Musica 3

Palestine archipelago

This extraordinary re-imagining of the occupied West Bank as an archipelago shows how Palestinian areas have become cut-off from each other by Israeli settlements, roads and checkpoints.

Helem in New York

Georges Azzi of Helem, the Lebanon's LGBT rights group, addressed a gathering in New York.

Azzi made clear that the struggle for equality is part of the wider resistance in the Arab world:

Helem opened its center to people displaced by the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The majority of those who sought refuge were Shiite Muslim, and Hezbullah representatives visited the center and other shelters to ensure they were receiving care.

"If it’s possible in Lebanon, its possible anywhere." Helem members also participated in marches and other protests against Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

A front page article in Helem’s annual newsletter accused Arab leaders and the United Nations of "enjoying a massacre done with bestiality-something they don’t see every day." The article further opined the scenes from Gaza caused people around the world to demonstrate and even riot in the streets.

A handful of people walked out of a panel discussion at the LGBT Center in lower Manhattan on Tuesday on which Azzi was a panelist after a journalist asked him about the article.

Azzi was quick to point out it attacked the Israeli government-and not Israelis themselves. He added, however, he feels Helem has a responsibility to show what he described as solidarity with Gazans and those who spoke out against the Israeli incursion.

Stupid Arab rich lose $2.5 trillion

The AP reports that Arab world has lost some $2.5 trillion in the global slump created by toxic deals that the global rich seemed to think would grease their wheels for years to come. The total is probably bigger.

Forbes runs the story. Wonder what even a portion of this money could have done for the regions poor.

Read and weep:

Arab financial officials said Thursday that the global economic crisis had cost the region's investors about $2.5 trillion, offering a sobering look at the challenges confronting the region's leaders despite their repeatedly rosy assessments of their nations' ability to weather the financial downturn.

The comments at the start of a two-day Arab Economic Forum focused the spotlight on the damage done in a region that has enjoyed steady growth for the past few years.

Adnan al-Kassar, a leading Lebanese banker and former economy minister, said that among the effects of the crisis in the Arab world was a 20 to 60 percent drop in the region's top stock markets, the decrease in worker remittance revenues and the cancellation of mega projects.

But al-Kassar didn't specify whether the $2.5 trillion in losses also included sovereign wealth funds held by some of the countries. Those funds are secretive and the exact amount of their losses has not been revealed.

In tandem with the equity markets slump, the governments of many of the Arab world's top oil producers are seeing revenue fall as oil prices fell from mid-July highs of $147 per barrel to roughly $50 per barrel at present.

Crude revenues are a mainstay for many of these countries, and the slide is forcing Saudi Arabia, for example, to project a deficit for the first time in 2002.

On a near daily basis, Arab newspapers report layoffs, with some of the most troubling headlines coming from Dubai, the one-time Gulf boomtown now mired in debt.

The job creation issue is paramount for many of the Arab nations. With a surging youth population, Arab governments face daily challenges of providing opportunities to a population that is often courted by Islamists. The ensuing tug-of-war carries broad domestic and international security ramifications.

As a result, Arab nations - particularly in the oil rich Gulf - have been careful to ensure that layoffs stemming from the downturn hit the countries' expatriate workforce, not the much smaller national labor force.

Bahrain police riot

The BBC have posted footage of a police riot in Bahrain.

It the reports:

On 13 March at about 1530, unemployed dustman Muhammad says he stepped out into the street to join a peaceful demonstration to protest against brutality by the police forces.

Five minutes, later along with about 50 others, he says he was fired upon by members of the Bahraini security forces. He was hit in the legs with a shotgun blast.

Asked if he or the others had done anything to provoke or threaten the security police Muhammad (not his real name) replied "Absolutely not!"

"There was no violence," he insisted. "It was a peaceful demonstration. The police opened fire without provocation."

Video footage of the incident - supplied to the BBC by a Bahraini human rights organisation - would appear to corroborate Muhammad's account.

It shows a line of police standing near from a group of protesters carrying Bahraini flags. Suddenly and without any apparent cause, the police open fire.

Members of this island nation's Shia community say they had joined the protest against alleged police brutality.
Divisions in society

The tiny island kingdom of Bahrain is unique in the Arabian Peninsula in that it has a Shia majority, thought to be about 65% of the population.

But like the other Arab Gulf states the ruling elite is Sunni. And with the Shia Muslim-led Iran just across the Gulf and tensions growing between Islam's two largest sects, Shia here find themselves under suspicion.

Members of the ruling family and its Sunni supporters in parliament have long accused Iran of fomenting unrest in Bahrain. Bahraini Shia organisations say Iran has nothing to do with it. They say Shia have long been victims of discrimination.

They accuse members of the royal family of seizing Shia land, and point to poor housing, high unemployment and employment discrimination as the root causes of what is now becoming almost nightly rioting in their villages.

Tear gas, rubber bullets and stun bombs are used to quell disturbances, but the alleged use of live ammunition signals a trend that is disturbing many people in Bahrain.

Khalil al-Marzok MP, a member of a Shia political party and a leading activist, says excessive use of force is making a volatile situation ever more dangerous, particularly for young Shia men.

"There is an increasing level of force being used and all that is doing is creating anger and more violence."
Government response

In a statement, a spokesperson from the Interior Minister's office told the BBC that the use of shotguns against ordinary citizens is not permitted as a general policy.

"Their use is allowed only in rare cases under the law, such as when people's lives are in danger or when the use of force becomes the only means for the security forces to perform their duty," the statement says.

It says all security personnel are aware of this policy and obey it.

But evidence of the use of live fire has continued to emerge. On 27 March, three children aged of 11 to 14 were reportedly hit by shotgun pellets, including one who was badly injured.

"We want a dialogue and we are trying to persuade the authorities that the opportunity to talk is still there," says another Shia MP, Jasim Husain.

But he says the political will to make that happen is not coming from either the ruling family or the government.
"Without dialogue," he says "I'm not sure where this country is going."

Equality now

The Lebanese elections are coming up! Will the politicians listen to the real voices of their people? Article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code criminalizes "sexual acts against nature" and is used to target homosexuals and promote a general public hatred towards LGBTs in Lebanon.

It is high time we strongly demand that the government remove this article and ensure equality for all its population without discrimination.

We are asking Lebanese people only (in Lebanon and abroad) to sign this petition so that we reach 10,000 citizens whose voices cannot be ignored in our country any longer. Gay or straight—it doesn't matter.

Our cause is about human dignity and the right to protection. It is time we all stood together and recognized that none of us are free until all of us are free.

Once this petition hits 10,000 people, we will send it to all 128 members of the Lebanese parliament (hopefully right after the elections in June), as well as to the parliamentary human rights committee, the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, and Ministry of Social Affairs.

You can sign the petition online here.

Under 18's now admitted

The The BBC reports that the Lebanese parliament has finally lowered the voting age to 18... after many, many years. All that is needed is a constitutional amendment, apparently.

This could shift the electoral terrain, but not yet. According the the report:

It is expected to take several months and under-21s will not be able to vote parliamentary elections in June.

The measure is likely to benefit the Shia Muslim political groups Hezbollah and Amal who were pushing for a change.

The elections are expected to be hotly contested between Shia-led opposition allies and a Sunni-led pro-West bloc.

However, analysts believe the numbers of the Shia Muslim community are rising fastest, and gaining demographic strength at the expense of the once-dominant Christian community.

Some clauses of the electoral law were amended last year, but MPs initially opposed proposals for lowering the voting age and introducing a quota for women in parliament.

Cluster bombs... 2 years on

The BBC runs a report on the lasting legacy of Israel's cluster bombs.

Rasha is her mother's biggest helper.

Seated on the floor of their tiny house in Marake, a village in southern Lebanon, the girl slouches over a bag of thyme placed in front of her.

Her thin, well-trained fingers move fast as she sorts the herbs, separating leaves from the stems.

For Rasha's family, thyme is the main source of income. Her father, Mohammad, harvests the wild herbs, while women sort, dry and sell them.

But Rasha hates the chore, and the memories it brings back.

She was 15 when, two years ago, she picked out a round shiny object from a bag of thyme her father had brought home. It exploded right in the room.

"I'd heard of cluster bombs, I had seen posters of them in school - but how could I imagine that something like that was possible?" she asks.

Her mother, Alia, looks away as Rasha pulls up her jeans and shows me the result of the explosion - her left leg is missing.

"I can't look at it," the woman sighs. "I cry every time I give her a bath. I am worried how it will affect her future."

Resistance

Public lesson

Farah reports on the national protest by teachers in Beirut over cuts in health provisions.

Picture: A teacher uses a copy of al-Manchour to shield himself from the sun.

No tanks

Remember those M60 tanks the US promised the Lebanese army... well they don't work. And as for the Cobra helicopters... Isreal said "no".

Here's Haaretz:

According to American planning, Lebanon was supposed to receive M-60 tanks and 10 Cobra helicopters.

The tanks and the helicopters are parked for the moment in Jordan - part of old equipment that the Jordanian kingdom wants to replace.

Lebanese army experts who came to examine the equipment received the impression that the tanks are in need of comprehensive mechanical work and a large number of spare parts; in short, a substantial financial outlay.

They didn't even get to the Cobras, because Israel informed the Pentagon that it is vehemently opposed to letting the Lebanese army have such helicopters.

Israel's viewpoint when it comes to arming the Lebanese army is a decisive factor in the decisions of the U.S. administration.

"We don't have a conversation on these matters without considering the concerns of Israel and Israel's qualitative military edge. That's a U.S. commitment that we take very seriously," explained Chris Straub, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Near East and South Asia.

The Scream (2009)

Rise of Hamas

Time magazine notes the rise of Hamas in Lebanon's refugee camps:

Even Mahmoud Abbas' more popular predecessor as Fatah leader, Yassir Arafat, struggled to sell the Oslo peace process to his supporters in Lebanon, where members of Fatah remained committed to armed struggle to "liberate Palestine" and still run guerrilla training academies.

These days, however, even that more hard-line Fatah stance is no longer enough for most Palestinians here. Even high-ranking officials of Abbas' own party fear that he will trade away their "Right of Return" to what is now Israel.

"Yassir Arafat went into negotiations with the olive branch in one hand and a weapon in the other hand," says one Beirut Fatah commander. "But all Mohammad Abbas does is negotiate. He gets nothing, but he keeps negotiating. Palestinians believe in military operations because they want to go back to Palestine. They don't want to negotiate."

Hamas, meanwhile, is continuing to grow. The movement uses its financial backing from Iran and other countries to build clinics, kindergartens, and social services centers in every camp.

And the refugees hear stories about leaders in the West Bank growing rich from embezzled international aid, while refugees see almost nothing in social services from the Palestinian Authority, which is controlled by Fatah.

"Fatah isn't helping people," says the Beirut Fatah commander. "Hamas is taking advantage of this. They are entering deep, deep into the population."

"We already lost Jordan and Syria," says another Fatah commander in Lebanon. "All of them sympathize with Hamas. If we lose Lebanon, then Fatah and all of what it represents will be over."

Stepping out

Lebanon Now report on the LGBT protest in Saseen Square against anti gay violence:

Hundreds of people armed with rainbow flags and signs denouncing violence and discrimination against homosexuals and other minority groups in Lebanon gathered at Beirut’s Sodeco square amid pouring rain on Sunday afternoon for a demonstration.

The event, the first of its kind in the Arab world according to the organizers, was staged by the Beirut-based Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer (LGBTIQ) support organization Helem, and also featured representatives from Lebanese rights groups Kafa, KAFA, TYMAT and SIDC.

MEA strikes over missing worker

From the AP:

Workers at Lebanon’s national carrier have briefly stopped work at Beirut’s airport, protesting an employee’s mysterious disappearance.

Wednesday’s one-hour-long strike by Middle East Airlines didn’t affect flights.

Computer engineer Joseph Sader went missing while on his way to work at Middle East Airlines two weeks ago. His family claims he was kidnapped by gunmen near the airport — located in a Shiite Muslim stronghold — but motives are unclear.

The government says it’s investigating.

Meanwhile, police say MEA pilot Ghassan Mekdad was found shot dead Wednesday in his car on a Beirut street. Authorities don’t believe the shooting is related to the carrier.

The two incidents come as tensions rise ahead of parliamentary elections in June.

What's wrong with the Israeli left?

Natalie Adler and Ron Oppenheim have written an excellent piece in Socialist Worker:

The Israeli left accepts the “necessity and legitimacy” of Israel’s existence.

The same people who will campaign for peace, want a halt to aggression towards the Palestinian civilians, and advocate returning the occupied territories also accept the lie that Hamas, the Palestinian resistance ­movement, is “backward and must be dealt with”.

So if Palestinian civilians are killed during a military operation it is because Hamas uses them as “human shields”, or because they “operate in densely populated” areas. This is why many left wing intellectuals in Israel supported the war on Gaza, as they did the 2006 war on Lebanon.

Many on the left would genuinely like to see Palestinians having freedom and a livelihood – but the moment that Israel’s existence comes into question, they are swept up by nationalism... more

60 percent of Saudis cannot afford to buy home

The Arabian Business website reports:

Up to 60 percent of Saudis are unable to own their own homes and heads of nearly 35,000 Saudi families earn less than SR2,000 ($533) a month, it has been claimed.

Mufleh Al-Qahtani, president of the National Society of Human Rights (NHSR), made the comments after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Establishment for Education and Training (SEET), aimed at providing education and training to members of needy families.

He said NSHR had received complaints from many people about businesses denying them jobs despite having the necessary qualifications.

“When we investigated the reasons behind this, we found that the standard of training they received was poor while their educational qualifications were insufficient,” he said in comments published by Arab News on Friday.

The government has allocated SR10 billion to build low-cost housing in different parts of the country to meet the needs of the poor but Qahtani said the kingdom lacked regulations encouraging social service initiatives by individuals and organisations.

He said it was more important to provide education and training to change the situation of the poor rather than direct financial assistance.

Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki, chairman of SEET, said his organisation has been supporting nearly 12,000 young men and women, by providing them with scholarships in association with educational and training institutions in the country.

“We are trying to alleviate the suffering of certain needy families and individuals in terms of human rights and administrative procedures,” he said.

White phosphorous attack on Gaza school

Unrwa school, Beit Lahia, Gaza.