Allah yer7amhom kolhom illi mato fel 7arb fel Iraq w Afghanistan.

I was in 8th grade when the 9/11 attacks occurred. I was 13 years old. My entire adolescence and adulthood have been shaped by the U.S. response to these attacks. However, I was not so young that I did not notice the changes taking place in this country. I grew up with the Arab stereotypes found in Disney’s Aladdin (which I now know is pronounced Ala’ El-Din) and Indiana Jones, so the villainization of Arabs and Muslims in the media was nothing new. But the terrorist attacks seemed to allow people to be more open and direct about their anti-Arab sentiments. At the same time, the U.S. government took the opportunity presented by the 9/11 attacks to break international law, violate human rights, and take away our civil liberties. For the past 10 years, whenever someone has been critical of the invasions of Iraq or Afghanistan, or have criticized the government for racial profiling or human rights abuses, they need only cry “Terrorism!” to justify any and all actions.

For the past 10 years, I have been far more afraid of my own government than I ever was of Osama bin Laden. For the past 10 years, I have mourned the U.S. response to 9/11 more than I have mourned 9/11 itself, for the U.S. response claimed far more lives, violated more human rights, and took away more civil liberties.

Some perspective: According to CNN, 2,973 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. On the other hand, 919,967 people have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the post-9/11 invasions, and most of them have been civilians. That is about 309 deaths for each 9/11 victim. But of course, when WE do it, it’s not terrorism, it’s Security!

I encourage all of you to read this article by Noam Chomsy, entitled “9/11–was there an alternative?” He reminds us of the so-called “First 9/11″ in 1973 in Chile, “when the US succeeded in its intensive efforts to overthrow the democratic government of Salvador Allende in Chile with a military coup that placed General Pinochet’s brutal regime in office.” This is the 9/11 history that we, as Americans, have not been taught, or purposely overlook. Chomsky and others also point out that the U.S. government did exactly what “the terrorists” wanted: we plunged our country into debt, taking away from social services like education and health care, and aided in the radicalization of Islam and gave credibility to the voices of extremists. The article is a bit long, so I’ll leave you with a couple block quotes:

A number of analysts have observed that although bin Laden was finally killed, he won some major successes in his war against the US. “He repeatedly asserted that the only way to drive the US from the Muslim world and defeat its satraps was by drawing Americans into a series of small but expensive wars that would ultimately bankrupt them,” Eric Margolis writes. “‘Bleeding the US,’ in his words. The United States, first under George W Bush and then Barack Obama, rushed right into bin Laden’s trap … Grotesquely overblown military outlays and debt addiction … may be the most pernicious legacy of the man who thought he could defeat the United States” – particularly when the debt is being cynically exploited by the far right, with the collusion of the Democrat establishment, to undermine what remains of social programs, public education, unions, and, in general, remaining barriers to corporate tyranny.

…

The senior CIA analyst responsible for tracking Osama bin Laden from 1996, Michael Scheuer, wrote shortly after that “bin Laden has been precise in telling America the reasons he is waging war on us. [He] is out to drastically alter US and Western policies toward the Islamic world”, and largely succeeded: “US forces and policies are completing the radicalisation of the Islamic world, something Osama bin Laden has been trying to do with substantial but incomplete success since the early 1990s. As a result, I think it is fair to conclude that the United States of America remains bin Laden’s only indispensable ally.” And arguably remains so, even after his death.

Finally, on the subject of terrorism, I leave you with this video by DAM, a Palestinian hip-hop group. Their song, “Meen Irhabi” (“Who’s the Terrorist?”) challenges imperialist and racist notions of terrorism and terrorists, versus the struggle to survive when your families, homes and cultures are being destroyed.

Peace and love,
Dooler

So apparently there was some big wedding in Britain yesterday. You know, I heard mention of it a few times. And by a few times I mean it’s been on every news station nonstop for who knows how long now. This is a classic example of Bread and Circus. Give the people enough to eat and plenty of entertainment, and they won’t pay attention to what the government is doing. There are revolutions going on all over the world (including the under-reported revolutions in sub-Saharan Africa), but we’d rather focus on some guy, whose only claim to fame is his bloodline, and his wedding. It’s funny how the United States changes its tone about monarchies when the monarchs are white. Stories about princes and princesses sound like fairy tales when they come from England, but if we’re talking about monarchies in Africa or the Middle East, it’s a completely different story.

In other recent news, Obama caved to the Birthers and released his birth certificate. Donald Trump, however, isn’t satisfied, and wants his school records as well (then made some remarks about how Obama would be better off on a basketball court). Goldie Taylor gave a report on Rachel Maddow about the racist roots of demanding identification papers (that goes for HB 1070 too, Arizona!):

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

March 7-11 marks the 7th Annual International Israeli Apartheid Week. The goals of this week are to educate the public about Israel as an apartheid state, and to build the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. There are a lot of great resources to find out more about the occupation, the BDS movement, and the Israeli apartheid system. I strongly recommend watching the trailer for Road Map to Israeli Apartheid:

This website has some other great videos, as well as some fact sheets here. Here is also a speech by Omar Barghouti, who I saw speak at a BDS conference in Montreal this past October. Omar Barghouti was scheduled for a book tour here in the United States, but was denied a visa. From Jewish Voice for Peace – “Barghouti – who has advanced academic degrees from US institutions, who lived here for 11 years, whose daughter attends school here- has been inexplicably denied a visa to come to the US in April for a long-planned tour to talk about his new book, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights.”

The Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA has got some really great events lined up this week that are open to the public. Hampshire College was the first college in the United States to divest from the occupation of Palestine while I was still a student there, and their organizing skills are really top-notch. Their schedule for this week is as follows (hope to see you there!):

** MONDAY MARCH 07 2011 – Screening of SLINGSHOT HIP HOP (2008)

Part of the weekly Palestine Film Series, a screening of groundbreaking documentary SLINGSHOT HIP HOP. SLINGSHOT HIP HOP braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.

http://www.slingshothiphop.com/trailer/

TIME: 7:00pm
ROOM: ASH Auditorium

** TUESDAY MARCH 08 2011 – Life Under Siege: Gaza Youth Breaks Out! live Skype event

“We are afraid of living, because every single step we take has to be considered and well-thought, there are limitations everywhere, we cannot move as we want, say what we want, do what we want, sometimes we even cant think what we want because the occupation has occupied our brains and hearts so terrible that it hurts and it makes us want to shed endless tears of frustration and rage!”

Released in January 2011, Gaza Youth Breaks Out! released a powerful, explosive manifesto calling for justice in Palestine. No Hamas, no Fatah, no P.A, no more U.S military support for Israel. Come hear three members talk about their experience as students in Gaza, the Palestinian revolution scheduled for March 15th, and international solidarity.

TIME: 3:00pm
ROOM: Franklin Patterson Hall 107

** WEDNESDAY MARCH 09 2011 – Palestine 101

What is the difference between Israel and Palestine? What is the occupation? What happened during the Second Intifiada? How did this conflict even begin? This will be a student and faculty panel discussion concerning the Israel/Palestinian conflict. This is a space to mainly provide a historical context and contemporary analysis of the conflict in which the rest of the time is spent as a question & answer forum. Bring your questions, bring your friends, and let’s talk!

Speakers include: Aaron Berman, professor of history and Arab and Jewish nationalisms. Mark Clinton, professor of political science at Holyoke Community College. Lyla Denburg, Hampshire student and SJP member.

TIME: 7:00pm
ROOM: ASH Auditorium

** THURSDAY MARCH 10 2011- Can Israel Be Called an Apartheid State?

Is Israel currently practicing apartheid? Are there roots of the occupation in apartheid practices? What are the, if any, connections between South Africa and Israel? Join Hampshire College’s Sayres Rudy and Kara Lynch alongside Max Ajl, Amherst College alum and Cornell graduate student, to talk critically about these questions and others related to this panel question.

Max Ajl has spent the past four years in between the besieged Gaza Strip and the United States. His blog, http://www.maxajl.com/, provides commentary on the state of Palestinian self-determination and the Middle East. Jewbonics was founded during the winter massacre in Gaza of 2008–2009. Max is an essayist, rabble-rouser, and PhD student in development sociology at Cornell.

Time: 7:00pm
ROOM: Franklin Patterson Hall Main Lecture Hall

** FRIDAY MARCH 11 2011 – REBEL DIAZ!

The last evening before Spring Break, come see a live performance from South Bronx hip hop duo REBEL DIAZ!

Fronted by MC’s Rodstarz and MC/Producer G1, Rebel Diaz shows us the true global power of Hip Hop. After first performing at an immigrant rights march in New York City in 2006 in front of a half million people, the bilingual duo has taken the international community by storm with their explosive live shows. With roots in Chicago and now based in the South Bronx, NY, Rebel Diaz has also piqued the interest of the academic community with their poignant social commentary and energetic performances. They have spent the last four years visiting dozens of colleges and universities, facilitating workshops, speaking on panels, and performing at national conferences. Building on this growing network of positive young people in Hip Hop, the group recently opened a community arts center in the South Bronx, the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective.

http://rebeldiaz.bandcamp.com/

TIME: 8:00pm
ROOM: The Red Barn
COST: $2 – $5 sliding scale

Co-sponsored by: Hampshire College President’s Office, Hampshire College Office of Diversity and Multicultural Education, and more!

In Solidarity,
Dooler

Yesterday I attended the March in Solidarity with the Egyptian People in Amherst, MA. My partner, Iman, and I were representing Solidarity Bridge, a youth group based in Palestine.

From the facebook event page:

February 5th has been declared the international day of solidarity with Egyptian and Tunisian people as they continue to organize themselves to form an alternative to oppressive regimes they lived under before. It is imperative that these actions which have sparked movements all across the Arab world are not seen as singular but intricately connected. These pockets of resistance have found sparks in Yemen, Sudan, Jordan, etc. No…w, we must stand in solidarity with those who are fighting against occupations of their land, neo-colonialization, neo-liberalism, and regimes which do not represent the will of the people.

“Year after year we marched, protested and fought daily for a decent life, for dignity, for independence and for freedom. We saw our lands occupied, our people invaded and murdered, our thinkers and journalists imprisoned, our activists tortured and disappeared and our very ability to live and feed our families challenged. If it wasn’t for the despotism and iron fist rule, imposed on us by colonial dictators who receive orders from their imperial masters, the Zionist genocide in Palestine and Lebanon and the US pillaging of Iraq would not have been possible.”

About 300 people came out in the freezing rain for the march, which was sponsored by 13 groups in the area:

Western Mass Coalition for Palestine
Middle East Peace Coalition of Western Mass [MEPC]
Hampshire College Students for Justice in Palestine
SmithSTAND
Western Mass Darfur Coalition
The American Friends Service Committee
Amherst International Socialist Organization
UMass Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
Amherst Amnesty International
Amherst Human Rights Commission
Western Mass Code Pink
Amherst College Students for Justice in Palestine
Palestinian Solidarity Bridge

I lived in Amherst for over two years while attending Hampshire College. During my time there, I never saw this kind of collaboration between different social justice groups. Student groups and community groups and individuals of all ages joined together to show their support for the Egyptian people and their revolution. As several people pointed out, we have a lot to learn from the Egyptians (and Tunisians) these days, as they’re showing us the true meaning of “people power.” There were a lot of powerful speakers at the rally yesterday, most of them students at the 5 Colleges (UMass Amherst, Hampshire, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke and Smith). I wish I had transcripts from some of the other speeches, but here is ours, at least:

Dooler: Before we speak, we’d like to have a minute of silence in honor of those who have been killed during the protests in Egypt.  (…)

Iman and I were living in Egypt for over a year, and only left Cairo a few months ago. At the time, the Egyptian people were living in fear. As an American, I would ask people casually in cafes what they thought about Mubarak. I almost always got this response: “We can’t talk about that here. There are people around.” A friend of mine tried to print a picture of a skeleton sitting in a throne for a human rights conference, obviously referring to Mubarak, but no one would print it for her. One person printed it without looking at it, and when she came to pick it up, he burned the copies in front of her. For years, people did not want to speak out against Mubarak for fear of what could happen to them under the Emergency Law, which has been in place since Sadat’s assassination 30 years ago. Under Emergency Law, the Egyptian government can arrest anyone without any charges and hold them for any length of time without trial. But now, the Egyptians are no longer afraid. By this fact alone, they’ve already claimed victory.

[...]

Khaled Said, at 28 years old, was a victim of Emergency Law and police brutality. This past June, police dragged Khaled out of an internet café in Alexandria. They wanted to search him under emergency law, and when Khaled asked for a reason or a warrant, they tortured him and beat him to death in the street. Police claimed that he died after trying to swallow a bag of marijuana, but witnesses and photos say otherwise. Pictures after his death show him bloody and bruised, with his jaw and teeth broken. Earlier, Khaled had posted a video online of police corruption, of police sharing drugs they had taken during a raid. When a friend of Khaled’s tried to speak out that Khaled was murdered in retaliation of the video he posted, he was attacked by nine plainclothes policemen with knives.

Iman: Mubarak’s corrupt government and police force do not only affect Egyptians, however. Palestinians who have fled from Gaza hoping to find safety in Egypt’s borders are systematically arrested and put into government prisons without trial. Egypt has been a very important ally to Israel. Mubarak contributes to the siege of Gaza and the occupation of Palestine by closing the Gaza border and by making deals with and selling gas to Israel. Egypt supplies around 40% of Israel’s gas consumption, and sells it to Israel at about one-tenth the market price. This is the gas used to fuel the Israeli tanks which are killing Palestinian citizens, including children.

It is time now for Gaza’s own revolution, for the people of Gaza need it more than most. Their oppression comes at the hands of not one government, but from many political powers and factions: Israel, Egypt, Hamas, Fatah, the United States – each contributing to the suffering of Palestinians in different ways. Inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere, the youth of Gaza are planning their own revolution on Friday, February 11th. We hope that you will join us in marching in solidarity with them on that same day, at 3pm.

We’re going to teach you a chant in Arabic now, which in English means, “Revolution until Victory.”

SOURA, SOURA, HATA AL-NASR (x4)

I was interviewed by amherstwire before the march. Other news coverage can be found here, here and here.

In Solidarity,

Dooler

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed recently, allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. As I saw my fellow queers and our allies celebrating this triumph for LGBT rights, I found I couldn’t muster up the same enthusiasm. I had mixed feelings about the news, but didn’t have the words to explain my feelings until more recently. While yes, it is some form of equality for gays and lesbians to serve openly, however, I don’t see it as a step towards any true protection of queer people and their rights. Families are still being ripped apart because immigration status is not granted to same-sex binational couples. Queer youth are still being harassed, beat up and killed. I don’t like that part of the national “gay agenda” is getting to be out and proud in a system that destroys cities and lives, destabilizes countries, and feeds American imperialism. I found it ironic and disturbing that so many of my anti-war friends suddenly became uber-patriotic once someone’s license to kill came with a rainbow sticker on it. Protecting our country? If we weren’t so busy invading and bombing other people’s countries, maybe we wouldn’t be such a target. Spreading freedom and democracy? Only if they elect people that we like and who will support the US without question. I read a great quote in this article: “Homo-nationalism, without decolonizing discourses, will only end up assimilating gays and lesbians into the existing system of global oppression to perpetuate it. [...] So our efforts to to decolonize and demilitarize the Queer movements continue.”

My feelings about DADT being repealed are similar to my feelings about HRC (Human Rights Campaign) and their corporate partners. Just because American Airlines is a corporate partner doesn’t make it any easier for a trans or genderqueer person to travel and deal with airport security. Other HRC partners, such as Bank of America, BP and Nike, repeatedly and systematically violate environmental and/or human rights. Just because these corporations have partnered with the HRC does not make them champions of human rights (more on this in a future post). Essentially, we (queer folks) may not be accepted by our families, friends, government, places of worship, communities, etc, but at least we’re accepted by corporate America and the military!! Seems like we can be accepted only as long as we’re willing to part with our money or our lives.

As for DADT being repealed, will the military now provide benefits to same-sex partners? The federal definition of marriage is still between opposite-sex couples. This article from change.org is from April, 2010, but it clearly defines the benefits granted to heterosexual military families. Repealing DADT is not justice, nor is it a step towards justice. From an economic standpoint, Queers of Economic Justice said in this article, “Queers for Economic Justice staff and constituents have all met people in the LGBT movement who have said to us that the DADT repeal is an economic justice victory, since many poor and working-class LGBT people join the military to have access to better jobs, and because the military is the nation’s largest employer, QEJ should be joining in the victory dance.” The article continues:

But QEJ believes military service is not economic justice, and it is immoral that the military is the nation’s de facto jobs program for poor and working-class people. And since QEJ organizes LGBTQ homeless people in New York City, we wanted to remind the LGBT community and progressive anti-war allies that militarism and war profiteering do not serve the interests of LGBT people. Here’s how:

1. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans reports that about one-third of all homeless people in the US are veterans, but about 1.5 million more veterans are at risk of homelessness “due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.” They also report that 56% of homeless veterans are Black or Latino.
2. Some studies also show that one in four veterans becomes disabled as a result of physical violence or emotional trauma of war. There are currently 30,000 disabled veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
3. Rape and sexual violence are very common occurrences for women in the military, and the ACLU is currently suing the Pentagon to get the real numbers on reported incidences.
4. Half of the US budget in 2009 was made up of military spending, including current expenditures, veterans benefits and the portion of the national debt caused by military costs, according to the War Resisters’ League. That is more than the US spent on Health & Human Services, Social Security Administration, Housing and Urban Development and the Department Education combined. Wouldn’t more social safety net spending help the millions of queers who can barely make ends meet?

Along with QEJ, I “stand in solidarity with other LGBTQ people around the globe, and do not condone violence against them or their home countries so that ‘our gays’ have the ‘right’ to serve openly in the military.” As Martin Luther King, Jr said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” On a lighter note, I’ll leave you with one more quote, this time from a friend of mine on facebook:

my cousin in response to the repeal of DADT, “good. now ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ can refer to farting, like it did in ’92.”

In solidarity,

Dooler

Hello everyone,

I’m Dooler, and I’ll be taking over the activist blog for Ian. Since I’m new here, I’d like to introduce myself first. Hopefully this will give you some idea of what to expect from me. I am a 23 year old queer, white, middle-class person from Asheville, NC. My political views are constantly changing, but I’d say they’re somewhere along the lines of anarcho-socialist. I graduated from Hampshire College in 2009, spent a year in Egypt studying Arabic, and am now a grad student at SIT studying Social Justice in Intercultural Relations.

My goals for the blog are to tie environmental issues in with politics, immigration, racism, and class inequalities. None of these issues exist in a vacuum, so I will frequently use environmental issues as a lens through which to view and understand other issues. For example, there are many environmental groups out there that act as a cover for more racist, anti-immigration groups. For more information on this, check out this video from the Center for New Community:

Another project I’m working on is a community events calendar. Right now it is a work in progress and includes a variety of Brattleboro events, but my goal for the calendar is to connect various activist groups in southern Vermont. This will hopefully open opportunities for different groups to work together, once again getting at the interconnectedness of environmental and social justice issues. Please email me at doolerfc@gmail.com and let me know about upcoming events and actions. The more we work together, the more we can accomplish! Here’s what it looks like now:

I’m doing my best now to prepare the Activist Resource Center. I want it to be a community space, so come on in or email me and tell me your ideas of what that space should be!

In solidarity,
Dooler