In the binary view of war or peace it is the cruelest irony that May 14 commemorates Independence Day in Israel while May 15 commemorates the Nakba, or Catastrophe, in Palestine..and on the very same land.
Sixty-three years ago, more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from 531 towns and villages. Today, there are an estimated seven million Palestinians still living in 58 registered refugee camps throughout the Middle while millions endure collective punishment in the Occupied Territories.
This, despite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states that every person “has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” Not only has Israel never accepted this basic human right for Palestinians as a basis for peace negotiations, it has successfully undermined these rights by ignoring them – and convincing the international community to follow suit.
What is changing, although so slowly it must feel inconsequential to those directly affected, is the historical narrative of “a land without a people for a people without a land” that blossomed during and after World War II and still thrives today.
“God is not a real estate agent”
Ziad Abbas, associate director of MECA, grew up in Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank. His family and more than twelve hundred others were expelled violently from their village, Zachariah near Jerusalem (now Kfar Zacharia) in October 1948.
Abbas says, “That God gave the empty Promised Land to his Chosen People is a romantic and convenient myth...and inaccurate. God is not a real estate agent.”
Abbas conducted an oral history that shares witness reports from local villages. He talked to the daughter of the woman who, along with three men and a child, were abducted from Zachariah by Zionist militias. The men were executed and the woman and child sent back to the village with a terrible message: they intend to kill us all; we must flee for our lives.
Walid Khalidi, Ilan Pape, and Rosemary Esber are among the sources of this more accurate history that is replacing the binary, cartoon-heroic versions taught in schools and communities around the world. Even Zionist historians agree that the 1948 expulsions – referred to euphemistically as “transfers” by perpetrators – were violent and wide-spread and followed the ethnic cleansing strategy laid out in the Haganah's master Plan Dalet (“D” in Hebrew). The Zionist version of this same history fully embraces the views of Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, et al that cleansing Palestine of ethnic Arabs is a basic requirement for a successful Jewish state. Murder, mayhem, usurpation of land and property, cultural destruction, and banishing Palestinians to refugee camps were fully sanctioned and justified; they continue to this day.
What goes around, comes around
There was nothing organic in how the Jewish state was founded, little that grew out of diverse people working over time toward generative solutions while respecting differences. Rather it was violent rush to fill the spaces left by living, breathing, loving human beings terrified for their lives leaving behind generations of orchards, fields, gardens, and memories.
Anyone with an open mind who actually visits Israel and the Occupied Territories quickly understands that nothing is simple here. Beneath the surface energy of “can-do” Israelis and awed Holy Land pilgrims lies a deeply complex multi-culture...with a highly stratified class system that reflects the country's founding ethos.
Associate professor of cultural anthropology Smadar Lavie grew up in Jaffa as a lower-middle class Arab Jew, or Misragi. A college professor once told her that her mind was “too untamed.” This meant, Lavie says, “I asked too many questions about Zionism – and everything in Israel is filtered through the sieve of Zionism.”
Lavie said in a recent radio interview, that Arab Jews, like her mother from Yemen, and others from Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and north Africa, were brought to Israel to swell the numbers of Jews, as place-holders to inhabit the homes and land left by terrified Palestinians, and as workers for Ashkenazim, or European Jews. Considered “dirty Arabs” – upon arrival in Israel they were sprayed with DDT – Misragim children often were taken from parents “for their own good” and put in boarding schools; even babies were taken from mothers and given to childless Ashkenazim.
Dislocated from their native lands and cultural bearings kept Misragim complaint and available to work at menial jobs for minimum wage. Misragim still fill this function in Israel; they are over-represented in lower levels of the military, as grunts, check-point attendants, and as enforcers.
Moreover, Lavie states that, despite the stereotype depicted on television of settlers as “Brooklyn Cowboys”, many Misragim live in the settlements ...and are happy to do so if urban slums are their alternative. The group tends toward right-wing politics and the benefits offered by right-wing politicians, such as airy, affordable homes in disputed areas. Nevertheless, Misragim are, for the most part, politically powerless. “Misragi women,” says Lavie, “try to 'marry up' so as to access higher level careers or society.”
Tragically, what could be an alliance between Palestinians and Misragim, based on shared Arab roots and language, does not happen.
“The hegemony of Ashkenazim includes the intellectual, political, professional, business, and industrial classes. This privileged group is mobile and has access to alternative living arrangements in Europe and the United States if things get too bad in Israel.”
The Misragim, on the other hand, cannot return to their ancestral, predominantly Moslem, lands. In addition, Palestinians do not look to Misragim for a political solution; they look to Ashkenazim even though very few of that elite speak Arabic or mix socially with Palestinians. Furthermore, says Lavie, “the face of day-to-day oppression – at the check points, in military and police vehicles, and so on, is Misragi – or 'Schwartzes' (Blacks) as we are known in Israel.”
The two-state pipe-dream
The two state solution – an Ashkenazi promoted pipe-dream that also holds sway within the US political elite and military-industrial and business classes – has failed. When this becomes clear even to those who can still afford to ignore such “facts on the ground”, Ashkenazim will depart Israel for greener pastures – as they did, for example, after South Africa's apartheid regime crashed.
Nothing is simple in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Will Palestinian history repeat itself, this time for the Misragim pawns in the Zionist grand plan, who will be left to face the consequences of the plunder of the last 63 years?
And read another excellent article on the Nakba by Dina Jadallah
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Ultimate in Online Fraud Scams! (Several Days Worth, plus a pic!)
Everybody loves -- or trusts -- a man in uniform?
Here is the ultimate email scam to seize an opportunity to cash in The War on Terror (that is, for us Little Guys since the Big Guys cashed in years ago or are continuing to cash in). Pretty soon I expect a similar email from Afghan war lords!
First Contact - Day 1
I received a response, plus a photo of "Sgt. Jeff Frawley"... and then another email from a second person. Guess they figure I'm an easy touch.
From Sgt. Jeff Frawley
Meanwhile, word it out that there is an easy mark... Here is a follow up from Sgt. Jimmy Roberts
Let's see what comes next...
Here is the ultimate email scam to seize an opportunity to cash in The War on Terror (that is, for us Little Guys since the Big Guys cashed in years ago or are continuing to cash in). Pretty soon I expect a similar email from Afghan war lords!
First Contact - Day 1
Re:FROM: Sgt. Jeff Frawley,Two Days Later
This is Sgt. Jeff Frawley, an American soldier; serving in 1st Armored Division in Iraq, We are lucky to recover some funds belonging to Saddam Hussein’s family. The total amount is US$12 Million dollars in cash, mostly 100 dollar bills, the money has been kept somewhere outside Baghdad for sometime but with the increase troop by the president Barack Obama, we are afraid that the money will be discovered hence we want to move this money to you for save keeping pending the completion of our assignment here.
We are ready to compensate you with good percentage of the funds, No strings attached, just for you to help us move it out of Iraq. Iraq is a war zone, so we plan on using diplomatic means to deliver the money to you, with military cargo, using diplomatic immunity. If you are interested I will send you the full details, my job is to find a good partner who we can trust that can assisting us on this very matter. Can we trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest.
This is risk free.
With regards from,
Sgt. Jeff Frawley.
I received a response, plus a photo of "Sgt. Jeff Frawley"... and then another email from a second person. Guess they figure I'm an easy touch.
From Sgt. Jeff Frawley
Hello Friend,I don't know whose son this is... or how these scammers got this kid's pic. I figure this is some kind of a hazing episode that is common in the miitary. I will research and see what turns up.
Thanks you very much for your honest response to my mail, I found myself in this opportunity and with our position we had no any other option than to give out this blind trust. I believe nothing happen on earth by chance, our destiny are in God’s hand. As much as you will assure us that I and my partners will have our 60% as soon as you receive this fund through diplomatic courier delivery at your door step. I will appreciate if we can confide in you for this business that will profit us both. I want to assure you that this project will not in any way bring any harm to us rather everlasting joy in our fortune lives. Please my dearest friend this fund is all our Hope of securing our financial stability we have to treat everything concerning this transaction with uttermost secrecy to avoid any raise of eyebrow until this money is delivered to you through diplomatic courier delivery. We are going to cover the shipment of the fund (Consignment) out of Iraq legally, you have a little role to play in this project and that is to receive the fund (Consignment) and keep our 60% of the money safe with you pending our arrival to meet you. I want you to keep this project as top secret and very confidential since you understand my position and what is going on in Iraq presently.
We shall take total care of everything involved here to see that the delivery of this consignment is made safely and legally. You will only receive the consignment and keep our share for us pending our arrival to meet you after our mission here in Iraq. Because of trust we have accepted to give you 40% of the fund while I and my colleague share 60 % among us.
You must know that the content of the consignment is well kept as top secret and very confidential. As regards to this, We intend to deposit this consignment with a Diplomatic International Courier Org here in Iraq so that the consignment can depart from Iraq immediately to you, The diplomatic Courier Org will combine the consignment with their Cargo diplomatic vessel direct to you, it must be hand to hand delivery because we must make sure that the consignment is delivered to you in person.
You fully understand our condition here in Iraq and the source of this fund so therefore, you must not let the courier company or the delivery agent know the content of the box because we are not going to disclose the content of the box in case you are been asked you must maintain that the box contains some Family valuables although no body is going to ask you any questions because I'm going to ship the consignment with my real names, you know that we are American soldiers on duty here. The opening numbers will be release to you as soon as you confirm the receipt of the consignments.
Since you did not send us your contacts information, we request that you send it to enable us work on the delivery arrangement of these consignments to you immediately with the diplomatic Courier Org for onward delivery.
1, your full names......................................
2, your office and home address.................
3, direct telephone number.................
If possible your passport or ID card........................
Iraq is a war zone and this money is no longer safe to keep here any longer.
Please you should understand that we are American Soldiers and we are not allowed to any of our personal contents while on duty, what we use here is Military Radio for duty calls and report and what so ever we discussed on Radio is coded to the Monitoring Control Department in United States, So therefore we may not have the chance to call you on phone for security reasons.
We shall keep you posted as soon as we conclude on the delivery arrangement of the consignments with the Diplomatic Courier Org as soon as we receive your contacts information’s.
In case you need anymore clarification, you get back to us immediately. Attached is my Picture for your view.
Best regards,
Sgt. Jeff Frawley
Meanwhile, word it out that there is an easy mark... Here is a follow up from Sgt. Jimmy Roberts
FROM: Sgt. Jimmy Roberts, An American Soldier currently in Iraq.
Important Message,
My name is Sgt. Jimmy Roberts, I am an American soldier, I am serving in the military of the 1st Armored Division in Iraq, as you know we are being attacked by insurgents everyday and car bombs. We managed to move funds belonging to Saddam Hussein's family. The total amount is US$18 Million dollars in cash, mostly 100 dollar bills, this money has been kept somewhere outside Baghdad for sometime but with the proposed troop withdraw by president Barack Obama, we are afraid that the money will be discovered hence we want to move this money to you for safe keeping pending the completion of our assignment here. You can go to this web link to read about events that took place there:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
We are ready to compensate you with good percentage of the funds, No strings attached, just for you to help us move it out of Iraq, the safety of you and your family is guaranteed. Iraq is a war zone, so we plan on using diplomatic means to shipping the money out as military cargo, using diplomatic immunity. If you are interested I will send you the full details, my job is to find a good partner that we can trust and assist us. Can I trust you?
When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest including your confidential telephone number for quick communication also your contact details will be needed for the shipment.
This is 100% risk free.
With regards from,
Sgt. Jimmy Roberts.
Let's see what comes next...
Friday, May 7, 2010
Fort Point Gang
The Fort Point Gang gathered at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, next to Ft. Point on the San Francisco side, on Thursday May 6, 2010.
It was my first time there although the Gang gathers every Thursday. This Thursday -- the closest Thursday to May Day -- was also the annual commemoration of folks who have passed on.
Gang members - about 30 or so - remembered their friends and colleagues as each name was read out loud and a red carnation was either tossed into the waves or threaded into the fence.
The Fort Point Gang originated in 1978 with seven men - Joe Passen, Bill Bailey, Al Richmond, Lou Goldblatt, Frank Jones, Jack Olsen, and Jim Kendall -- all lifelong labor activists, union leaders, and former members of the American Communist Party whose lasting friendships had taken root many years before in San Francisco, a union stronghold. (Purchase the book, "Better Red: The Writing and Resistance of Tillie Olsen and Meridel Le Sueur" for more.) All now have plaques on several wooden benches at the Point to remember them.
After the event, the group went off for lunch.
It was my first time there although the Gang gathers every Thursday. This Thursday -- the closest Thursday to May Day -- was also the annual commemoration of folks who have passed on.
Gang members - about 30 or so - remembered their friends and colleagues as each name was read out loud and a red carnation was either tossed into the waves or threaded into the fence.
The Fort Point Gang originated in 1978 with seven men - Joe Passen, Bill Bailey, Al Richmond, Lou Goldblatt, Frank Jones, Jack Olsen, and Jim Kendall -- all lifelong labor activists, union leaders, and former members of the American Communist Party whose lasting friendships had taken root many years before in San Francisco, a union stronghold. (Purchase the book, "Better Red: The Writing and Resistance of Tillie Olsen and Meridel Le Sueur" for more.) All now have plaques on several wooden benches at the Point to remember them.
After the event, the group went off for lunch.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Mother's Day for Military Moms
(Also published in Truth Out for Mother's Day 2010)
In America, Mother's Day falls on May 9 this year. In Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon it fell on March 21, and in Afghanistan it fell on March 8, where it is also celebrated as the first day of spring. Israel forgoes Mother's Day in favor of Family Day, celebrated on February 14 this year.
I take an interest in these countries because, while my son served in the US Army, I visited them to understand more deeply the effects of war.
Mother's Day has not been the same for me since my son deployed for three tours of duty, one to Afghanistan and two to Iraq. I barely remember those kinder, gentler celebrations when my young kids proudly presented me, under strict order to stay in bed, slightly charred pancakes on a flower-bedecked tray. Now I remember when few Americans could locate Afghanistan on a map yet the prevailing sentiment held that bombing that country was “righteous”...and Colin Powell used flip charts to preach the gospel of Iraqi WMDs...and civil dissent was akin to treason.
My son is out of the Army now, honorably discharged, and moving on with his life. I have stayed in touch with many war-affected families; in the US this I relatively easy to do.
The US
Adele Kubein's family immigrated to the US from Jordan. Her daughter, M'kesha joined the National Guard and deployed to Iraq where she was gravely wounded. After years of military medical treatment, this young woman will get what she has repeatedly asked for: to have her constantly painful leg amputated. She will be able, then, to walk beyond the half block from her home where she lives with her profoundly deaf and disabled son.
M'kesha became a mom despite her base commander orders to abort that new life conceived in Iraq. She refused and is, Adele says, “a caring and attentive mother. My grandson is a beautiful child that we will have to care for the rest of our lives. He may be M'kesha's spiritual path of atoning for the killing she was forced to do as a National Guardswoman in Iraq.
M'kesha writes her way back to the land of living beyond war wounds. A recent poem begins:
Rita Dougherty's son Ryan was an Army lieutenant trained as a nuclear engineer at West Point. He almost died in an attack on a Stryker, the armored vehicle designed to be impregnable to first generation IEDs...but not to the next generation version that pierced through the vehicle's floor, his seat, and his hips and legs. He fought infection in his critically wounded leg for months in Walter Reed Army Medical Center then for years in a Warrior Transition Unit (WTU).
At this point, Ryan is exhausted from dealing with the WTU, recovering from eighteen surgeries so far, and regularly using Methadone to ease his pain. He wants to get on with his life and has been accepted at Harvard in the fall.
Rita supports her son's decision to have his leg amputated. And sometimes the military medical teams agree to do it, and sometimes they do not. Ryan's case worker warns him that a prosthetic limb may not fit him when his is sixty.
Rita says, “I am stunned! What a thing to tell a 27 year old. Who knows what to expect in 30 years? I certainly hope we will be light years then from the sort of care WTUs provide today!”
At twenty-one years old, single mom and Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson was not physically wounded in war. In fact, she never deployed although she fully intended to accompany her unit from Georgia's Hunter Army Airfield to Afghanistan in October 2009. She had followed the directions outlined in the Army's Family Care Plan and her mother was set to care for Hutchinson's month-old boy, Kamani. But a family emergency intervened and Hutchinson's mother was unable to follow through. Specialist Hutchinson asked her commander for an extension of time to find a trusted caregiver for her child. On November 4, her commander refused. On November 6, when she missed her flight to Afghanistan, Army officials took Kamani from his mother, placed him in foster care, arrested Hutchinson, and read her court martial charges: desertion, dereliction of duty, missing movement, failure to obey orders, and insubordination.
Hutchinson found an attorney and their request for discharge in lieu of court martial was granted on February 13, 2010. Today, she and Kamani live together in California; Alexis will enroll in community college this summer.
The Middle East and Afghanistan
It is not easy to stay in touch with Iraqis in Iraq and Syria ...nor Afghans in or out of their country or in refugee camps. Their situation remains dire as their countries' social fabric unravels and war-induced diasporas continue.
On the other hand, while Palestinians lose their homes to Israeli demolition orders and military attack, they are a people determined to remain on their land. This year on Mother's Day in Hebron, Mazin Qumsiyeh's mother went to the eye doctor and, while driving her home, his sister was cited for what Israeli soldiers say was an illegal turn. The fright made his mother burn the dinner and temporarily smoke the family out of their home.
Meanwhile, Qumsiyeh participated in protests and commemorations. He reports that during the 30-hours leading up to and following Mother's Day over 100 Palestinians were injured and four killed: two 19-year-old farmers were shot dead near Nablus for carrying what Israeli soldiers say were “deadly tools” – actually, it was a shovel for digging; two 16-year-old boys, Mohammed and Useid Qadus, died of gun shot wounds in Burin village.
About 300 female Palestinian political prisoners spent Mother's Day behind bars. Fatma Abu Rahima's husband, Adeeb, is one of thousands of male political prisoners. The family was not permitted to visit him. Then again, their 17-year-old daughter, Alaah, could not have walked there. The doctors find nothing physically wrong with her; they suggest her troubles are psychosomatic.
I do not long for the lost innocence of earlier years. If I long for anything, it is that more women heed Julia Ward Howe's call of 1870:
Listen to the radio show: Mother's Day during War
In America, Mother's Day falls on May 9 this year. In Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon it fell on March 21, and in Afghanistan it fell on March 8, where it is also celebrated as the first day of spring. Israel forgoes Mother's Day in favor of Family Day, celebrated on February 14 this year.
I take an interest in these countries because, while my son served in the US Army, I visited them to understand more deeply the effects of war.
Mother's Day has not been the same for me since my son deployed for three tours of duty, one to Afghanistan and two to Iraq. I barely remember those kinder, gentler celebrations when my young kids proudly presented me, under strict order to stay in bed, slightly charred pancakes on a flower-bedecked tray. Now I remember when few Americans could locate Afghanistan on a map yet the prevailing sentiment held that bombing that country was “righteous”...and Colin Powell used flip charts to preach the gospel of Iraqi WMDs...and civil dissent was akin to treason.
My son is out of the Army now, honorably discharged, and moving on with his life. I have stayed in touch with many war-affected families; in the US this I relatively easy to do.
The US
Adele Kubein's family immigrated to the US from Jordan. Her daughter, M'kesha joined the National Guard and deployed to Iraq where she was gravely wounded. After years of military medical treatment, this young woman will get what she has repeatedly asked for: to have her constantly painful leg amputated. She will be able, then, to walk beyond the half block from her home where she lives with her profoundly deaf and disabled son.
M'kesha became a mom despite her base commander orders to abort that new life conceived in Iraq. She refused and is, Adele says, “a caring and attentive mother. My grandson is a beautiful child that we will have to care for the rest of our lives. He may be M'kesha's spiritual path of atoning for the killing she was forced to do as a National Guardswoman in Iraq.
M'kesha writes her way back to the land of living beyond war wounds. A recent poem begins:
“Welcome home soldier,
you're just in time for the recession.”
They hand me
a fist full of medals,
a quilt sewn by some unknown women,
a teddy bear,
in a paper packet.
This is my guide
to becoming a civilian again...
Rita Dougherty's son Ryan was an Army lieutenant trained as a nuclear engineer at West Point. He almost died in an attack on a Stryker, the armored vehicle designed to be impregnable to first generation IEDs...but not to the next generation version that pierced through the vehicle's floor, his seat, and his hips and legs. He fought infection in his critically wounded leg for months in Walter Reed Army Medical Center then for years in a Warrior Transition Unit (WTU).
At this point, Ryan is exhausted from dealing with the WTU, recovering from eighteen surgeries so far, and regularly using Methadone to ease his pain. He wants to get on with his life and has been accepted at Harvard in the fall.
Rita supports her son's decision to have his leg amputated. And sometimes the military medical teams agree to do it, and sometimes they do not. Ryan's case worker warns him that a prosthetic limb may not fit him when his is sixty.
Rita says, “I am stunned! What a thing to tell a 27 year old. Who knows what to expect in 30 years? I certainly hope we will be light years then from the sort of care WTUs provide today!”
At twenty-one years old, single mom and Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson was not physically wounded in war. In fact, she never deployed although she fully intended to accompany her unit from Georgia's Hunter Army Airfield to Afghanistan in October 2009. She had followed the directions outlined in the Army's Family Care Plan and her mother was set to care for Hutchinson's month-old boy, Kamani. But a family emergency intervened and Hutchinson's mother was unable to follow through. Specialist Hutchinson asked her commander for an extension of time to find a trusted caregiver for her child. On November 4, her commander refused. On November 6, when she missed her flight to Afghanistan, Army officials took Kamani from his mother, placed him in foster care, arrested Hutchinson, and read her court martial charges: desertion, dereliction of duty, missing movement, failure to obey orders, and insubordination.
Hutchinson found an attorney and their request for discharge in lieu of court martial was granted on February 13, 2010. Today, she and Kamani live together in California; Alexis will enroll in community college this summer.
The Middle East and Afghanistan
It is not easy to stay in touch with Iraqis in Iraq and Syria ...nor Afghans in or out of their country or in refugee camps. Their situation remains dire as their countries' social fabric unravels and war-induced diasporas continue.
On the other hand, while Palestinians lose their homes to Israeli demolition orders and military attack, they are a people determined to remain on their land. This year on Mother's Day in Hebron, Mazin Qumsiyeh's mother went to the eye doctor and, while driving her home, his sister was cited for what Israeli soldiers say was an illegal turn. The fright made his mother burn the dinner and temporarily smoke the family out of their home.
Meanwhile, Qumsiyeh participated in protests and commemorations. He reports that during the 30-hours leading up to and following Mother's Day over 100 Palestinians were injured and four killed: two 19-year-old farmers were shot dead near Nablus for carrying what Israeli soldiers say were “deadly tools” – actually, it was a shovel for digging; two 16-year-old boys, Mohammed and Useid Qadus, died of gun shot wounds in Burin village.
About 300 female Palestinian political prisoners spent Mother's Day behind bars. Fatma Abu Rahima's husband, Adeeb, is one of thousands of male political prisoners. The family was not permitted to visit him. Then again, their 17-year-old daughter, Alaah, could not have walked there. The doctors find nothing physically wrong with her; they suggest her troubles are psychosomatic.
I do not long for the lost innocence of earlier years. If I long for anything, it is that more women heed Julia Ward Howe's call of 1870:
Arise, all women who have hearts!
...Say firmly:
We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
...From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
Listen to the radio show: Mother's Day during War
Palestinian Agro-Resistance
Today, I share Vivien Sansour's article, "Palestinian Agro-Resistance."
Vivien Sansour is the Producer Relations Manager and Life Style Writer for Canaan Fair Trade. She has appeared on Raising Sand Radio and you can listen to her there.
Abu Adnan does not talk about a global movement to save the earth. He doesn’t know much about Greenpeace or the Kyoto Protocol; but he does know everything about keeping his soil healthy and fertile, and the terraces he builds to protect his soil make his mountainous piece of land a visual paradise.
Read the article >>
Vivien Sansour is the Producer Relations Manager and Life Style Writer for Canaan Fair Trade. She has appeared on Raising Sand Radio and you can listen to her there.
When the last day of your life comes, plant the seedling that’s in your hand. -- Palestinian Proverb
Abu Adnan does not talk about a global movement to save the earth. He doesn’t know much about Greenpeace or the Kyoto Protocol; but he does know everything about keeping his soil healthy and fertile, and the terraces he builds to protect his soil make his mountainous piece of land a visual paradise.
Read the article >>
Friday, April 30, 2010
BP: "...very responsive and responsible spillers"
Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry marshaled the Coast Guard, the federal on-scene coordinator of the massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast, and said, “BP, from Day 1, has attempted to be a very responsive and very responsible spiller.”
A week later and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano calls it “a spill of national significance” and creates command posts in Louisiana and Mobile to manage the impact along Alabama, Mississippi and Florida coastlines.
The US Air Force sends two C-130 planes to Mississippi to await orders to spray chemicals on the spill.
The US Navy marshals more than 1,000 people, scores of vessels and aircraft, plus 50 contractors, 7 skimming systems, and 66,000 feet of inflatable containment boom.
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana declares a state of emergency and requests the participation of the National Guard.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar orders an immediate review of the 30 offshore drilling rigs and 47 production platforms operating in the deepwater Gulf, and plans to send teams to conduct on-site inspections.
The White House's senior advisor David Axelrod and Good Morning American announce no new offshore drilling until there is an “adequate review...No additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here and whether there was something unique and preventable here.”
BP, meanwhile, markets its business: “Beyond petroleum ...sums up our brand in the most succinct and focused way possible. It’s both what we stand for and a practical description of what we do: take concrete actions to push traditional boundaries and meet the challenges of our time in a sustainable way.”
Don't forget that, amid the spreading disaster and unctuous officials, 11 people are still missing, presumed dead – and that BP said the spill would amount to about 1,000 barrels a day, then upped that amount to 5,000 barrels ( that is, more than 200,000 gallons) a day.
Soon we will learn the spill and its effects are far larger than stated ...then we'll learn the monetary costs of the clean...and it will be accepted that We, the people, will foot the financial and environmental bill.
And, thanks to Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, BP can add another phrase to their brand message: “we are a very responsive and responsible spiller.”
This picture illustrates one good reason to keep the oil in the soil, the coal in the hole, and the nuke in the juke.
Horizon Deepwater Blowout (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)
A week later and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano calls it “a spill of national significance” and creates command posts in Louisiana and Mobile to manage the impact along Alabama, Mississippi and Florida coastlines.
The US Air Force sends two C-130 planes to Mississippi to await orders to spray chemicals on the spill.
The US Navy marshals more than 1,000 people, scores of vessels and aircraft, plus 50 contractors, 7 skimming systems, and 66,000 feet of inflatable containment boom.
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana declares a state of emergency and requests the participation of the National Guard.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar orders an immediate review of the 30 offshore drilling rigs and 47 production platforms operating in the deepwater Gulf, and plans to send teams to conduct on-site inspections.
The White House's senior advisor David Axelrod and Good Morning American announce no new offshore drilling until there is an “adequate review...No additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here and whether there was something unique and preventable here.”
BP, meanwhile, markets its business: “Beyond petroleum ...sums up our brand in the most succinct and focused way possible. It’s both what we stand for and a practical description of what we do: take concrete actions to push traditional boundaries and meet the challenges of our time in a sustainable way.”
Don't forget that, amid the spreading disaster and unctuous officials, 11 people are still missing, presumed dead – and that BP said the spill would amount to about 1,000 barrels a day, then upped that amount to 5,000 barrels ( that is, more than 200,000 gallons) a day.
Soon we will learn the spill and its effects are far larger than stated ...then we'll learn the monetary costs of the clean...and it will be accepted that We, the people, will foot the financial and environmental bill.
And, thanks to Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, BP can add another phrase to their brand message: “we are a very responsive and responsible spiller.”
This picture illustrates one good reason to keep the oil in the soil, the coal in the hole, and the nuke in the juke.
Horizon Deepwater Blowout (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Welcome to Ohlone Territory - The Second Event of a Four Year Ceremonial Cycle
Few who live in the San Francisco Bay region know that more than 10,000 people from at least nine Ohlone tribes once flourished here. Or that they are applying for tribal recognition. Or that the largest living Ohlone tribe, with 2,000 members, migrated from Mission Dolores in 1834 and now lives in Pomona California. This tribe, the Costanoan Rumsen Carmel, supports a thriving Ohlone cultural life including a song and dance group and weekly sweat lodge healing ceremonies.
Very few public schools teach much, if anything, these days about the history of the bay's original inhabitants nor do they mention that descendants of these people continue to live, go to school, hold down jobs, and celebrate their heritage in many local communities...or why this story is ignored. Truth is, the actual story is one that can't be shared with small children – or the squeamish. It involves murder, mayhem, and massacres; not the sort of thing a “dominant culture” wants to confront full-on.
Welcome to Ohlone Territory was the second event of the four year ceremonial cycle that began April 15 and, along with the grand opening of the 100 percent off-the-grid Eco-Center, included a ceremony for healing the land at Heron's Head Park in the Bay View Hunter's Point district. In the future, site partner, Arc Ecology, will present a series of classes about the Ohlone ecology that shaped the Franciscan habitat for 10,000 years.
The history of this area is rich and complex. It includes a Department of the Navy shipyard that is now a Superfund site slowly being turned over The City for development. California Senate Bill 18 of 2005 stipulates that Ohlone tribal members whose names are listed with the Native American Heritage Commission are to be included in planning development of Hunters Point Shipyard. Yet, when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors amended their General Plan in 2006 to allow for this development no Ohlone representative was contacted. This, despite the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) stating that there are at least four, and probably five, Ohlone village sites within the development boundaries and another 16 within one-quarter mile.
Ann Marie Sayers is Tribal Chair of Costanoan Indian Canyon and the only Ohlone that has succeeded in obtaining title to her ancestors’ land. She said, “The sites affected by the development are extremely significant and are believed to be burial or ceremonial sites. In addition to protecting these sites, we also want to work with the local community to protect their health, the land and the fragile Bay marine environment.”
For some Ohlone attending the event this is the first time they have ever been on this small piece of land that juts into the bay. It is significant that, when those building the sweat lodge prepared to dig the earth to make the pit and to use that earth as an alter the groundsman was reluctant. He suggested the layer of clay with which the Navy capped its toxic contaminants may be breached. That the pit is six inches deep says much about how land has been remediated here...and how little protection there is for the health of humans and other creatures when development beckons. Although the Ohlone builders choose to go ahead with the sweat lodge, this incident encapsulates Ohlone concern: the fragmentation of our Earth, the contamination of what remains, and how to restore balance to the land and it's First People.
Thursday, April 15
The first night of the event begins with fire, fresh air, sea water, and a small group of people descended from those assumed by popular culture to have disappeared long ago.
Daniel and Russel, both Rumsen, drove together to Heron's Head from Santa Cruz. Sixteen minutes before sundown Daniel stopped his van at the entrance to the park. He laughed ruefully through the window and told co-organizer Neil Maclean waiting at the gate, “We made it! I wasn't sure we would when we were stuck in traffic an hour ago. ”
Their van is packed to the gills with gear for the next three days. Right now, though, it is sundown and Daniel must hurry to light the fire that will burn continuously until Sunday.
Later, a small group sits around the fire on the spit that is the last remaining mud flat on the San Francisco side of the bay. Daniel faces each of the four directions as he sings and his voice and those of his companions accompany the beat of his drum then swirl with the wind into the dark. Across the narrow estuary of Lash Lighter Basin, seagull chatter almost drowns out the hum of fork lifts in The City's successful Pier 94 recycling center.
It is appropriate that such elements come together in this way on this first night: a piece of land with spectacular views reclaimed for the local community from the Navy, a recycling center that diverts useable consumer goods from waste dumps, a solar generated Eco-Center, and people fired up for another, more natural, more inclusive way of being.
Daniel tells the Rumsen Ohlone creation story:
An Ohlone man sits on the beach and watches the tide rise. All day long he'd had the feeling that something was different about this day, that something big was going to happen. An object floated toward him and he suspected this might be it. When it was close enough, he saw a feather and reached for it. He fell back as a huge eagle, symbol of his people, rose out of the water, spread its wings, and towered over him. Then the eagle handed him a small hummingbird and told him to take it as his wife. Dumbfounded,the man asked, “How can I take such a small creature as a wife?”
The eagle said, “Find a flea or a tick on your body and give it to the hummingbird to eat.”
The man did so and, when the hummingbird ate, she turned into a beautiful woman whom he took as his wife. Their children began the Rumsen tribe.
A wise woman once said, “Our new world is already germinating in the shell of the old. When the dying shell falls away, we will see fresh green shoots....”
What she did not say was that seeds are passed down from the very old world too...What if indigenous renewal is the harbinger of new directions rooted in ancient traditions?
Friday April 17
After dinner a group gathers near the fire within which bake, since sundown yesterday, twenty four lava rocks about the size of cantaloupes. They will glisten red hot when they are removed and placed in the sweat lodge pit.
Willow saplings, bent and shaped into a half circle, form the sweat lodge; the circle completes under the earth. Three layers of heavy cloth lie over the wood frame and are held down with rocks at the base. Heavy fabric covers the entry way.
Upon the altar rests a package of tobacco, sage, two antlers to maneuver the hot rocks in the lodge, and a bear skull.
There is a symmetry to the alignment here: the lodge entrance, the pit, the altar, the fire, and the open space beyond face east. This sacred area is restricted to the fire-keeper and ceremony leaders. Anyone who needs to traverse the area must do so in a clock-wise fashion, no one but the fire keeper can cross the sacred zone between the altar and the fire, the view to the east space must remain open.
Tony Cerda, the Rumsen chief, welcomes the group, conducts the sweat lodge ceremony and leads the praise singing then each participant says a few words, throws tobacco into the flames, and passes, clockwise, around the fire.
This is not a stilted or authoritarian ceremony; an easy camaraderie flows within the rituals, no one grandstands. A large fluffy dog and his owner walk along the spit and the dog bounds into the ssacred area; it is welcome as a spirit visitor.
More people arrive after dinner. Iron Woman – her name is melodic in her native tongue – talks about her evolution toward the Sun Dance... and her participation in 16 of these grueling events that include
fasting, dancing, singing and drumming, and experiencing visions; often the dances culminate in hanging from skin pierced on the dancer's chest. Other Sun Dances join in sharing memories of their experiences. Steve recites his epic poem about Sun Dancing that includes the line, “if I did not dance I would be in jail or dead by now.” Overcome with Steve's words, Iron Woman sobs. Then she talks about being a mother watching her son dance: “it is difficult for us mothers to see our sons and know what they are going through.”
Steve invites those who will enter the sweat lodge to prepare. Tony leads the prayer and sings. Before participants enter the lodge each is smudged with sage – back and front, and under feet – then she or he bends and crawls into the dark dome.
Two men rake a stone out of the fire, dust ash from it so that it does not contaminate the air within the lodge, and pass it to Steve inside who maneuvers it with antlers into the pit. With six stones placed, a splash of water over the rocks creates steam and the entry way is closed. Voices murmur within followed by singing.
...Other Voices
Michael and Cynthia drove here from Los Angeles. Michael is Rumsen Ohlone, Cynthia is from a Plains Indian tribe. Michael says, “Cynthia is my “wing man” which means she helps me when things get tough. I learn from Tony too, especially about patience. Yesterday, for example, we were supposed to practice drumming for this event. But one man arrived at our home high and drunk. He fell in the bathroom and threw up there; it was a mess. Children were watching this and I was so angry I wanted to throw him out. Instead, Tony talked very gently with this man and showed him so much compassion that I calmed down too. Now I feel I can manage my anger and experience it differently.”
Cynthia explains Michael's wing man reference. “The bear and eagle team up in the Bear Dance that replicates the bear awakening from hibernation in the spring or preparing for hibernation in the fall. The eagle, or wing man, uses its wing to clear dark or negative energy that the bear may accumulate during the dance. The eagle lightly brushes the bear with its wing then flies that energy away and releases it back to the mineral world.”
Henry is sixteen, the youngest of a family of four children; his father died when Henry was ten. The young man gives the impression that he is too shy to talk but he opens up readily when approached. He learned from fasting and a vision quest that he is a bear and, tomorrow night, he will participate in the Bear Dance. AJ is about the same age as Henry and, as an eagle, will be Henry's wing man during the dance. Tonight AJ is the fire-keeper and ensures the fire burns well and hot. Later, when AJ joins the group in the sweat lodge another young man takes over the fire-keeper's duties.
David is Anglo and learns from Native Americans and others about how to honor our Earth. He describes the sequence of ceremonial events in a manner peculiar to his culture – as a linear process with set, measurable steps – yet corrects himself now and again with a brief nod to cultural difference: “Each group honors Mother Earth slightly differently... I'm not sure how this group will conduct its ceremonies...let's see how things develop....”
Saturday April 17
The mood around the fire in the late afternoon is easy. After the ceremonial circle to welcome guests breaks up, Tony shares a joke.
A snail describes to a judge a collision he witnessed between two tortoises. “I could see the two tortoises were on a collision course as they came down the path. They couldn't see one another but I could see a head-on in the making...”
The judge asks, “And what happened?”
The snail replies, “I don't know. It happened too fast!”
As more people arrive and cluster around the lodge, the earlier small group intimacy gives way to an air of anticipation: the evening's community sweat followed by the dancers'-only sweat, singing, Acorn and Bear Dancing; after the dance the bears will sweat once more before the lodge is dismantled.
The dancing takes place in a location some distance from the sweat lodge and delineated by a circle of trimmed grass edged with four flags. Burning logs carried in a brazier from the lodge fire wait in the center of the circle while the dancers prepare. Observes and supporters stand in a circle chanting to the beat of a slow drum while paint is applied to the dancers: black and white streaks on back and chest, arms, chin, and cheeks.
Then a line of singing dancers enters the dance arena at the eastern entryway and spirals around the fire. After several Acorn Dances honoring the tribe's women, Tony invites everyone to join the dance and Steve describes the moves. The circle expands to include all participants then shrinks and grows, shrinks and grows as it weaves in and out and upon itself.
Meanwhile, beyond the dance zone, two Bears prepare: a stretch of a foreleg here, the tying of a ribbon there to ensure the bear head does not move during the dance, a shared joke followed by low laughter.
Then the Acorn Dance is over and four men takes turns around the fire to prepare the space for the bears: each presents a prayer and a handful of sage into the fire. Finally, groaning and roaring, the bears shuffle in and circle to the beat of the drum. Dim firelight plays over fur, deep black, brown, and gold.
Here we are, in the dark, on a spit of reclaimed land around which birds call and a cool wind penetrates jackets while damp ground works its way through boots and shoes. Out there, on the hillside that is Bay View Hunter's Point, behind the defunct power station put out of business by local community pressure, occasional gunshots ring out and echo over the inlets. The bears dance on and on...
Sunday April 18
The lodge is gone. The circle of cantaloupe stones, cold now, stacks in the exposed fire pit. An empty turquoise pack of tobacco lies on the altar in front of the once proud fire. Wind from the east wafts smoke into the faces of those on the western arc of the circle of people around the dying fire that has not been fed since last night's final sweat ceremony. Each person in turn says a few words of thanks; some simply say, “To my ancestors.” One woman expresses her feelings of deep pride and gratefulness that so many young people participate in these ceremonies: “This truly honors our ancestors and gives hope for our Ohlone future.”
The circle breaks. Someone says, “Show time, dancers!”
Those who will perform the public dance at the grand opening of Eco-Center – they already wear ceremonial dress – slowly walk to that venue. Those who remain pack their gear, chat quietly, or say their goodbyes.
Soon the area is empty of people. What remains are a series of circles: green grass defines the area covered by the sweat lodge, brown grass surrounds it, trampled down by the days' activities; the circular pit with a pyramid of stones; the empty altar in front of the fire, another circle created by celebrants walking, clockwise, around it. The open space beyond is clear and sunny. Birds wheel overhead or forage at the shore.
EcoCenter opens
A long line of visitors waits to tour the interior of EcoCenter, learn about the water use and storage system – only rainwater collected into huge metal tanks is used here – and climb the temporary ladder up to the roof to view the native plant sod roof and admire the view.
Tony Cerda leads a series of Acorn Dances for the public opening of the EcoCenter. Participants and observers that attended last night's Bear Dance might feel exposed in the bright morning sunshine. At the same time, the subtle nuances of the dances can't be missed as are in the enveloping dark. One dancer twitches his feathers as he backs into the circle then swings around to face the center, the angle of another dancer's head and shoulders, so birdlike, brings tears to the eyes. There is gusto and verve to the dances even as some young women dancers project an air of shyness, perhaps even reluctance.
Chief Tony Cerda ends the session with a loud call to recognize this tradition: “When someone tells you that there are no Ohlone left, you tell them not only do they live but that you saw then dance here today!”
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