and were saying that your report was false and I am here in Chicago, like I said, and the person who is driving me around saw you when you were in this area and said the same thing happened. What do you think was behind those people? Who do you think were behind those people? Who do you think was behind their coming out basically saying what you were saying was false: that the rebels are heroic revolutionaries and Gadhaffi is public enemy number one around the world. What do you think was behind that?
CM: Well it’s very interesting. There are some people have legitimate grievances with government. It would have legitimate grievances with the Jamahiriya. And I would caution you Cindy that Libya is 6 ½ million people, it’s not one person. So when we talk about Gadhaffi let’s also recognize that there is a system of government there that is larger than one person. So now if there are legitimate grievances I think the way to deal with those legitimate grievances is in the international arena, the international court system. But I have grievances. Look I am from the state of Georgia and we just murdered an innocent boy. I would never call France and Britain to come and bomb my country and use depleted uranium in my country if I had legitimate grievances. I believe that my grievances against the United States are legitimate. But we use a different way to exercise our right and attempt to get heard.
So these people, first of all, they called in depleted uranium, helicopter gun ships, no telling what other kinds of weapons caused the wounds that I saw when I was at the hospital. It looked like the weapons that were used against the people of Gaza that are called dime weapons, which is a new kind of weaponry. So that is what was going on when I was there.
Now of course the situation is far worse and Libya has been completely destroyed. Completely destroyed in the way that Iraq was completely destroyed, Afghanistan completely destroyed. Pakistan, well on it way to being destroyed as a political entity unless the people of Pakistan stand up and say no to NATO led by the United States which has a plan to engulf Pakistan in confusion, chaos and ultimately a loss of control from the people.
Unfortunately now what I have been told by the people I have been in contact with who I was there with, they told me that Tripoli, you would not recognize Tripoli and that saddens me because if you can imagine Tripoli has a million and a half people and they’re dropping bombs as people are driving to work or whatever, they’re dropping bombs.
The partners they were called, the African migrants who had come to Libya because Libya gave them the opportunity to work in dignity and to raise their families and to send their remittances back home so that their families back home could live in a modicum of dignity. Those people were and still are the ones that were there are no longer there at least in the way were, at least the group that I am about to mention. They gathered at Bob Alazeeba and there was one Libyan who was in, he was abroad. He was a dentist and he decided when all this happened he would come back and he served as my translator, my interpreter when I would go into Bob Alazeeba to see what was going on. They would have a party every night and when NATO sent those bombs into Bob Alazeeba they were bombing innocent people. Some of those people, the crowds began to grow because as more and more people became homeless due to the bombing they would set up their tents and they would also join what started out as the Partners who had come and these are largely Africans from other parts of the continent who were so loyal to the opportunity that they had been given to live with a modicum of dignity that they said they would stay there instead of going back home. So they stayed at Bob Alazeeba and they would have the drummers come out and they would dance and chant and do whatever. And this went on every night and every night NATO would bomb. Then NATO bombed them. NATO didn’t bomb beside them. NATO bombed them! Just about a week and a half ago two weeks ago I got a message that the dentist who used to perform my translations for me is no longer answering his cell phone he’s probably dead.
CS: Oh, that’s terrible.
CM: I am just beside myself with outrage at people who want to reduce criminal behavior to opposition to a political figure. There are people who dislike me intensely.
CS: Um Huh. I know the feeling.
CM: And there one of them was a journalist. I have to tell this story. This journalist who said on his show that I should be lynched. This was during when I was in congress. I had become accustomed to this kind of thing. My staff read this and they were stunned, they were horrified. They went to the FBI. They reported this to the FBI. Now only to find out about 3 years later when he was being prosecuted for making some threats against some white politicians, but he got prosecuted for that, what we learned was that he was on the FBI payroll and he was being paid to make those statements against me. That’s why there was no recourse when we went to the FBI. So even in a situation like that, I would never say let’s go bomb my opponent. It’s not the way I think. But these people have decided they want to destroy their country and fill it with the residue, the remains of depleted uranium and you know what that does genetically, so that they can have their country.
Now I have teamed up with some independent journalist who were among the last to leave and I am hoping that we can have Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya on your show.
CS: Yeah, right. We are trying to work that out.
CM: The last piece that he wrote was extremely instructive because people want to talk about one person. Let’s talk about one person but let’s talk about the one person who went to Geneva and said that 10,000 I think the number is actually 6,000 that were killed. What Mahdi pierces so carefully is that there is no evidence there was never any evidence.
CS: And the person that was there said Gadhaffi killed 6,000 people.
CM: There was never any evidence and in fact I don’t want to tell everything that went into the process of doing. But it is clear that the human rights commissioners also understood that there was no evidence. Mahdi has listed the names of the so called human rights organizations that signed on to the letter of this particular Libyan person. If you looked through the list if you were not a questioning person you would say oh my goodness this is authoritative we have to do something. But anyone of responsibility should’ve asked, where’s the evidence? There was never any evidence.
Now this is eerily similar to the testimony of an Italian who was in the European parliament right after September 11th happened and he has since gone on to do a film, to write a book about his experience. But right after the September 11th attacks happened a ministerial meeting was held of NATO and of course you know NATO is a collective of security organizations which means that an attack against one can be an attack against all if the relevant articles are evoked and this ministerial level meeting right after September 11th was to invoke the collective security agreement. What this Italian member of the European Parliament tells me and all of us in his testimony is that the United States said we have been attacked, we’ve got the evidence, we know who did it but we can tell you, we can’t show it to you, we can’t share it with you but we want you to attack Afghanistan. And on the basis of no evidence once again, NATO is doing what it was doing 10 years later in Afghanistan it spread it now to Pakistan.
CS: Well I was listening to an interview you and Madhi did with KPFK in Los Angeles and they played something that Wesley Clarke I believe it was Wesley Clarke who was the former commander of NATO who said that there was a list of countries that the US was going to invade and it was after they were bombing Afghanistan but before the invasion of Iraq. Of course Iraq was on it, Syria and Libya were on that list. So this has all been premeditated many years ago. Not only that but recently the UN has recognized the transitional government in Libya as the legitimate government while refusing to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
CM: Well you know my undergraduate from the University of California was international relations. I have my bachelor’s degree in international relations. My master’s degree from the Fletcher school of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, which is a school for study in international affairs. I am an internationalist and of course now a globalist.
CS: But not in a bad way.
CM: Not in a bad way, that’s right. But now and I have honestly I have believed in the United Nations but not any more.
CS: Right.
CM: Not any more. I saw what the United Nations was supposed to do.
Actually my first involvement with what the UN was supposed to do was Rwanda. But prior to Rwanda there was East Timor. So I have seen the failings of the United Nations of course now we can list amongst the failings, we can list Haiti as an abject failure and it was the UN that brought in the cholera and no reparations have ever been paid Haitian people for that.
The United Nations peacekeepers go around the world and with them go all the vices known to human kind. So not anymore, not anymore.
The United Nations has become a tool from the aspect of justice. So apparently as I have traveled I’ve noticed there is a kind of apartheid around the world. Now that apartheid even extends into the global economy, administration of justice, culture such that there was a time that the United Nations I really believed that the United Nations was there to protect people, protect cultures, to protect. But not anymore I don’t believe it. So I think that as we look for new structures to promote peace, to promote our values the United Nations is one of those structures whose time has come and gone.
CS: You know Cynthia when the UN first passed the resolution of the no fly zone in Libya I sent out an e-mail to my supporters and I said, "you all know that a no fly zone is just code for we are going to begin bombing soon." And it was just a few days. As a matter of fact it was the anniversary of the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003 that the Obama administration starting bombing Libya and of course there was no congressional approval of that.
This is going to be my last question because we only have a few minutes left. Some people dropped me and people unsubscribed from my e-mail list because they said that I don’t care about the people of Libya. What has this UN resolution and the resulting US/NATO bombing of Libya, has it helped the people of Libya in anyway? Was it wrong for me to be concerned if NATO and the US was going to be beginning a bombing campaign in Libya?
CM: You should never be concerned Cindy when human life is at stake and the war machine of the United States and its allies are revving up for action. You should never be sad that you were alert. This matter of the bombing of Libya the destruction, the total destruction of a country is not about one man. But it is about one person. It’s about each one of us and what it is that we truly value. I am deeply disappointed in the people who call themselves a part of the progressive community and who support what I saw in Libya.
CS: Right. I can’t believe that we are already out of time and I have to run over to the lecture hall now and give a talk to the students here at Dominican. Do you have a website that my listeners can read a copy of Mahdi’s latest article?
CM: The article is located at wbaix.org I believe. You know that’s really pitiful. I’m sure it’s at GlobalResearch.ca.
CS: I’ll also be putting a link on my website to that article. And how can my listeners add to your burden and get a hold of you?
CM: I’m always available at Cynthia@runcynthiarun.org and then of course the relevant Face Book and dignity but there’s facebook and Twitter by my name or Run Cynthia Run so people can find me on the internet.
CS: Cynthia as always thank you for your courage and thank you for always being on the right side of issues or at least on the good side of issues.
CM: That’s right. I am always on the people’s side.
CS: And the Peace and Justice side. We can always count on you to be on that side. Good luck with your studies.
CM: Thank you.
CS: Okay we love you a lot at Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox. So keep up the good work.
CM: Okay, bye-bye.
Thanks to my sister, Dede Miller, for doing the transcribing and the show can be heard at this link.
Thanks to my sister, Dede Miller, for doing the transcribing and the show can be heard at this link.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
The Whole Truth (on Libya) and Nothing but the Truth: Cynthia McKinney
Welcome Back Cynthia Click here to listen or download, beginning at 2:00 PM San Francisco time. Today, (October 2nd), Cindy is absolutely thrilled to welcome back another dear long-time Soapbox friend - whom Cindy loves, respects and welcomes. She's been an intellectual BFF to Cindy's soapbox for a long time: the erstwhile U.S. Congresswoman, Cynthia Mckinney. You see, Boyz and Grrls, she's often been a justly revered guest here. Here is her most recent show from March 20, 2011 where she discussed how things would be if she were President. Her previous shows were: January 31, 2010,Then her older shows, which you may (or may not) have to completely download before listening to them: September 27, 2009, August 16, 2009, July 5, 2009, plus March 15, 2009.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
STOP THE ROBBER CLASS--DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY OF MYTH AMERICA BY CINDY SHEEHAN
STOP THE ROBBER CLASS!
CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE PDF COPY OF
MYTH AMERICA: 20 GREATEST MYTHS OF THE ROBBER CLASS AND THE CASE FOR REVOLUTION
MYTH AMERICA
by CINDY SHEEHAN
Saturday, October 1, 2011
WAKE UP AMERICA, OCCUPY TOGETHER! (LINKS)
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Actions
- MIDWEST
- NORTHEAST
- SOUTHEAST
- SOUTHWEST
- WEST
- California
- Occupy Arcata
- Occupy Berkeley
- Occupy Chico, CA
- Occupy Fresno
- Occupy Humboldt (HSU)
- Occupy Long Beach
- Occupy Los Angeles
- Occupy Merced
- Occupy Modesto
- Occupy Napa
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Thursday, September 29, 2011
Show a Little Mercy; Free the Cuban Five! by Cindy Sheehan
Show a Little Mercy
Free the Cuban Five!
Cindy Sheehan
Nothing can make injustice just but mercy.
Robert Frost
Robert Frost
For quite some time, I have been involved in the call to free the “Hikers,” Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, from Iranian prison. I put “Hikers” in quotation marks, because this is the term they have become known by in the media—not because I believe there was anything more nefarious in their actions. I was first contacted by Josh’s brother, and subsequently have gotten to know Shane’s mother, Cindy Hickey better—I even once had her on my radio show, Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox.
I was delighted on September 21st, the day Shane and Josh, convicted of spying and given a eight year sentence, were shown the highest mercy by the country of Iran and released. I had been invited to meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in NYC that day, but financial circumstances prevented me from making a last minute trip from California. I wish I had been able to go to thank him personally, but while I was not in NYC, I was at my home in California basically doing a deathwatch for Troy Anthony Davis who was ultimately “lynched” by the State of Georgia for the 1989 murder of a cop that he most likely he did not commit. However, I have noticed a pattern, if a cop is killed, someone must die—it doesn’t really matter if that person is actually the one that committed the murder.
In another recent case, two Fullerton, California cops beat Kelly Thomas, a homeless and mentally ill man, (who was begging for his life and for his dad to help him) to death on the 5th of July and Kelly died five days later on the 10th—a crime that was videotaped by passersby with cell phone cameras AND a transit camera because the incident occurred at a bus station. The charges against these murderers for a heinous crime were essentially slaps on the wrist, á la Johannes Meserle, the assassin of unarmed, Oscar Grant. What is the common thread in the above cases? The state kills “Cop Killers,” and Killer Cops literally get away with their murders. Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli the murderers of Kelly Thomas, are on paid administrative leave—the taxpayers are funding their little paid vacation (with full benefits intact).
Besides the cruelty of the police state killings of Kelly Thomas and Oscar Grant and more recently a young black man, Kenneth Harding, who didn’t have evidence of paying his MUNI fare in San Francisco, the cops surely must know that their crimes will be videotaped in this age of almost universal citizen access to this technology—yet the police state still commits its crimes supremely confident in the knowledge that they will assuredly “get away” with them. That’s a bone-chilling thought!
To me, the guilt or innocence of a person is not what’s important in the issue of capital punishment—what’s important is that the use of this state murder is barbaric and needs to end. Troy Anthony Davis was not shown mercy by the State of Georgia, or by the Barbaric State of America. Kelly Thomas and Kenneth Harding were tragically not shown mercy by members of the police sate, but the cops will be shown plenty of that elusive virtue because it's usually only reserved for the wealthy or members of this police state.
The day that the Hikers were released, the Prez of this country said, “I am thrilled. They never should have been in prison in the first place.” Well, I would like to tell you about FIVE men currently languishing in US Federal Prison who never should be there, "in the first place," either. It’s the little known case of the Cuban Five, or the “Five Heroes” as they are referred to in Cuba.
Many acts of terrorism against Cuba have been planned from the right-wing Cuban exile community in Miami. These terrorists have killed thousands of Cubans and so the Cuban Five, as they would come to be known, were sent to the US to infiltrate this terrorist cell based in South Florida so as to be able to transmit messages back to Cuba to save lives in their homeland.
René González, Ramón Labaniño, Fernando González, AntonÃo Guerrero and Gerardo Hernández left their families to go to the US.
To make a long story short, in an act of good will, Cuban authorities decided to share information gathered by the Five with the FBI, and instead of rounding up the real terrorists, the Five were rounded up, put on trial in a kangaroo court in Miami where a fair trial was just not possible and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
The Five Heroes did nothing against the US and never gathered any intelligence against our government—yet they have been in prison since 1998.
I have met their mothers, wives and children all over the world and I have also been in solidarity with the movement to free the Five for several years.
I know that President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela used his good influence with President Ahmadinejad of Iran (in fact, as I am told, worked harder than the US did for the Hikers’ freedom) and I am wondering after so many have called for the release of the Five if there’s any humanitarian that the leaders of this nation would listen to? Of course, the “Communist Dictator,” Hugo Chávez, has no influence here in the US—he himself is on the same path of demonization that Castro, Ahmadinejad, Qaddafy, et al, are on.
The Cuban Five never should have been in prison, either and 13 years is a long time for innocent men to be incarcerated.
It’s time for Obama to show the same mercy as was just shown two of our innocent citizens by Iran and send the Five Heroes home to their families.
It’s not only the humane thing to do; it’s the just thing to do.
FURTHER READING:
FIDEL CASTRO CALLS OBAMA, "STUPID."
BLACK YOUTH GUNNED DOWN BY SF POLICE
FULLERTON OFFICERS CHARGED IN BEATING DEATH
FURTHER READING:
FIDEL CASTRO CALLS OBAMA, "STUPID."
BLACK YOUTH GUNNED DOWN BY SF POLICE
FULLERTON OFFICERS CHARGED IN BEATING DEATH
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
President Chavez's Letter to the UN on Palestinian Statehood.
Miraflores, September 17, 2011
His Excellency, Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. Secretary General:
Distinguished representatives of the peoples of the world:
I address these words to the United Nations General Assembly, to this great forum that represents all the people of earth, to ratify, on this day and in this setting, Venezuela’s full support of the recognition of the Palestinian State: of Palestine’s right to become a free, sovereign and independent state. This represents an act of historic justice towards a people who carry with them, from time immemorial, all the pain and suffering of the world.
In his memorable essay The Grandeur of Arafat, the great French philosopher Gilles Deleuze wrote with the full weight of the truth: The Palestinian cause is first and foremost the set of injustices that these people have suffered and continue to suffer. And I dare add that the Palestinian cause also represents a constant and unwavering will to resist, already written in the historic memory of the human condition. A will to resist that is born of the most profound love for the earth. Mahmoud Darwish, the infinite voice of the longed-for Palestine, with heartfelt conscience speaks about this love: We don’t need memories/ because we carry within us Mount Carmelo/ and in our eyelids is the herb of Galilee./ Don’t say: If only we could flow to my country like a river!/ Don’t say that!/ Because we are in the flesh of our country/ and our country is in our flesh.
Against those who falsely assert that what has happened to the Palestinian people is not genocide, Deleuze himself states with unfaltering lucidity: From beginning to end, it involved acting as if the Palestinian people not only must not exist, but had never existed. It represents the very essence of genocide: to decree that a people do not exist; to deny them the right to existence.
In this regard, the great Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo is quite right when he forcefully states: The biblical promise of the land of Judea and Samaria to the tribes of Israel is not a notarized property contract that authorizes the eviction of those who were born and live on that land. This is precisely why conflict resolution in the Middle East must, necessarily, bring justice to the Palestinian people; this is the only path to peace.
It is upsetting and painful that the same people who suffered one of the worst examples of genocide in history have become the executioners of the Palestinian people: it is upsetting and painful that the heritage of the Holocaust be the Nakba. And it is truly disturbing that Zionism continues to use the charge of anti-Semitism as blackmail against those who oppose their violations and crimes. Israel has, blatantly and despicably, used and continues to use the memory of the victims. And they do so to act with complete impunity against Palestine. It’s worth mentioning that anti-Semitism is a Western, European, scourge in which the Arabs do not participate. Furthermore, let’s not forget that it is the Semite Palestine people who suffer from the ethnic cleansing practiced by the Israeli colonialist State.
I want to make myself clear: It is one thing to denounce anti-Semitism, and an entirely different thing to passively accept that Zionistic barbarism enforces an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people. From an ethical standpoint those who denounce the first, must condemn the second.
A necessary digression: it is frankly abusive to confuse Zionism with Judaism. Throughout time we have been reminded of this by several Jewish intellectuals such as Albert Einstein and Erich Fromm. And today there are an ever increasing number of conscientious citizens, within Israel itself, who openly oppose Zionism and its criminal and terrorist practices.
We must spell it out: Zionism, as a world vision, is absolutely racist. Irrefutable proof of this can be seen in these words written with terrifying cynicism by Golda Meir: How are we to return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to. There is no such thing as a Palestinian people. It is not as people think, that there existed a people called Palestinians, who considered themselves as Palestinians, and that we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist."
It is important to remember that: from the end of the 19th century, Zionism called for the return of the Jewish people to Palestine and the creation of a national state of its own. This approach was beneficial for French and British colonialism, as it would later be for Yankee imperialism. The West has always encouraged and supported the Zionist occupation of Palestine by military means.
Read and reread the document historically known as the Balfour Declaration of 1917: the British Government assumed the legal authority to promise a national home in Palestine to the Jewish people, deliberately ignoring the presence and wishes of its inhabitants. It should be added that Christians and Muslims lived in peace for centuries in the Holy Land up until the time when Zionism began to claim it as its complete and exclusive property.
Let’s not forget that beginning in the second decade of the 20th century, Zionism started to develop its expansionist plans by taking advantage of the colonial British occupation of Palestine. By the end of World War II, the Palestinian people’s tragedy worsened, with their expulsion from their territory and, at the same time, from history. In 1947, the despicable and illegal UN resolution 181 recommends dividing Palestine into a Jewish State, an Arab State, and an area under international control (Jerusalem and Belem). Shamefully, 56 percent of the territory was granted to Zionism to establish its State. In fact, this resolution violated international law and blatantly ignored the will of the vast Arab majority: the right to self-determination of the people became a dead letter.
From 1948 to date, the Zionist State has continually applied its criminal strategy against the Palestinian people with the constant support of its unconditional ally, the United States of America. This unconditional allegiance is clearly observed by the fact that Israel directs and sets US international policy for the Middle East. That’s why the great Palestinian and universal conscience Edward Said stated that any peace agreement built on the alliance with the United States would be an alliance that confirms Zionist power, rather than one that confronts it.
Now then: contrary to what Israel and the United States are trying to make the world believe through transnational media outlets, what happened and continues to happen in Palestine —using Said’s words— is not a religious conflict, but a political conflict, with a colonial and imperialist stamp. It did not begin in the Middle East, but rather in Europe.
What was and continues to be at the heart of the conflict?: debate and discussion has prioritized Israel’s security while ignoring Palestine’s. This is corroborated by recent events; a good example is the latest act of genocide set off by Israel during its Operation Molten Lead in Gaza.
Palestine’s security cannot be reduced to the simple acknowledgement of a limited self-government and self-policing in its “enclaves” along the west bank of the Jordan and in the Gaza Strip. This ignores the creation of the Palestinian State, in the borders set prior to 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital; and the rights of its citizens and their self-determination as a people. This further disregards the compensation and subsequent return to the Homeland of 50 percent of the Palestinian people who are scattered all over the world, as established by resolution 194.
It's unbelievable that a country (Israel) that owes its existence to a general assembly resolution could be so disdainful of the resolutions that emanate from the UN, said Father Miguel D’Escoto when pleading for the end of the massacre against the people of Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.
Mr. Secretary General and distinguished representatives of the peoples of the world:
It is impossible to ignore the crisis in the United Nations. In 2005, before this very same General Assembly, we argued that the United Nations model had become exhausted. The fact that the debate on the Palestinian issue has been delayed and is being openly sabotaged reconfirms this.
For several days, Washington has been stating that, at the Security Council, it will veto what will be a majority resolution of the General Assembly: the recognition of Palestine as a full member of the UN. In the Statement of Recognition of the Palestinian State, Venezuela, together with the sister Nations that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), have denounced that such a just aspiration could be blocked by this means. As we know, the empire, in this and other instances, is trying to impose its double standard on the world stage: Yankee double standards are violating international law in Libya, while allowing Israel to do whatever it pleases, thus becoming the main accomplice of the Palestinian genocide being carried out by the hands of Zionist barbarity. Edward Said touched a nerve when he wrote that: Israeli interests in the United States have made the US’ Middle East policy Israeli-centric.
I would like to conclude with the voice of Mahmoud Darwish in his memorable poem On This Earth: We have on this earth what makes life worth living: On this earth, the lady of earth, Mother of all beginnings/ Mother of all ends. She was called… Palestine./ Her name later became… Palestine./ My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.
It will continue to be called Palestine: Palestine will live and overcome! Long-live free, sovereign and independent Palestine!
Hugo Chávez FrÃas
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Source: MINCI
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