Occupation

Submitted by Repost from the Syracuse Peace Council on Sun, 2013-04-28 22:10

(Ed. Note: This article is taken from the Syracuse Peace Council website. As soon as we get more info from Syracuse, we will update this piece. Rochester Indymedia will be posting plenty of video re: the workshops, interviews, and the march and protest today in the coming weeks.)

More than 250 protesters challenge drones, war and empire at Hancock Field Air Base
31 protesters arrested for blocking base entrance and other civil resistance

The protest started in front of the Thompson Road entrance to the base. After speeches, music and poetry, the protesters marched down East Molloy Road in a dramatic funeral procession to the base's main entrance, where several were arrested for laying down and blocking the main entrance to the base. Others were arrested for various acts of civil resistance. Sunday's rally was part of the three-day weekend event Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire: A Convergence to Action. See the Post Standard photo collection.

On April 19^th, 2013, I interviewed Sarah A.K. Ahmed who grew up in Iraq and lived through the Gulf War in the early 1990's as well as the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. While in Iraq, she worked on a number of small projects as well as with a volunteer group, Youth and Educational Development Council. She got a full scholarship to study at the University of Rochester but had to return to Iraq because of family issues. She returned recently to the United States to speak at the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women and to participate in the upcoming convergence “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire” happening in Syracuse, NY from April 26^th to 28^th. Currently, when she is in the US, she calls New York her home. (See the FaceBook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/540569232649914/?ref=22.)

In this interview, Sarah and I spoke about her role in the upcoming Syracuse convergence where she will be speaking on a panel called “The Human Face of War,” her perspective on jobs and the economy in Iraq, the lack of civic awareness about what the US military is doing abroad, and paper air planes, among other topics.

People from China are coming to work in factories and for oil companies and this is sad because Iraqi people cannot work. Why are the companies bringing these people to work from outside the country? It is because they will work for lower wages than Iraqi people would accept. The percent of unemployment is sky high.

On April 19^th, 2013, I interviewed Kathy Kelly—a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, which is a campaign to end United States military and economic warfare. The website is VCNC dot org. Kathy has lived in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen and one of the roles she will play at the convergence is to relay those experiences and give a human voice to the lived reality of people over seas who deal with drone surveillance and are murdered by drone attacks on a daily basis. Kathy, and many others, will be attending “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence, April 26 - 28 in Syracuse, NY. (See the FaceBook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/540569232649914/?ref=22.)

By Crystal Zevon

As the country, and indeed, the world, mourns the tragic and unnecessary loss of so many young lives to the Newtown School Massacre, many peace activists and advocates for non-violence around the world are mourning another loss… the loss of a tireless advocate for peace and reconciliation, a blogger on this website, Mira Dabit.

I was sound asleep in my grandson’s bed when my cell phone woke me on December 15th at 12:30 a.m. Slightly annoyed, I answered the phone. It was my partner from Searching for Occupy, Denise Valdez. She was crying. No. She was sobbing. For a few moments, I listened to her crying. Then, she managed to blurt out, “Crystal, I have some bad news…” A pause. A sob. “Mira is dead.”

What? No. I must have heard that wrong. Mira, our Palestinian cohort from Occupy Washington, D.C. and Peace House, was only 27 years old. I just talked to her… what?... two weeks ago? She was excited about her newest endeavor ‘Love Music Hate Racism’. She was bubbling over in a characteristic burst of uninhibited enthusiasm…

Sadly, I did not hear it wrong. Mira, even when she phoned me, had been sick. Apparently, she had gone to the hospital a few times, but the last time she got fed up with the hours of waiting. She was Palestinian so, of course, she had to line up in the uninsured queue. She left before seeing a doctor and died a few hours later.

Sunday October 7th marked the 11th year of the US-led NATO occupation of Afghanistan and it also coincided with Indigenous People's Day (anti Columbus Day). About 200 people gathered at Oakland's Oscar Grant Plaza to protest colonization in all it's forms, from the 500 years of genocide of Indigenous peoples to the the US war in Afghanistan. The action was called for by communities of color who directly affected by US colonialism and imperialism.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Glenn Frankel speaks on “Facts on the Ground: A Hard Look at Myths and Realities behind the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” a candid discussion of the forces at work on both sides that sustain the conflict. Frankel, the director of the University of Texas School of Journalism, retired from the Washington Post after a 27-year career as a foreign correspondent and domestic news reporter and editor. He covered some of the most momentous events of the modern era, including the uprising against the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the first and second Gulf Wars, and the political and economic transformation of Europe. Frankel is the author of Beyond the Promised Land: Jews and Arabs on the Hard Road to a New Israel and Rivonia’s Children: Three Families and the Cost of Conscience in White South Africa. He won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1989 for his “sensitive and balanced reporting from Israel and the Middle East.” The event was sponsored by the Austin Chapter of J Street http://jstreet.org/. For more information, contact Charlotte McCann at charmccann@gmail.com. Date: 8/16/2012 Location: 5604 Manor, 5604 Manor Road, Austin, 78723 - http://5604manor.org Video produced for Austin Indymedia by Jeff Zavala. A ZGraphix/Austin Indymedia production. http://zgraphix.org

About 500 Ethiopian Americans came to Camp David (Thurmont, MD) to show their opposition to their country's dictator who was at the Summit to Shmooze money from Obama.  2 billion US Tax Dollars go to the Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi who uses the money to ethnically cleanse a part of Ethiopia that was formerly Somalia.

Mo'Fo' https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-CARE-Campaign/192514707452206

Sarah Garcia, a first generation Palestinian-American woman will share a selection of video footage, photographs and reflections on her recent trip to the occupied West Bank. Sarah is originally from Chicago and studies anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. Event was on Nov 17 2011 at Monkey Wrench Books A ZGraphix Production.

Produced by Jeff Zavala. http://zgraphix.org
http://twitter.com/zgraphix
http://facebook.com/zgraphix.org 

I met Joe who was very discouraged and suspicious of recent activity that has been going on inside Zuccotti park. There have been rapes, burglary, assaults and the Riker's bus stop has even been moved a block from where the park is. Also, there has been rumors of officers telling criminals off of the Riker's bus and the homeless to go to Zuccotti Park as purely a joke. I think this message should be spread because right now, were not looking too good on the news and in the public's eyes.

No one even realized Tim Robbins was there talking to Michael Moore until I spoke up. MM's publicist and myself got into a little spat...be patient and listen to my groggy voice...I'm sick :(

Brother West came to Occupy Wall Street today. I waited until everyone finished bum rushing him and just as he was about to leave I asked him tthe 1st question that came to my mind. He gave a good response and gave me a hug.

Shabab clash with Israeli Occupation army at Qalandia checkpoint. Occupation army responds to rock/projectile throwing with rubber bullets, tear gas, stun grenades and LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device).

Another long video...I tried to make it flow to keep your attention for the whole 15 minutes. Most of the people that are in this video have been at the Wall Street movement since day uno!! CRAZY!! That's heart!! BUT, it has died down a ton. We need more people to show up. Hopefully this will happen...I don't want this to end yet. I've become attached which is never a good thing but it happens I suppose. Enjoy :)

sTAr MaNgLeD BaNneR _part 2 _ a voice for America
part two of an examination of the suitability of the United States as a peace broker in the Middle East From: BoycotDivestSanction Views: 40 0 ratings Time: 12:14 More in Nonprofits & Activism

sTAr MaNgLeD BaNneR _part 1 _ a voice for iSRAEL
part one of an examination of the suitability of the United States as a peace broker in the Middle East From: BoycotDivestSanction Views: 46 0 ratings Time: 14:45 More in Nonprofits & Activism

Stone In My Hand for May15
this is a pro-Palestinian version of an exellent song by Everlast that already has an amazing video created for it _ this upload supports the Palestinian Third Intifada which is a global event that began in Palestine on May15 2011 From: BoycotDivestSanction Views: 2128 0 ratings Time: 03:46 More in Music