Archive | August, 2006

Prime Minister, As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens. It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad. To combat terror the government has focused extensively […]

Click on the image for a larger view. An MRZine reader contributed the photographs.

One month and a day after the start of the American-Israeli aggression against Lebanon, after the failure of that aggression and its inability to achieve its aims, after America’s repeated use of stalling tactics, delaying expected sessions of the Security Council, and after numerous American drafts that were proposed and then retouched by France, it […]

The video is of the first five minutes of a two hour “cultural program” put on by the Cultural Section of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) — whose flag is repeatedly shown.  It took place at Chunwang in the liberated base area of Rukum/Rolpa in the fall of 2005, and for an audience that […]

  Here is another contradiction for Israel to deal with: the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.  The Wall Street Journal reports: Israel’s war with Hezbollah has overshadowed a looming crisis in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where conditions have deteriorated to the point that some in the Palestinian government are exploring the prospect […]

In recent months, Chicago has played host to two the nation’s largest immigrant rights marches.  In each event, hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets to demand justice.  Elected officials flocked to the podium at these events, celebrating the diversity of the community and declaring the need to provide and […]

Consider these basic facts about the US economy today.  First, real hourly wages fell, on average, between the first quarter of 2005 and the first quarter of 2006.  At the same time, the productivity of those workers rose.  No advanced degree is required to grasp what’s happening here: workers who produced more output this year […]

  In the India Resource Center’s latest press release (“Kerala Throws Out Coca-Cola and Pepsi: Seven Other States Impose Ban, Others Expected to Follow,” 9 August 2006), reporting that the southern state of Kerala in India has just banned Coca Cola on account of the reckless way in which Coca Cola sells products contaminated with […]

I come and stand at every door But no one hears my silent tread I knock and yet remain unseen For I am dead, for I am dead. I’m only seven although I died In Hiroshima long ago I’m seven now as I was then When children die they do not grow. My hair was […]

“Whoever approaches Zionism from a moral aspect is not a Zionist,” Israel’s first prime minister once lectured colleagues queasy about the Jewish state’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.  Today, Israel’s leaders require no such admonitions about eschewing moral concerns.  But they do recognize a public-relations problem when they see one. The attack on Lebanon is just […]

  Download Arabic Version (.pdf, 57kb). On August 12, at 7 am, Lebanese from throughout the country and international supporters who have come to Lebanon to express solidarity will gather in Martyr’s Square in Beirut to form a civilian convoy to the south of Lebanon.  Hundreds of Lebanese and international civilians will express their solidarity […]

We, the undersigned — lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and allied activists, scholars, educators, writers, artists, lawyers, journalists, and community organizers — seek to offer friends and colleagues everywhere a new vision for securing governmental and private institutional recognition of diverse kinds of partnerships, households, kinship relationships and families.  In so doing, we hope […]

Parade to the WallWorld Pride under Occupation 2006 In Israel, religious groups are expressing opposition to the World Pride to be held in Jerusalem in August 2006.  At the same time, international radical left wing groups are calling to boycott this parade as a general call of divestment from Israel on behalf of its crimes […]

As LGBTIQ Muslims and allies, the Al-Fatiha Foundation is torn, but united in our boycott of WorldPride in Jerusalem. As a religious organization, Al-Fatiha embraces the great symbolism that WorldPride in Jerusalem represents: the bringing together of LGBTIQ people in a city regarded as holy by Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Yet, this WorldPride will not […]

Thousands of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel, peace organizations, and political parties took to the streets of Tel Aviv on 5 August to protest against Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.  The demonstration was organized by a coalition of peace organizations, including Gush Shalom, Yesh Gvul, Coalition of Women for Peace, Ta’ayush, ICAHD, AIC, Hadash, Balad, […]

What follows is Peter Rachleff’s letter to José Arturo Ibarra, a San Francisco-based Northwest flight attendant who successfully led the fight to reject the contract that demanded “a 30 and 40 percent cut in pay and benefits” and givebacks on everything from health insurance to work rules. — Ed. Dear José: I have been meaning […]

  4 August 2006 Last night, whatever hopes anyone had that this war was drawing its last breath and would take minimal — if hopefully no more — victims were brutally shattered like the bridges that crumpled under the latest warplane onslaught. Lebanon awoke today to more destruction and chaos.   To more fears that no […]

It has often been said that there is “no rest for the wicked.”  In Lebanon, quite simply, there is no rest.  No rest for those who continue to wage this war and no rest for those who were not asked if they wanted to fight. After 72 hours of what has been referred to as […]

Israel’s continuing military offensives in Lebanon and Gaza are producing a  human catastrophe and have immense political consequences. First, the human cost, as of July 30: At least 561 dead in Lebanon, the vast majority civilians — with 60 killed (including 37 children) by Israeli air attacks on the village of Qana.  Over 1,000 wounded […]

Over 2,000 years ago, the town of Qana hosted a man billions believe to be their Savior.  The small town’s ancient stones still depict that man and his followers.  But today it is not the messages of love, forgiveness, and brotherhood that Jesus is said to have delivered in this tiny corner of the Levant […]