A. Loewenstein Online Newsletter

Leading Israeli paper says BDS is working

Posted: 31 Aug 2011

Though like so much corporate reporting globally, there’s no real explanation apart from Jew hatred. Nothing about the occupation or why Zionism has become such a toxic ideology. Still, encouraging that BDS is having the desired effect; business as usual isn’t sustainable while oppressing Palestinians. Ynet:

Many Israeli agricultural products have been recently targeted by the Israel boycott campaign: tomatoes, peppers, citrus fruit, carrots, melons, strawberries and celery. But the flowers have been the primary obsession of the divestment movement, which wants to strangle the Israeli economy.

Agrexco, Israel’s leading flower exporter, has recently declared bankruptcy, partially due to the global boycott of its produce, according to some reports. More than 20 organizations in Europe in 13 countries endorsed a boycott of Agrexco.

International pressure, boycotts and sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid government played a major role in ending its power. Modeled on that global campaign, the anti-Israel boycott movement has notched notable victories of late, while making use of an old Marxist lexicon (“imperialism,” “colonialism,” “occupation,” and “settler society”).

The first symbol of the anti-Israel economic campaign, Caterpillar, was far removed from the Western public consciousness. Yet Israeli roses were a better Jewish scapegoat, as flowers are a pillar of Israel’s economy (in the 1980s Israel became the world’s number two flower exporter. Agrexco was boycotted because it’s partially owned by the Israeli government and because the company has some farms in the Jordan Valley and in Tekoa, a settlement at the gates of the Judean desert.

Last year, Norway’s oil fund withdrew its investment from Africa-Israel and Danya Cebus citing their involvement in “settlement construction.” Just recently, the Swedish Coop has decided to terminate all purchases of Soda Stream carbonation devices. Meanwhile, the Methodist Church had passed an “anti-Israel” motion demanding a boycott of goods from “illegal” settlements. Quakers in Britain have also agreed to boycott Israeli products.

Elsewhere, major Dutch pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn, which has investments totaling 97 billion euros, has divested from almost all the Israeli companies in its portfolio (banks, telecommunication companies, construction companies and Elbit Systems.) A large Swedish pension fund also divested from Elbit over the latter’s role in building Israel’s West Bank security fence. Meanwhile, the Ethical Council of four Swedish buffer pension funds urged Motorola “to pull out of the Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank” or face divestment.

On the cultural front, a film festival in Scotland returned funding to the Israeli Embassy after succumbing to boycott activists who threatened to picket the event. Elsewhere, some major Indian artists have announced the boycott of a show scheduled at the Tel Aviv State Museum in the spring of 2012. Dozens of music stars also endorsed the boycott this past year (Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, Roger Waters).

And there’s more: A major boycott is going to be approved soon at the Park Slope Food Coop, a renowned cooperative in Brooklyn, affecting Israeli paprika, bath salts, vegan marshmallows and the Soda Stream seltzer machine. Norway’s governmental pension and Germany’s Deutsche Bank divested from Elbit. The flagship London outlet of beauty companyAhava has been closed after years of protest. A Scottish council recently banned Israeli books from its public libraries. Eden Springs, the major Israeli water company, will not have its contract renewed by the famous London School of Economics.

The Hudson’s Bay Company, the oldest commercial corporation in North America, also discontinued sales of Ahava. Although this decision was made for “commercial reasons”, it coincided with an aggressive campaign by several groups advocating a boycott of Ahava.

Most of the Western universities are now infested with a virulent anti-Jewish mood. Students at Edinburgh University just voted in favor of a boycott of Israel. The University of Johannesburg has cut its links with Beersheba’s Ben-Gurion University. DePaul University’s Student Association approved a boycott of Sabra hummus. The French University of Aix en Provence cancelled a meeting with Israeli writer Esther Orner after a boycott by Arab authors. Alan Dershowitz recently charged that Norwegian universities are conducting “an implicit boycott of Israel.”

Several companies, primarily Swedish firm Assa Abloy, which runs Mul-T-Lock, and the partly Dutch-owned Wine Cellars, have pulled out of the Barkan industrial area, near the Israeli city of Ariel. The Spanish government disqualified Ariel University Center of Samaria from competing in the finals of the international contest between university architecture departments to build a self-sufficient house using solar power. The Norwegian EL & IT union, which represents thousands energy and telecommunications workers, has adopted a boycott of the Histadrut labor union federation.

Kashmir writer’s festival over before it began

Posted: 31 Aug 2011

As someone who believes in the responsibility of artists and intellectuals to take a stand against tyranny, this news is positive:

Indian-administered Kashmir’s first major literature festival has been cancelled after local writers and artists said it would give the false impression that basic freedoms are allowed in the troubled region.

The Harud literary festival was scheduled for 24-26 September in Srinagar, Kashmir’s largest city and the main hub of opposition to Indian rule.

Festival organisers said the event would be apolitical and showcase “India’s multicultural ethos”. But local writers argued that years of intimidation have made residents unable to speak their minds.

The cancellation late on Monday came as the region enjoys an unexpectedly peaceful summer after three years of violent anti-Indian protests and crackdowns.

The Kashmiri writers Basharat Peer and Mirza Waheed, who have written books set in post-1989 Kashmir, when an armed rebellion and military crackdown began, were the first to refuse to participate.

Book reviews can save lives

Posted: 30 Aug 2011

A fascinating piece of history written by Australian academic Scott Burchill:

In August 2004 I was asked by The Age to review [Australian journalist] John Martinkus’ new book ‘Travels in American Iraq‘ (Black Inc, 2004). It was a very good account of life after the invasion and Martinkus was clearly more sympathetic to the occupied than he was to the occupier. My review was published on 28 August, 2004 and headlined ‘Occupied Iraq – a first hand territory’.

I was told by a colleague of mine who knew him (I had not met or ever spoken to Martinkus at the time) that when the insurgents who took John Martinkus hostage Googled his name to verify both his identity and his political allegiance (if any), my review in The Age came up as the top “hit” against his name. I presume that’s because Google’s algorithm locked onto what was probably the most recent online publication of his name. After allegedly reviewing the internet, Martinkus was released unharmed.

I was always a bit skeptical about all this, so when his article came out last week, I asked Martinkus if the anecdote had any veracity. Here’s his reply:

“That is a true story about them reading that review. I know that because they asked me about it in the long discussions we had which were for me very nerve wracking because I was trying to not say anything that would get them angry or think I was lying.”

Such is the role that luck can play in life. Book reviews can save lives!

When you say “liberating” Afghanistan, you mean privatising the lot?

Posted: 30 Aug 2011

The future of warfare, led by America and the West, is fueled by unaccountable corporations:

At least one in every six dollars of U.S. spending for contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade, or more than $30 billion, has been wasted. And at least that much could again turn into waste if the host governments are unable or unwilling to sustain U.S.-funded projects after our involvement ends.

Those sobering but conservative numbers are a key finding of the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will submit its report to Congress on Wednesday. All eight commissioners agree that major changes in law and policy are needed to avoid confusion and waste in the next contingency, whether it involves armed struggle overseas or response to disasters at home.

Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted through poor planning, vague and shifting requirements, inadequate competition, substandard contract management and oversight, lax accountability, weak interagency coordination, and subpar performance or outright misconduct by some contractors and federal employees. Both government and contractors need to do better.

Our final report shows that the costs of contracting waste and fraud extend beyond the disservice to taxpayers. The costs include damage to the support for U.S. military, diplomatic and development efforts; fostering corruption in host countries; and undermining U.S. standing and influence overseas.

The contractor workforce in Iraq and Afghanistan has at times exceeded 260,000 people and has sometimes outnumbered U.S. military forces in theater. The roughly 1-to-1 ratio sustained over the years reflects a basic operating truth that Defense Department officials expressed in testimony to the commission: The United States cannot conduct large or prolonged military operations without contractor support.

Of course, the corrupt Afghan government, our little baby, just wants more money to waste:

Afghanistan has only received $57 billion out of $69 billion committed by the International Community to the country, Afghan finance minister said on Saturday.

Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal told a news conference that only 18 percent of the whole $57 billion that has been flowed into Afghanistan as part of international community’s grant to the country has been spent through the government budget.

And the remaining 82 percent of the funding aid has been spent by the international community itself, he added.

Hello, my name is the IDF and I love to protect interlopers

Posted: 30 Aug 2011

In case you need any reminding that the role of the IDF is to protect the colonists illegally living on Palestinian land:

The IDF has conducted detailed work to determine a “red line” for each settlement in the West Bank, which will determine when soldiers will be ordered to shoot at the feet of Palestinian protesters if the line is crossed. It is also planning to provide settlers with tear gas and stun grenades as part of the defense operation.

The IDF is currently in the process of finalizing its preparations for Operation Summer Seeds, whose purpose is to ready the army for September and the possibility of confrontations with Palestinians following the expected vote in favor of Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly.

Who would like to provide PR for a brutal, US-backed dictatorship?

Posted: 30 Aug 2011

PR Watch has the news:

Bahrian’s Sunni-led monarchy has hired the Washington, D.C. PR firm Qorvis Communications at a rate of $40,000/month to help improve its image after the Bahraini government, struggling to suppress a Shia-led protest movement, attacked the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders (DWB). The group offers medical care to injured protesters who are too afraid to go to Bahrian’s government-run hospitals out of fear that they will be arrested or detained. A severely injured protester sought help at the Doctors Without Borders office in Bahrain’s capitol city of Manama. Due to the severity of his injuries, the DWB called an ambulance and the protester was taken to the hospital. Afterwards, government authorities raided DWB’s office, seized their medicines, furniture and patient files and arrested their local driver. After the attack, the government hired Quorvis Communications to try to salvage its image. Qorvis issued a statement to American journalists which said that Doctors Without Borders “was operating an unlicensed medical center in a residential apartment building.” Huffington Post reported earlier this year that a number of Quorvis executives had left the firm because, as one of them put it, “I just have trouble working with despotic dictators killing their own people.” Qorvis had previously worked for Bahrain before through another firm, and has also done work for the Saudi monarchy.

Sydney radio on BDS, Palestine and slamming faux anti-Semitism claims

Posted: 30 Aug 2011

I was interviewed this week by 2SER’s The Wire on why boycotting Israel is a legitimate tactic in the face of Zionist occupation and calling these actions anti-Semitic, as many in the political and media elites do, simply demeans the word’s real meaning.

From Wikileaks to the world

Posted: 30 Aug 2011

A glorious tweet:

Dear governments, if you don’t want your filth exposed, then stop acting like pigs. Simple.

This is Australia’s past and future?

Posted: 30 Aug 2011

My following book review appeared in last Sunday’s Sydney Sun Herald newspaper:

The Protectors
Stephen Gray
(Allen & Unwin, $29.99)

“Mainstream Australia is equivocal about the apology [to the stolen generations] at best.” It’s a provocative start to a work that aims to understand the motives of the farmers, politicians and public figures who took Aboriginal children away from their parents. What did former prime minister Kevin Rudd apologise for and did ordinary Australians accept his reasons? This makes for uncomfortable reading and wonders if the once ubiquitous eugenics view towards indigenous people has gone away. Gray argues that many in white Australia still resent Aborigines being alive at all.