PALESTINA/IZRAEL:
Odvratni napadi na Güntera Grassa
Kritika Güntera Grassa bila je vrlo blaga. Koncentrirao se na izraelsku ratobornost prema Iranu. Mogao je reći puno više. Činjenica da je potrebna politička hrabrost da bi se u Njemačkoj ili Francuskoj reklo čak i to što je on rekao tužan je odraz političke kulture u objema zemljama. Što se tiče napada na Grassa zbog njegovih aktivnosti tijekom 2. Svjetskog rata, oni nisu ni prijezira vrijedni. Izraelci su bili oduševljeni kada je bivši talijanski ministar Gianfranco Fini, čija je stranka izravan nasljednik Mussolinija, došao u Izrael i hvalio njihov Zid. Oprostili su mu prošlost njegove stranke. Znači da prošlost važi samo ako je osoba kritična prema Izraelu. Bivši nacisti na raznim položajima u poslijeratnoj saveznoj republici koji su se zauzeli za reparacije i poduprli Izrael, ni oni nikada nisu bili kritizirani. Njemački građani trebali bi razmisliti o sljedećem: nisu Palestinci bili odgovorni za ubojstva milijuna Židova u Drugom svjetskom ratu. A baš su oni, Palestinci, postali neizravne žrtve judeocida. Oni kojima se učinilo nažao čine nažao drugima. Zašto, dakle, nema suosjećanja prema Palestincima?
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Serrat and Sabina: Refrain from Entertaining Apartheid Israel until Freedom, Justice and Equality Prevail
In Gaza, Palestinians have been subjected to a criminal and immoral siege since 2006. As part of this siege, Israel has prevented not only various types of medicines, candles, books, crayons, clothing, shoes, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee and chocolate, but also musical instruments from reaching the 1.5 million Palestinians incarcerated in the world's largest open-air prison. Could you possibly perform in such a state with a clear conscience? Israel uses arts and culture to whitewash its violations of international law and human rights. ... Your performance would serve this Israeli campaign to rebrand itself and will be used as a publicity tool by the Israeli establishment. Performing in such a context, therefore, would not be a stand for justice, but a slap in the face to those Palestinians who are resisting injustice and calling for international solidarity in their struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.
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SIRIJA:
Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
39. Starting in early November 2011, the level of violence between State forces and anti-Government armed groups increased in areas of Homs, Hama, Rif Dimashq and Idlib governorates with a strong presence of such groups. State forces withdrew from and then surrounded many of these areas. Army snipers and Shabbiha gunmen posted at strategic points terrorized the population, targeting and killing small children, women and other unarmed civilians. Fragmentation mortar bombs were also fired into densely populated neighbourhoods.
40. After the withdrawal of League of Arab States observers in late January, the army intensified its bombardment with heavy weapons. It gave no warning to the population and unarmed civilians were given no chance to evacuate. As a result, large numbers of people, including many children, were killed. Several areas were bombarded and then stormed by State forces, which arrested, tortured and summarily executed suspected defectors and opposition activists.
41. According to the Violations Documenting Centre, at least 787 civilians, including 53 adult women, 26 girls and 49 boys, were killed in the first two weeks of February 2012 alone. The largest number of victims died in Homs.
42. ... On 20 December, local residents discovered the bodies of 74 defectors in a deserted area between Kafar Awid and Kasanfra. Their hands had been tied behind their back and they appeared to have been summarily executed. On 21 December, State forces attacked a group of activists from Kafar Awid who had sought refuge in the village mosque. After the forces withdrew, 60 bodies were discovered in the mosque. The victims appeared to have been tortured before their execution.
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55. ... On 19 November 2011, cameraman Ferzat Jarban was arrested by security agents while filming an anti-Government protest in Alqaseer (Homs governorate); he was found dead the next day, his eyes gouged out. ...
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59. ... During protests, military and security forces would often encircle the protesters. Those arrested, including the wounded among them, would be transported in Government buses and trucks to detention centres operated by security agencies, sometimes after being temporarily held in facilities such as sports stadiums or schools. ...
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63. Security agencies continued to systematically arrest wounded patients in State hospitals and to interrogate them, often using torture, about their supposed participation in opposition demonstrations or armed activities. The commission documented evidence that sections of Homs Military Hospital and Al Ladhiqiyah State Hospital had been transformed into torture centres. Security agents, in some cases joined by medical staff, chained seriously injured patients to their beds, electrocuted them, beat wounded parts of their body or denied them medical attention and water. Medical personnel who did not collaborate faced reprisals.
64. The above campaign has created a climate of fear. Doctors operated clandestinely on patients facing arrest and hospitals did not keep operated patients for post-surgical care. Some women chose to give birth in unsafe conditions rather than go to a State hospital. In many places of unrest, civilians set up clandestine field hospitals with volunteer practitioners, rudimentary equipment and medical supplies smuggled from abroad, donated by concerned citizens or diverted from State hospitals.
65. The commission received frequent accounts of security officials threatening men with the rape of female relatives.
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72. According to estimates, 70,000 people have been arbitrarily displaced within the country. More than 20,000 Syrians found themselves in a precarious situation as refugees in other countries.
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74. ... According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Secretary-General of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Dr. Abd-al-Razzaq Jbeiro, was shot and killed on 25 January 2012 on the main Aleppo–Damascus highway while traveling in a vehicle clearly marked with the Red Crescent emblem. ...
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78. ... more than 500 children have been killed since March 2011, ... The largest group were adolescents aged between 16 and 18 years. Snipers and other State forces killed or wounded children, including those aged 10 years and younger. Many children were killed when the army shelled residential areas in Homs and other cities in January and February 2012.
79. Children continued to be arbitrarily arrested and tortured while in detention. ...
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92. Most crimes against humanity and gross human rights violations were carried out in complex operations that involved the entire security apparatus, and therefore would have required superior directives. The four major intelligence and security agencies with direct reporting lines to the Presidency – Military Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence, the General Intelligence Directorate and the Political Security Directorate – were at the heart of almost all operations. ... as the crisis has evolved, the elite army units closest to the leadership – the Special Forces, the Republican Guard and the Fourth Division – have played an increasingly prominent role, ...
93. State officials, aided by certain businessmen with links to the security apparatus, also paid, armed and informally organized the groups of de facto agents known as Shabbiha. In a number of operations, the commission documented how Shabbiha members were strategically employed to commit crimes against humanity and other gross violations. In other cases, their participation was difficult to verify, as many operations also involved plain-clothed security agents.
94. For many operations, reinforcements were sent from the capital, including on some occasions Special Forces transported by Air Force helicopters. In many cases, State officials carefully organized operations so that units were disassembled into their sub-units, which were then deployed to different places, where they would be regrouped with members of other units and members of the security forces prior to the start of operations. Testimony from defectors indicates that this strategy was employed to break bonds of trust within the unit and to prevent collective disobedience or desertion when orders to commit crimes were received.
98. Individual officers in the armed forces and Government security forces personally killed, unlawfully imprisoned, tortured, or committed other inhumane acts against innocent civilians. Officers shot unarmed protestors, including children, as well as medical doctors, ambulance drivers and mourners at funerals in cities such as Al Ladhiqiyah, Dar'a, Saida (Dar'a governorate), Zabadani and Jobar (Rif Dimashq governorate) and Almastoumah (Idlib governorate).
99. Army officers and members of the security forces also aided and abetted attacks against civilians; for example, commanders of Government security forces routinely placed their units behind conscripts to ensure that the soldiers would fire at demonstrators. On several occasions, security forces shot conscripts who disobeyed orders to shoot protestors. ...
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102. ... State officials often forced families of those killed by State forces to sign declarations attributing responsibility to armed groups before they would allow the body of the person killed to be released. Where such false declarations were signed, branch offices of the National Independent Legal Commission refused to carry out investigations. The commission of inquiry also found that pro-Government media were used to cover up violations or falsely attribute them to anti-Government armed groups.
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114. In Homs, FSA members were found to have tortured and executed suspected Shabbiha members in retaliation for abuses committed by Shabbiha or plain-clothed security officials posing as them. In late January 2012, in Karm Al-Zeitun, FSA members and others lynched a man suspected of working with the State security forces, and paraded his body on a pick-up truck through the streets.
115. In late December 2011, FSA members in Bab Amr captured two suspected Shabbiha members following an exchange of fire. The two men were beaten by the local population. ...
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118. Some armed civilians in Homs, including armed civilians belonging to the FSA, sought to exact blood revenge for abuses by killing family members of security personnel or Shabbiha. ...
119. Credible reports indicated that members of FSA groups in other locations had tortured or summarily executed captured members of the armed forces or security forces. In mid-November 2011, members of the FSA near Talbiseh tortured a member of Military Intelligence during an interrogation. The captured man was beaten, whipped with a cable and threatened with a knife. In late November 2011, a FSA group from Rif Dimashq captured, tortured and killed a member of the security forces.
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Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies
Site with information on the human rights situation in Syria.
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HRVATSKA:
Današnja izjava za medije inicijative 'Ujedinjeni protiv fašizma'
Postojanje organiziranih političkih snaga koje svoju legitimaciju crpe iz širenja rasne i nacionalne mržnje sve nas obavezuje na djelovanje. Pred tim izazovom nemamo pravo na kukavičluk i kalkulantstvo! Vjerujemo da su vlasti donijele ispravnu odluku kada su zabranile javno okupljanje političkih organizacija koje teže reafirmaciji ideologija koje dovode u pitanje ustavno određenje ove države kao antifašističke. No, uvjerenja smo i da u obrazloženju te odluke nisu bili dovoljno dosljedni. Ako nam ideali demokracije išta znače, fašizam moramo imati hrabrosti osuditi u svakom obliku, a to znači – posebno onda kada se prikazuje kao "naš". Zbog toga ne prihvaćamo vrijednosnu podjelu aktualnog predsjednika vlade na "naše" i "tuđe" fašističke organizacije. Osuđujemo ih sve u istoj mjeri i po istom kriteriju!
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Inicijativa "Ja ne plaćam"
Financijsko ograničavanje dostupnosti javnog gradskog prijevoza većini njegovih dosadašnjih korisnika čin je kojim gradska vlast pretvara prijevoz do radnih mjesta, zdravstvenih ustanova i obrazovnih institucija u kategoriju luksuza, ignorirajući pritom notornu činjenicu da smo mi javni prijevoz već platili – kroz postojeće poreze i prireze. Riječ je o još jednom od poteza vladajućih struktura, na lokalnim i državnim razinama, koje provode pod krinkom tzv. "mjera štednje" i "krpanja proračunskih rupa", a zapravo su financijski udar na najšire skupine stanovništva kojim se dokida jedan od konstitutivnih elemenata socijalne države. Javna dobra postaju usluge čija dostupnost ovisi o razini prihoda njihovih korisnika – uvođenje participacija u zdravstveni sustav, komercijalizacija školstva, dizanje cijena javnog prijevoza i komunalija samo su neki od simptoma takve politike. Krajnji je pak cilj te politike privatizacija cjelokupnog javnog sektora, kao i ostataka realnog sektora koji je ostao u vlasništvu države čime se narodu oduzimaju njihovi resursi što posljedično dovodi do već sad vidljivog povećanja osnovnih troškova života koji pogađaju najugroženije.
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