Events this week

Durham PA meeting tonight:

 

City Manager Tom Bonfield will speak at the PA member meeting tonight at the Herald-Sun Building, 2828 Pickett Road, at 7pm. 

 

Gaza events:

 

7:30 Wednesday January 14, at the
Community Church of Chapel Hill, UU
106 Purefoy Road [see directions below]

BALANCE & ACCURACY IN JOURNALISM,
with co-sponsors

Carolina Interfaith Taskforce Connecting the Americas and the Charles Jones Peace and Justice committee

present

MIKO PELED, Israeli American peace activist,

RASHA ALI,  Guilford College student from Ramallah area

RICHARD WARK,  ICAHD and AJJP

on

RIGHTS & WRONGS IN GAZA: THE TASK AHEAD

As the 1967 Israeli war against the Arabs ended,
Miko Peled's mother -- and wife of the victorious
Israeli general Matti Peled -- refused to accept a house
taken from fleeing Palestinians.  "I will not live
in a house that belongs to another woman," she said.
What did she know that is lost to our media and our
government?

In 1997 when Miko Peled's niece died from a suicide bomber's
blast, his sister Nurit's statement to a BBC reporter resounded
across the world:

  "My little girl was murdered because she was an Israeli,
  by a young man who was humiliated, oppressed and
  desperate to the point of suicide and murder and
  inhumanity, just because he was a Palestinian."

  "There is no basic moral difference between the soldier
  at the checkpoint who prevents a woman who is having
  a baby from going through, causing her to lose the baby,
  and the man who killed my daughter. And just as my
  daughter was a victim [of the occupation], so was he."

Miko Peled recently traveled to Gaza but was turned
back from entering or delivering hospital equipment
to a Gaza hospital.  [see link below] He will share thoughts
on next steps for the peace movement as deaths and
injuries mount.

Our panel includes Rasha Ali, a Palestinian from Ramallah
studying at Guilford College, and sociologist Richard Wark
Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions and participant
in the new organization American Jews for a Just Peace.

Miko Peled will be with us via video link.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We will share DVD copies of a Democracy Now! program featuring
an exchange between Hillary Clinton advisor and occupation supporter
 Indyk, and occupation opponent professor Norman Finkelstein.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday January 15, Balance & Accuracy in Journalism cosponsors :

UNDERSTANDING GAZA

UNC-CH TEACH-IN
 

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009

Nelson Mandela Auditorium at the FedEx Global Education Center

(located at McCauley and Pittsboro Streets)

7:00 - 9:00 pm

Panelists:

Dr. Sarah Shields: Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History at UNC-CH, she is the author of Mosul before Iraq and teaches courses on Islamic civilization, the modern Muslim world, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Marty Rosenbluth: Formerly the Country Specialist for Israel, the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian Authority for Amnesty International-USA, he is currently a human rights lawyer with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham.  Through his work with AI, he documented violations by all parties to the conflict. In 2006 he participated in a fact-finding mission in northern Israel during the war between Israel and Lebanon where he documented Hezbullah attacks on Israeli civilians as well as meeting with Israeli officials to discuss IDF attacks on civilians in Southern Lebanon.

Laila El-Haddad: A freelance journalist from Gaza, her blog "Raising Yousuf and Noor: Diary of a Palestinian Mother" explores the complex relationships between the personal and political as she raises kids and negotiates displacement and occupation.

Rann Bar-On: A graduate student at Duke University, he is an Israeli-born activist and organizer who demonstrates and insists that criticism of Israel's policies is not anti-Semitic.

Presented by: UNC -CH for Justice in Gaza

 

===================================

Related links:

What You Don't Know About Gaza  By RASHID KHALIDI
Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia,
is the author of the forthcoming "Sowing Crisis: The Cold War
and American Dominance in the Middle East." Int'l Herald Trib.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/08/opinion/edkhalidi.php

~~~~~
Contact multiple Washington offices and local media to share
the message from Jewish Voice for Peace and other peace groups
specifying A) an end to the blockade of Gaza, B) an end to the bombing
and troop presence, C) a requirement that all parties come to the table
without preconditions and D) an evenhanded and robust peace
process WITHOUT the negotiators and advisors who have thwarted
the process for so many years.
Contact info at
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/

~~~~~
Gazan journalist Laila al-Haddad living temporarily in Durham
maintains a blog her blog "Raising Yousuf and Noor: Diary of
a Palestinian Mother" explores the complex relationships between
the personal and political as she raises kids and negotiates
and occupation. Today Michael Heart's song/video,
"We Will Not Go Down" is posted:
http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

Al-Haddad's report on earlier ground attack on Gaza in 2004 that killed
civilians, & wiped out the Gaza zoo, & the largest collection of religious texts
in Gaza.
http://www.countercurrents.org/pa-laila040604.htm

~~~~~
Seattle peace activist website Tikun Olam: Make the World
a Better Place [not connected with Tikkun mag and community]
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/
~~~~~

Israel has since 2006 been testing carcinogenic close quarters
[DIME or Dense Inert Metal Explosive] tungsten powder
bombs on Palestinians for the US
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002434.html
UPDATE 05/22/06 Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst
at Human Rights Watch comments:
  "While Human Rights Watch is supportive of the US military's
  commitment to reducing civilian casualties, collateral damage
  as they call it, it is unfortunate that these weapons are being
  developed specifically for use in densely populated areas
  which may negate the intended effect.

Italian TV article re "DIME" bombs
http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchieste/10102006_gaza_eng.asp
Italian TV video re experimental bombs being tested on Gazans
http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchieste/video/10102006_gaza_ing.wmv

~~~~~

WATCH FOR UPDATE ON AID FOR BESIEGED GAZANS
~~~~~
THE OTHER SIDE:
Samson Blinded:  A Machiavellian Perspective on the Middle East Conflict
Book urging the kind of "To succeed, Israeli violence against Arabs should
be immediately overwhelming. Israel should show itself a bloodthirsty
monster to scare the Arabs into submission in any war."  [this is not satire]
http://samsonblinded.org/index.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DIRECTIONS to
Community Church of Chapel Hill:

106 Purefoy Road, in Chapel Hill

FROM EITHER DIRECTION ON THE CHAPEL HILL BY-PASS:
take 15-501 [or 54] to the 15-501 Pittsboro exit
As you exit, TURN at the traffic light toward Chapel Hill.
In half a block, TURN RIGHT just short of the convenience store.
That's PUREFOY ROAD, and you take it almost a half mile,
passing side streets and curving left up the hill past speed bumps and
an extra stop sign, until you can just see the stop sign at the end of the street.
Watch for a driveway on the left with a white-painted curb and a tan colored sign for the church.
that driveway takes you to the parking lot and the Community Church.

 

Protest of excecution by police in Oakland, California:

 

There is a protest for Oscar Grant tentatively planned for Thursday 4:30-6 at the Durham Police headquarters. 

 

El Kilombo fundraiser

 

CIMARRON LATIN NIGHT @ CLUB 9 THIS FRIDAY!
 
El Kilombo, in partnership with Mi Gente, International Association, and other organizations, will be hosting Cimarron Latin Night at Club 9 (744 Ninth St.) FRIDAY, January 16!  Featuring the hottest Salsa, Merengue, Reggaeton, and Bachata music, doors open at 10pm. A free salsa lesson will be held at 10pm. Door proceeds are donated to support free community programs at Durham-based El Kilombo nonprofit.
 
What: Cimarron Latin Night!
Date: Friday, January 16, 2009 - 10pm - 2am (with a free salsa lesson at 10pm); Every 3rd Friday of the Month!
Contact: clubcimarron@gmail.com
Where: Club 9 (744 Ninth St., Durham, 27705)
Why: You'll have an awesome time!  And it's a fundraiser for a great Durham nonprofit!
 
$10 door cover; $5 with RSVP to clubcimarron@gmail.com by Friday with your name.
 
******************************
CIMARRON NOCHE LATINA! EN CLUB 9 VIERNES!
 
LUGAR: Club 9 (744 Ninth Street, Durham, NC 27705)
 
FECHA: 16 de enero, 2009 (cada tercer viernes del mes)
 
HORA: 10 pm (con una clase de salsa gratis a las 10pm)
 
Descripcion: Vengan a disfrutar Cimarrón Noche Latina en Durham, con  lo ultimo en Salsa, Merengue, Reggaeton, y Bachata. Las puertas abren a las 10 de la noche con una entrada de $10. Vengan para una clase de salsa GRATIS a las 10:00 de la noche. Los beneficios de esta fiesta financiarán los programas gratuitos que El Kilombo ofrece a la comunidad. ¡Venga, divertase y apoye a la comunidad!
 
Contestanos a clubcimarron@gmail.com y lo incluiremos en la lista de invitados (solo $5 de entrada en vez de $10 para los que no esten en la lista)

 

Tell Perdue to stop helping torturers:

 

Stop Torture Now's regular vigil against the use of the Global Transpark and other airports for rendition and torture flights will be at the Governor's Mansion (201 North Blount Street, Raleigh) Saturday, 2-3:30.