Sunday, October 19, 2014

AMIRA HASS to speak in Australia next year @ MARXISM 2015


Dear friends,
I can't express how excited I was to hear last week that Amira Hass will be one of the international speakers at Marxism 2015 being held in Melbourne over the Easter long weekend (2-5 April).

Hass is an exceptional journalist and is one of the few Israeli journalists (who is not an illegal setter) who lives in and reports from the Occupied Palestinian Territories (it should be noted that most Israeli and international journalists reporting on Palestine are based inside Israel and rarely enter the Territories).

So don't miss out on hearing her speak at Marxism 2015 at Easter next year!! Mark your calendar now, by your tix to Marxism and book your flights (if your not in Melbourne).

Please find the announcement from the organisers of the Marxism 2015 conference about her attendance. 

I understand from the conference organisers, they are currently liaising with Palestinian speakers to participate in the conference. Once their participation is confirmed, their participation will be announced. 

In solidarity, Kim
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Marxism 2015 is excited to announce the participation of world renowned journalist Amira Hass. 

Hass lives in Ramallah in the West Bank, where she covers Palestinian affairs for the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz, making her the only Jewish Israeli correspondent on Palestinian affairs to live among the people about whom she reports. 

Hass writes insightful columns about the daily lives and hardships of Palestinians. The child of Holocaust survivors, Hass was born in Jerusalem in 1956 and studied history in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. 

After working as a teacher, she started her career in journalism in 1989 as a staff editor at Ha’aretz and began writing about the Palestinian Territories in 1991, undaunted by danger and criticism from both Israelis and Palestinians. 

She moved to Gaza in December 1993 after the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian agreements and settled in Ramallah in the West Bank in 1997. 

She is the author of 'Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege and Reporting From Ramallah: An Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land.'

To get tickets visit www.marxismconference.org

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Photo Essay: Melbourne protest against Israeli war profiteer, Elbit Systems.


Dear friends,
I am a little late in posting this up, but on Monday October 6, Melbourne activists from Students for Palestine and Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid conducted a small action outside of Israeli war profiteer, Elbit Systems.    

Elbit Systems is the Israeli weapons manufacturer whose drones have been used in Gaza to kill hundreds of unarmed and defenseless Palestinian men, women and children.Israel's Occupation Forces have praised Elbit's drones (unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs) "for delivering added operational value in recent combat in Gaza".

According to Bloomberg's financial press, the Israeli based Elbit Systems share price has increase 6.1 percent to $63.01 since Israel began its murderous assault on Gaza, which has resulted in more than 2000 Palestinians killed, the majority (more than 80%) civilians, including almost 470 children. 

In August, activists from the Melbourne Palestine Action Group, which is made up of activists from the Whistleblower, Activist and Citzens Alliance and Renegade Activists also carried out an action against Elbit, successfully locking it down for approximately 5 hours. You can read my earlier post on the August action here.

Please find below details of the October action and some photos below.


in solidarity, Kim

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Protest Elbit Systems: 6 October, 2014

Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza, which saw 1,951 Palestinians killed and 10,193 injured, has rightly prompted worldwide outrage and protest. One of the targets of these protests has been the Israeli arms companies that produce the weapons that have been used to massacre Palestinians.

Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest military company. It provides a wide range of equipment and services to the Israeli military, including surveillance equipment used in Israel’s illegal Wall and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), known as drones. Elbit Systems armed drones are widely used by the Israeli military.

According to Palestinian human rights organization Al Mezan Center, armed drones killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza in the period 2000-2010. Elbit Systems markets its drone technology across the world as ‘field tested’.

Australia is an important client for Elbit Systems. In 2010 Elbit Systems announced a “significant breakthrough” in Australia when the Australian Army signed a $331 million contract for a battle management and communication systems.

Last year the Australian Federal Police signed a $35 million contract with Elbit Systems for “an Investigation, Intelligence and Incident Management (IIIM) Solution”. This is part of a pattern of technologies of surveillance and repression developed through the Occupation being profitably exported to police and so called “homeland security” services around the world.