Akcija: Prekinite dostavu američkog suzavca i vojne pomoći Egiptu, Tunisu i Izraelu

sjedište tvrtke Combined Systems Inc. u Jamestownu, Pennsylvaniji ispred kojeg se vijore američka i izraelska zastava

Akcija: Pošaljite e-mail poruke američkom ministarstvu vanjskih poslova i proizvođaču suzavca CSI

U proteklih nekoliko dana svijet su obišle slike, poruke i novinski članci koji opisuju kako je egipatska policija na nenasilne pro-demokratske prosvjednike u Egiptu ispaljivala suzavac proizveden u SAD-u. Slične smo prizore već vidjeli tijekom nekoliko proteklih mjeseci u Tunisu, te u Palestini. Ono što je zajedničko Egiptu, Tunisu i Palestini su represivne vlasti koje američke tvrtke snabdijevaju suzavcem i drugim oružjem. Vlasti u Egiptu, Tunisu i Izraelu koriste ekstremno nasilje protiv nenaoružanih prosvjednika koji zahtijevaju svoja temeljna ljudska prava, sakate ih, pa čak i ubijaju bez da odgovorni ikada budu privedeni pravdi.

Suzavac marke CTS (kratica za Combine Tactical Systems), koji egipatske, tuniske i izraelske vlasti koriste kako bi ugušile prosvjede, kršile ljudska prava i održale se na vlasti, proizvodi američka tvrtka iz Jamestowna u Pennsylvaniji.

Suzavac CSI dostavlja se u Izrael, Egipat i Tunis u sklopu ogromne vojne pomoći koju SAD daju vladama tih zemalja, unatoč jasnim dokazima o teškim kršenjima ljudskih prava od strane tih vlada. Izrael godišnje od SAD-a prima 3 milijarde američkih dolara vrijednu vojnu pomoć, uključujući 1,85 milijuna američkih dolara vrijednu isporuku "suzavaca i sredstava za obuzdavanje nereda" tijekom 2007. i 2008. godine. Egipat godišnje od SAD-a prima vojnu pomoć u vrijednosti od 1,3 milijarde američkih dolara, dok Tunis u prosjeku godišnje prima vojnu pomoć u vrijednosti od 15 milijuna američkih dolara. Prodaju suzavca proizvedenog u SAD-u ovim vladama odobrilo je američko ministarstvo vanjskih poslova.

POŠALJITE PORUKU američkom ministarstvu vanjskih poslova i zatražite od njih da prekinu koristiti novac američkih poreznih obveznika za snabdijevanje represivnih vlada suzavcem i drugim oružjem, te odobravati prodaju vojne opreme i oružja represivnim vladama, poput egipatske, izraelske i tuniske koje američku opremu i oružje koriste za kršenja temeljnih ljudskih prava.

POŠALJITE PORUKU direktorima tvrtke CSI i njenih glavnih ulagača Point Lookout Capital Partners i Carlyle Group i zahtijevajte da CSI prestane prodavati suzavac koji represivne vlade, poput onih u Egiptu, Tunisu i Izraelu, koriste kako bi kršile pravo na prosvjed.

Da biste poslali već gotove poruke na engleskom potrebno je na linkovima (za američko ministarstvo vanjskih poslova i tvrtku CSI) upisati Ime i Prezime, e-mail adresu, grad, županiju/pokrajinu, državu i prepisati kod za zaštitu od spama, te kliknuti na Send.

Egipat: O jednom primjeru izvijestila je agencija Agence France Press 28. siječnja koja navodi da su "desetci patrona suzavca koje proizvodi Combined Tactical Systems iz Jamestowna u Pennsylvaniji, ispaljeni na prosvjednike na jednoj ulici u Kairu u petak [...] Mnogi su prosvjednici ozlijeđeni zbog udisanja suzavca i jer su pogođeni patronama, pri čemu su sigurnosne snage ponekad suzavac ispaljivale izravno u prosvjednike." Osoblje organizacije za ljudska prava Human Rights Watch tvrdi da su vidjeli mrtve prosvjednike u Aleksandriji s "velikim ozljedama glave od patrona suzavca za koje nam je bilo rečeno da su ispaljene izravno u glave prosvjednika iz neposredne blizine".

Tunis: Lucas Mebrouk Dolega preminuo je u Tunisu 17. siječnja, 3 dana nakon što je iz blizine pogođen granatom suzavca. Dolega (32) je radio kao fotograf za europsku fotoreportersku agenciju European Pressphoto Agency (EPA).

Palestina: Na okupiranoj Zapadnoj obali izraelski su vojnici tijekom 2009. ispalili patrone suzavca CSI izravno na Bassema Abu Rahmu iz sela Bil'in, što je uzrokovalo njegovu smrt, te također izravno u američkog državljana Tristana Andersona u selu Ni'lin, pri čemu je on teško ozlijeđen. Bassemova sestra Jawaher također je preminula od udisanja suzavca 1. siječnja 2011. na prosvjedu u selu Bil'in. Nakon tog prosvjeda zemlja u selu Bil'in bila je prekrivena ispaljenim patronama suzavca CSI. U svibnju 2010. jedan je izraelski vojnik izravno u američku državljanku Emily Henochowicz ispalio patronu suzavca pri čemu je Henochowicz ostala bez jednog oka. Više informacija o suzavcu CSI i uporabi suzavca protiv Palestinaca od strane izraelske vojske možete pronaći na linku.


Link na akciju: Send E-mails to CSI and the State Dept.

Izvor i više informacija na engleskom: Alert: End US tear gas & military aid to Egypt, Tunisia & Israel


DODATNI LINKOVI:
Egipat:
VIDEO: Revolutionaries on the rooftop (part one)
Young protesters occupying an apartment building near the site of fierce battles between pro- and anti-government crowds discuss their motivations, the events of the past two weeks, and the diverse make-up of Egypt's democracy movement.

VIDEO: Revolutionaries on the rooftop (part three)

A Call From Egyptian Socialists
As a dictator, Mubarak was a servant and client directly acting for the sake of the interests of America and Israel. Egypt acted as a colony of America, participated directly in the siege of the Palestinian people, made the Suez Canal and Egyptian airspace free zones for warships and fighter jets that destroyed and killed the Iraqi people, and sold gas to Israel dirt cheap while stifling the Egyptian people by soaring prices. Revolution must restore Egypt's independence, dignity and leadership in the region. ... This is not a revolution of the elite, political parties or religious groups. Egypt's youth, students, workers and the poor are the owners of this revolution. In recent days, a lot of elites, parties and so-called symbols have begun trying to ride the wave of revolution and hijack it from their rightful owners. The only symbols are the martyrs of our revolution and our young people who have been steadfast in the field. We will not allow them to take control of our revolution and claim that they represent us. We will choose to represent ourselves and represent the martyrs who were killed, their blood paying the price for the salvation of the system. ...The demonstrations and protests have played a key role in igniting and continuing our revolution. Now we need the workers. They can seal the fate of the regime. Not only by participating in the demonstrations, but by organizing a general strike in all the vital industries and large corporations. The regime can afford to wait out the sit-ins and demonstrations for days and weeks, but it cannot last beyond a few hours if workers use strikes as a weapon. Strike on the railways, on public transport, the airports and large industrial companies! Egyptian workers, on behalf of the rebellious youth and on behalf of the blood of our martyrs, join the ranks of the revolution, use your power and victory will be ours! Glory to the martyrs! Down with the system! All power to the people! Victory to the revolution!

Ali Abunimah: The danger to Egypt's revolution comes from Washington
US President Barack Obama and his national security establishment may be willing to give up Mubarak the person, but they are not willing to give up Mubarak's regime. It is notable that the US has never supported the Egyptian protestors' demand that Mubarak must go now. Nor has the United States suspended its $1.5 billion annual aid package to Egypt, much of which goes to the state security forces that are oppressing protestors and beating up and arresting journalists. ... Suleiman, long the powerful chief of Egypt's intelligence services, has served -- perhaps even more so than Mubarak -- as the guarantor of Egypt's regional role in maintaining the American- and Israeli-dominated order. As author Jane Mayer has documented, Suleiman played a key role in the US "rendition" program, working closely with the CIA which kidnapped "terror suspects" from around the world and delivered them into Suleiman's hands for interrogation, and almost certainly torture ("Who is Omar Suleiman?," The New Yorker, 29 January 2011). High praise for Suleiman's work has also come from top Israeli military brass. ... The US "policy" establishment seems only capable of viewing the region through Israeli eyes. This is why for so many officials and commentators the concerns of Israel to maintain a brutal hegemony trump the aspirations of 83 million Egyptians to determine their own future free from the shackles of the regime that has oppressed them for so long.

Suleiman: The CIA's man in Cairo
From 1993 until Saturday, Suleiman was chief of Egypt's General Intelligence Service. He remained largely in the shadows until 2001, when he started taking over powerful dossiers in the foreign ministry; he has since become a public figure, as the WikiLeak document attests. In 2009, he was touted by the London Telegraph and Foreign Policy as the most powerful spook in the region, topping even the head of Mossad. In the mid-1990s, Suleiman worked closely with the Clinton administration in devising and implementing its rendition program; back then, rendition involved kidnapping suspected terrorists and transferring them to a third country for trial. ... Under the Bush administration, in the context of "the global war on terror", US renditions became "extraordinary", meaning the objective of kidnapping and extra-legal transfer was no longer to bring a suspect to trial - but rather for interrogation to seek actionable intelligence. The extraordinary rendition program landed some people in CIA black sites - and others were turned over for torture-by-proxy to other regimes. Egypt figured large as a torture destination of choice, as did Suleiman as Egypt's torturer-in-chief. At least one person extraordinarily rendered by the CIA to Egypt — Egyptian-born Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib — was reportedly tortured by Suleiman himself. ... In Egypt, as Habib recounts in his memoir, My Story: The Tale of a Terrorist Who Wasn't, he was repeatedly subjected to electric shocks, immersed in water up to his nostrils and beaten. His fingers were broken and he was hung from metal hooks. At one point, his interrogator slapped him so hard that his blindfold was dislodged, revealing the identity of his tormentor: Suleiman. Frustrated that Habib was not providing useful information or confessing to involvement in terrorism, Suleiman ordered a guard to murder a shackled prisoner in front of Habib, which he did with a vicious karate kick. ... A far more infamous torture case, in which Suleiman also is directly implicated, is that of Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi. ... He was sent to Bagram, and questioned by the FBI. But the CIA wanted to take over, which they did, and he was transported to a black site on the USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea, then extraordinarily rendered to Egypt. Under torture there, al-Libi "confessed" knowledge about an al-Qaeda–Saddam connection, claiming that two al-Qaeda operatives had received training in Iraq for use in chemical and biological weapons. In early 2003, this was exactly the kind of information that the Bush administration was seeking to justify attacking Iraq and to persuade reluctant allies to go along. Indeed, al-Libi's "confession" was one the central pieces of "evidence" presented at the United Nations by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to make the case for war. As it turns out, that confession was a lie tortured out of him by Egyptians. ... The use of al-Libi's statement in the build-up to the Iraq war made him a huge American liability once it became clear that the purported al-Qaeda–Saddam connection was a tortured lie. His whereabouts were, in fact, a secret for years, until April 2009 when Human Rights Watch researchers investigating the treatment of Libyan prisoners encountered him in the courtyard of a prison. Two weeks later, on May 10, al-Libi was dead, and the Gaddafi regime claimed it was a suicide. According to Evan Kohlmann, who enjoys favoured status among US officials as an 'al-Qaeda expert', citing a classified source: 'Al-Libi's death coincided with the first visit by Egypt's spymaster Omar Suleiman to Tripoli.' Kohlmann surmises and opines that, after al-Libi recounted his story about an al-Qaeda–Saddam-WMD connection, "The Egyptians were embarassed by this admission - and the Bush government found itself in hot water internationally. Then, in May 2009, Omar Suleiman saw an opportunity to get even with al-Libi and travelled to Tripoli. By the time Omar Suleiman's plane left Tripoli, Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi had committed 'suicide'."

Još nekoliko linkova o narodnoj pobuni u Egiptu

slika s jednog od prosvjeda solidarnosti s egipatskim narodom u SAD-u

Amy Goodman: When Corporations Choose Despots Over Democracy
[...] the Mubarak regime, with the help of U.S. and European corporations, has shut down the Internet and curtailed cellular service, plunging Egypt into digital darkness. ... Mubarak's regime has received roughly $2 billion per year since coming to power, overwhelmingly for the military. Where has the money gone? Mostly to U.S. corporations. ... "It's a form of corporate welfare for companies like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, because it goes to Egypt, then it comes back for F-16 aircraft, for M-1 tanks, for aircraft engines, for all kinds of missiles, for guns, for tear-gas canisters [from] a company called Combined Systems International, which actually has its name on the side of the canisters that have been found on the streets there." Hartung just published a book, "Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex." He went on: "Lockheed Martin has been the leader in deals worth $3.8 billion over that period of the last 10 years; General Dynamics, $2.5 billion for tanks; Boeing, $1.7 billion for missiles, for helicopters; Raytheon for all manner of missiles for the armed forces. So, basically, this is a key element in propping up the regime, but a lot of the money is basically recycled. Taxpayers could just as easily be giving it directly to Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics." Likewise, Egypt's Internet and cell phone "kill switch" was enabled only through collaboration with corporations. U.K.-based Vodafone, a global cellular-phone giant (which owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless in the U.S.) attempted to justify its actions in a press release: "It has been clear to us that there were no legal or practical options open to Vodafone ... but to comply with the demands of the authorities." Narus, a U.S. subsidiary of Boeing Corp., sold Egypt equipment to allow "deep packet inspection," according to Tim Karr of the media policy group Free Press. Karr said the Narus technology "allows the Egyptian telecommunications companies ... to look at texting via cell phones, and to identify the sort of dissident voices that are out there. ... It also gives them the technology to geographically locate them and track them down."

Targeted Attacks on Reporters in Cairo
Popis brojnih napada na strane novinare (te neke aktiviste za ljudska prava) organiziranih i provedenih od strane Mubarakovog režima tijekom nekoliko dana narodne pobune u Egiptu (uključujući jedan neprovjereni navod o bacanju jednog novinara s balkona).

On Khaled Said
(Upozorenje - uznemirujući sadržaj: preporučam osobama mlađim od 18 godina i onima slabijih živaca da ne otvaraju ovaj link, jer sadrži stravičnu sliku na smrt premlaćenog Khaleda Saida) 2 su egipatska policajca u srpnju 2010. na javnom mjestu pred očima brojnih svjedoka ovog 28-godišnjaka 20 minuta tukla, sve dok nije preminuo, a potom su njegovog tijelo odvezli u policijsku postaju gdje im je rečeno da tijelo izbace negdje van na ulicu i pozovu kola hitne pomoći kako bi kasnije mogli tvrditi da su tijelo pronašli na ulici i da je mladić preminuo od "gušenja". To je realnost s kojom se već 30 godina suočavaju obični Egipćani koji žive pod brutalnim i nečovječnim režimom Hosnija Mubaraka koji podržavaju i na vlasti održavaju u suprotnosti s voljom egipatskih građana SAD i njegovi satelitski saveznici (koji za sebe još uvijek imaju obraza tvrditi da promiču i njeguju demokratske vrijednosti), uključujući Hrvatsku. Iako su brojni svjedoci gledali kako policajci na ovakav krajnje brutalan način ubijaju mladića, nitko ništa nije poduzeo, jer su znali da će, ako se usprotive, i sami završiti kao i on.
He simply was sitting in a Cyber Cafe, when two policemen walked inside and demanded the ID's of everyone who was sitting there. When he refused to give it to them, they grabbed him, tied him up, dragged him out of the Cafe, took him to a nearby building where for 20 minutes they beat him to death, smashing his head on the handrail of the staircase, while he screamed and begged for his life, and as people around watched helplessly, knowing that if they did something, they would be accused of assaulting a police officer, which would pretty much guarantee them a similar fate. This went on for 20 minutes. Think about that. You are beaten to death, by those who swore to protect you, while the people in your neighborhood watched silently, and as your pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears. 28. Not yet married. Still having the rest of your life ahead of you. No More. After the police discovered he died, they took the dead body to the Police station, where the Police Officer ordered them to throw it back on the street and call an ambulance, in order not to be held responsible for him. ... When the story went out, and people saw the pictures, they were of course enraged. About a 1000 people gathered after the Friday prayers to protest in front of the police stations, and there are plans to do sit ins and demos this entire week, demanding that people take action, before they become the next Khaled. The Ministery of Interior swiftly responded, by stating that Khaled was a criminal and a womanizer and a drug dealer and responsible for 9/11, and that he died from Asphysxiation, and the picture is simply after his body was diagnosed by the Coroner. And that really, really, we should be glad that such a menace to society at large is not with us anymore. And of course no one will get punished. Egypt likes to refer to itself as the land of Security and Safety. Please note that we always put the word Security first. We like to think we are safe, that we are better than those evil western countries, where a woman is raped every 48 seconds or whatever, but we are not. We are not Safe. None of us is. Not in this country, not in this world. Any one of us could lose that spark of life at any minute, and the lucky ones get it quickly and painlessly. The unlucky ones suffer. The really unlucky ones end up like Khaled.

Page grab of Father Fawzi Khalil holding the Bible standing by an Imam holding the Quran at Meydan Tahrir today
U nedjelju (6. veljače 2011.) egipatski kršćani su održali misu na Trgu Tahrir u Kairu, a za to su ih vrijeme od Mubarakovih nasilnika čuvali muslimani (slično su u petak kršćani za vrijeme džume na istom trgu čuvali muslimane). Ovo je slika s Trga Tahrir u Kairu na kojoj otac Fawzi Khalil u ruci drži Bibliju dok pored njega stoji jedan imam koji u ruci drži Kuran.

VIDEO: Egypt Burning
This film tells the story of five days in January 2011 when the people of Egypt broke through a barrier of fear they had known for a generation and rose in revolt against their president. Anger had long been brewing in Egypt - strikes, unemployment and sectarian tension were on the rise. Small networks of activists had been agitating against Hosni Mubarak's autocratic rule for years. But it was only when another Arab country, Tunisia, rose up against its tyrant that the Egyptian activists attracted mass support. People took to the streets across Egypt demanding political freedoms, an end to state corruption and a better quality of life for the impoverished population. Egypt Burning captures those critical moments as history unfolded through interviews with Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground.

U.S. defense contractors with the most at stake in Egypt
Na linku možete pročitati koji američki proizvođači oružja imaju najunosnije ugovore za isporuku oružja Mubarakovom diktatorskom režimu; ova do sada sigurna (a trenutno ugrožena i u budućnosti neizvjesna) zarada (kao i ona od daleko najveće isporuke oružja Izraelu, te drugim američkim saveznicima koji primaju američku vojnu "pomoć") je u cijelosti plaćena novcem američkih poreznih obveznika.
The Egyptian government receives about $2 billion a year from the United States, with most of that assistance going to its military. Last year the U.S. sent about $1.3 billion to Egypt's military compared to about $250 million in economic aid, and the Obama administration requested similar amounts for the 2011 fiscal year, as Britain's Telegraph reports. The U.S. has long made the case that its unconditional funding for Egypt strengthens relations between the countries and provides benefits for the U.S. such as expedited processing for U.S. Navy warships sailing through the Suez Canal. Indeed, one of the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks noted that "President Mubarak and military leaders view our military assistance program as the cornerstone of our mil-mil relationship and consider the USD 1.3 billion annual FMS as 'untouchable compensation' for making and maintaining peace with Israel." Last week White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the Obama administration would be reviewing its assistance to the Egyptian government based on events over the coming days. Obviously any change in U.S. aid policy would have important ramifications for Egypt. But it could also have implications for the U.S. companies that contract with the Defense Department to provide good and services to the Egyptian military -- and for their workforces and communities. Facing South reviewed the Department of Defense contract database over the past two years to see what deals are already in place, and discovered many contracts with connections to the South. The following are the 10 biggest contracts involving aid to Egypt in that period.

VIDEO: Cairo Intifada

Saudi women protest, web activists call for reform
Aktivisti pozivaju na reforme u još jednoj zemlji koja kao nepokolebljivi američki saveznik (čitaj: poslušnik) prima ogromnu vojnu pomoć koju plaćaju američki porezni obveznici, također unatoč tome što se radi o krajnje represivnom i nelegitimnom režimu koji ljudska prava, naročito prava žena, krši na još gore načine nego onaj Hosnija Mubaraka u Egiptu.
In a rare sign of rising discontent in Saudi Arabia, a group of Saudi web activists also launched an online campaign calling for political reform in the world's biggest oil exporter. The Saudi campaign, which was launched on Facebook on Jan. 29 and has 264 members so far, called for a constitutional monarchy, an end to corruption, an even distribution of wealth, and a serious solution for unemployment, among other demands.

reportsfromtheegyptianuprising
First hand reports from an anarchist perspective from the Cairo uprising, in solidarity with the direct action of the people of Egypt against state repression. Drawing together grassroots and alternative media coverage from the Egyptian rebellion and creating a forum for calls to global solidarity.

US solidarity rundown
Solidarnost s Egiptom u SAD-u
Stotine ljudi prosvjedovale su u subotu (5. veljače) diljem SAD-a u znak solidarnosti s egipatskim narodom tražeći da Mubarak i ljudi njegovog režima odstupe s vlasti.

Solidarity with Egypt in Ramallah
Solidarnost s Egiptom u Ramalli
U subotu (5. veljače) se u solidarnosti s Egiptom prosvjedovalo diljem cijelog svijeta, pa tako i u Ramalli na okupiranoj Zapadnoj obali gdje su do tada snage Palestinske samouprave onemogućavale Palestincima da prosvjeduju u znak potpore egipatskoj pobuni protiv diktatora Mubaraka. Više od 2000 prosvjednika je u Ramalli prosvjedovalo solidarizirajući se s narodnim pobunama u Egiptu i Tunisu, te protiv represije u Palestini, kako od strane izraelske vlade tako i od strane Palestinske samouprave. Prosvjednici su tražili okončanje okupacije, kraj unutarnjih podjela među Palestincima, ukidanje svih ugnjetavačkih režima, te pozivali SAD i Zapad da prestanu biti suučesnici u izraelskom kolonijalizmu i štititi despotske arapske režime.