End Israeli Apartheid
Cairo Declaration
January 1, 2010
We, international delegates meeting in Cairo during the Gaza Freedom March 2009 in collective response to an initiative from the South African delegation, state:
In view of:
o Israel's ongoing collective punishment of Palestinians through the illegal occupation and siege of Gaza;
o the illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the continued construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall and settlements;
o the new Wall under construction by Egypt and the US which will tighten even further the siege of Gaza;
o the contempt for Palestinian democracy shown by Israel, the US, Canada, the EU and others after the Palestinian elections of 2006;
o the war crimes committed by Israel during the invasion of Gaza one year ago;
o the continuing discrimination and repression faced by Palestinians within Israel;
o and the continuing exile of millions of Palestinian refugees;
o all of which oppressive acts are based ultimately on the Zionist ideology which underpins Israel;
o in the knowledge that our own governments have given Israel direct economic, financial, military and diplomatic support and allowed it to behave with impunity;
o and mindful of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (2007)
We reaffirm our commitment to:
Palestinian Self-Determination
Ending the Occupation
Equal Rights for All within historic Palestine
The full Right of Return for Palestinian refugees
We therefore reaffirm our commitment to the United Palestinian call of July 2005 for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to compel Israel to comply with international law.
To that end, we call for and wish to help initiate a global mass, democratic anti-apartheid movement to work in full consultation with Palestinian civil society to implement the Palestinian call for BDS.
Mindful of the many strong similarities between apartheid Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa, we propose:
1) An international speaking tour in the first 6 months of 2010 by Palestinian and South African trade unionists and civil society activists, to be joined by trade unionists and activists committed to this programme within the countries toured, to take mass education on BDS directly to the trade union membership and wider public internationally;
2) Participation in the Israeli Apartheid Week in March 2010;
3) A systematic unified approach to the boycott of Israeli products, involving consumers, workers and their unions in the retail, warehousing, and transportation sectors;
4) Developing the Academic, Cultural and Sports boycott;
5) Campaigns to encourage divestment of trade union and other pension funds from companies directly implicated in the Occupation and/or the Israeli military industries;
6) Legal actions targeting the external recruitment of soldiers to serve in the Israeli military, and the prosecution of Israeli government war criminals; coordination of Citizen's Arrest Bureaux to identify, campaign and seek to prosecute Israeli war criminals; support for the Goldstone Report and the implementation of its recommendations;
7) Campaigns against charitable status of the Jewish National Fund (JNF).
We appeal to organisations and individuals committed to this declaration to sign it and work with us to make it a reality.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
what's a candle light vigil without riot cops? happy new year?
we left our action yesterday with the notion that we intend to start this year in total resistance to israeli apartheid and in support of peace and love for all people. we held a candle light vigil in the main square, and what's a candle light vigil without riot cops? right?
today we are going to the israeli embassy to protest, should be interesting. more on that later. hopefully it doesnt get too messy.
this morning we had a meeting with the south african delegation, and we all signed the "cairo declaration to end israeli apartheid", it was a fantastic meeting, i will send out our final draft when i get it. its beautiful.
more lessons from cairo:
6. we have to seriously have contingency plans. that means plan a,b, c, and d for an action, that are fully developed to be prepared for any response possible.
7. we HAVE to embrace a variety of tactics in order to get under the skin of the oppresive forces we are facing. when we are condemned by the fascist state for being violent or aggressive, that is not a sane evaluation. that evaluation is coming from an insane body, one that divorced from reason and humanity, and if we choose to accept their condemnation we have also lost our minds. the state does NOT represent the interest of the people, but we have given it power. we continue to legitimize its power by accepting its benevolence and its wrathful condemnation. it has taken on a form of its own, which people form a part of but are not the heart of. we can not accept the criticism coming from the spokespeople of the state. the spokespeople of the state, yes, they are human and have the same feelings as you and I, but the state is not a human entity, has no feelings, can not be hurt or violated.
today we are going to the israeli embassy to protest, should be interesting. more on that later. hopefully it doesnt get too messy.
this morning we had a meeting with the south african delegation, and we all signed the "cairo declaration to end israeli apartheid", it was a fantastic meeting, i will send out our final draft when i get it. its beautiful.
more lessons from cairo:
6. we have to seriously have contingency plans. that means plan a,b, c, and d for an action, that are fully developed to be prepared for any response possible.
7. we HAVE to embrace a variety of tactics in order to get under the skin of the oppresive forces we are facing. when we are condemned by the fascist state for being violent or aggressive, that is not a sane evaluation. that evaluation is coming from an insane body, one that divorced from reason and humanity, and if we choose to accept their condemnation we have also lost our minds. the state does NOT represent the interest of the people, but we have given it power. we continue to legitimize its power by accepting its benevolence and its wrathful condemnation. it has taken on a form of its own, which people form a part of but are not the heart of. we can not accept the criticism coming from the spokespeople of the state. the spokespeople of the state, yes, they are human and have the same feelings as you and I, but the state is not a human entity, has no feelings, can not be hurt or violated.
Gaza! Gaza!
The past few days have been extremely interesting and intense, in every sense of the words. We have been scrambling with leaders from all over to recover our wits and our solidarity and devise an action that would represent everyone as much as possible. The very important decision to boycott the buses was finally made by codepink, which happened after intense pressure from the entire delegation, and very bitter and angry exchanges, but was ultimately necessary in order for any unified process to move forward.
i met yesterday with the most exciting element of the entire international congregation, the congress of south african trade unions, cosatu, whose motto by the way is "an injury to one is an injury to all"! as a wobbly i just knew we would get along, and sure enough they have emerged as the pearl in this mess, and i am happy to say that i believe something extraordinary will come of this.
where to start...
i think i described in basic detail what happened the first day, where we were at a demo at the UN building in cairo. immediately we were surrounded by riot cops, but were essentially corralled in a small area and we were not allowed to move, and basically we were kept in or kept out. an interesting tactic. the police seemed keen on not arresting anyone, which is a strategy that they have kept so far. but it made me feel really weird to be penned inlike that. there was mass disorganization, and we were notified that the codepink leadership sent in two reps to deal with the UN to negociate on our behalf with the egyptian govt.
they decided to ask for a deal that would accept two buses to go to gaza if they wouldnt allow us all. like i said before, a fatal strategic error.
why its wrong, i think our gaza freedom march organizers in gaza say it best:
Dear Gaza Freedom March organizers and participants,
After a lot of hesitation and deliberation, we are writing to call on you to reject
the "deal" reached with the Egyptian authorities. This deal is bad for us and, we
deeply feel, terrible for the solidarity movement.
We initially felt that if representatives of all forty plus countries can go to Gaza
and lead a symbolic march along Palestinians it would convey the message to the
world public opinion, our main target. However, after listening to the Egyptian
Foreign Minister's press conference last night on Aljazeera and the way he described
the deal in details, we are unambiguous in perceiving this compromise as too heavy,
too divisive and too destructive to our future work and networking with various
solidarity movements around the world.
Mr. Abu Al-Gheit described the 100, that they graciously accepted to allow to enter
Gaza, as those from organizations which Egypt considers "good and sincere in
standing in solidarity with Gaza the same way as we [the regime] do." He described
the rest as "from organizations that are only interested in subversion and acting
against Egyptian interests, to sow havoc on the streets of Egypt, not to stand in
solidarity with the Palestinians." He also said that the Egyptian public was wise
enough to see that those were hooligans and stayed away from them. Other than the
obvious divisiveness that agreeing to this deal would cause, what's wrong with this
picture:
1) The Egyptian government in this press conference painted a picture of the great
majority of the internationals participating in the GFM as hooligans and agents
provocateurs, not real solidarity groups. This is a grave insult to all of us, to
all our partners and to the entire GFM, as it depicts us all as partnering with
"fanatic," "destructive" forces, not forces for ending the siege and for the rule of
law;
2) Arab and international public pressure on countries imposing the siege on Gaza
are rising dramatically due to the actions that you ALL have engaged in and the
excellent media messages that you have sent. This deal is being used now to release
pressure .
Either they allow all 1400 participants into Gaza (if they are "hooligans," best to
get rid of them from Egypt and "ship" them to Gaza, right?) or we strongly urge you
to reject the deal out of hand as too little, too late, too divisive and too
ill-conceived.
We cannot possibly decide on this matter, as ultimately this is up to ALL of you. If
a CLEAR majority among the international delegations feel that you want to go
through with the deal, we shall always welcome you in Gaza and deeply appreciate
your solidarity. But we feel your solidarity without coming to Gaza, exposing the
siege against you and us, may bear more fruit for us and towards ending the siege,
at least from the Egyptian side.
We have repeatedly argued that the march itself is not supposed to be only a
symbolic gesture, but rather a key part of a process, a series of events, which may
ultimately lead to lifting the deadly siege. We want to intensify and continue
building an effective solidarity campaign, not divide it.
We salute you all and thank you from our hearts for the indescribable work you have
all done for Gaza!
Respectfully,
Haidar Eid,
Omar Barghouti,
I am deeply moved by the long-term commitment to total freedom and not accepting anything less despite the fact that there will be intense suffering in the meantime. it very much reminds me of the what the zapatistas call "being in resistance", basically not accepting anything short of complete and total liberation.
we have heard that while we have been halted here in cairo that there are leaflets being dropped by israeli airplanes in the north of gaza saying that there is an imminent airstrike, the same leaflets that were dropped last year at the ssme time before operation cast lead began. while it may be a terrifyingly cruel piece of psychological warfare, we can only assume that we are facing another attack in gaza. so far nothing has started, but its scary for us here, since we are stuck.
egypt has made an incredible mistake in stopping us in cairo. first, if they had let us arrive to al-arish and stop us there we could have caused much less uproar in the middle of the desert than in the middle of the capital. they are forcing the issue upon themselves that they are intimately complicit in the seige of gaza, and a puppet of the israeli and american govts in all this. i mean, unintentionally, this convergence has led to the total rejection of all tourism in the egyptian sinai, because all foreign passport carrying individuals are sent back to cairo. this economic impact to egypt must be huge. and the MASSIVE security apparatus that has had to be mobilized in cairo must be infinitely expensive. all this makes it clear to me that egypt MUST be under tremendous pressure from the US and israel to hold the line, because this is not looking good for egypt at all.
yesterday we had a rally to support our hunger strikerns at the journalism syndicate, and there were hundreds of internationals and egyptians, who participate at tremendous risks to themselves. most are tortured and beaten and detained for long periods of time.
but what has been going on in the undercurrents is the most interesting to me. the international coalition that has been building out of this scramble, with no previous organizing, has taken us days but has been fruitful. hardcore, committed, veteran activists with solid politics and big hearts have been meeting in small cafes and in hotel rooms in this fascist land. we are watched, followed, bumped, hassled, intimidated, but we are not getting arrested or dissappearing, so its not THAT scary. but i am paranoid all the time. yesterday an israeli secret police guy followed me for a block and confronted me, that was actually seriously scary.
last night we saw police gather around the circle where all our hotels are, and we were prepared to be blockaded into our hotels in the morning so that we couldnt carry out the action that we had been preparing.
as it turns out, only one hotel which had a lot of the codepink organizers was barricaded by the police, and nobody was allowed to leave. they were on house arrest, and it eventually took them 5 hours of negotiation with the foreign ministry to let them out. but the beautiful thing was that we had already developed a new leadership autonomous from the codepink folks, and we organized the march today without them, so we were still able to pull of the coolest action i have been a part of in a really long time.
the plan was for all participants (now dwindling to around 500, as most have gone home), to loosely gather in groups of 3, 4, or 5 around the entrance to the egyptian national museum at around 10am. when the signal was given, we would all converge and take the street and begin the march. its called a flash demonstration, and it was incredibly successful. as soon as the women sent up the flag, i was in the front line, locking arms and we took this massive street, a main artery of traffic in downtown cairo, in a matter of seconds. i looked around and before the police could control it, we had two to three hundred people taking the 12 lane road, both side. we held it for 45 minutes. the police surrounded us quickly, so we werent able to march very far, but we blocked traffic. the police were certainly ready for an action, but they werent ready for us to do what we did, for it to happen so fast and so fucking organized. they surrounded us and we sat down, attempting to keep the police in a circle around us. riot cops, the rank and file guys, were certainly scared, it was easy to make a connection quickly with most of them to calm them down, they didnt want to be there and most of them agreed with us, but they had orders and they get tortured if they dont follow orders just like anyone else who doesnt follow the rules in egypt. but thent he scary beefy plain-clothed guys got it, and they split our march in half and started picking one person out at a time, beating, kicking, and punching us until we were all out of the street and corralled on the sidewalk between a building and three sides of riot cops 4 rows deep. it was extremely tense, to say the least. medics tended to the injuered, a couple of people had gashed under their eyes, but it didnt seem like there were broken bones or busted heads. people were banged up, but not seriously injured. on my end of the action we sat and they tried to drag me away but some hardcore ladies held on to me and stopped them from doing it, but then a 75 year old woman who was fasting for three days needed to leave, the riot cops wouldnt let her go through their lines, and the only other exit was through the thugs kicking the shit out of people, so i had to help the lady jump over a steel fence, which was hard for her, but she made it, and ultimately it was safer for her. meanwhile the cops, all of them, were targetting journalists and anyone with a camera, and mostly men, but there were many women who were roughed up.
once we were corralled, i was constantly going to the edges, training people how to de-escalate so that we could all stay safe. after a few hours things calmed down a bit, and we started to have meetings about what to do with the space. there were 400 of us in a small space, only big enough for us to stand, and barely move around. lots of older folks, many people pretty freaked out, because the action was so intense and the police were stronger than many had anticipated. a few key reps from the different delegations represented gave moving speeches.
al-jazeera and bbc and other news sources had us live on tv, and egyptian tv as well.
sa the day went on, some people were allowed to leave and thats when it began to change. the solidarity had changed, somehow. about 3/4 of the original march had left, and it left us in a very vulnerable position. we were still trying to hold our edges of the occupied space with less people and more cops, and in the interim the egyptians were sending in groups of plain-clothes guys, huge men, into our area. they were obviously doing recon, and strategizing about how to disperse us, and we kept feeling more and more threatened on the inside and the outside, as there was no way to remove the men from our demo. we simply didnt have the organization, the tactical wisdom, nor the numbers to do so. we decided to end the action and leave calling it a success after 7 hours of occupying a space and getting across our messages to international media, before the cops could escalate.
now i am back at the hostel, writing, extremely tired but since i havent written yet i thought i should get this stuff down and out.
oh, just a couple of exciting things, slightly random:
1. my "round-table" meeting with the greeks, indians, south africans, spanish, scottish, italian, canadian, british, irish, and french happened in the bar where in 1919 the revolution began in egypt against the british occupation. i thought that was pretty fucking cool, auspicious, even?
2. one guy who was travelling as a boisterous american tourist to the sinai was turned back on a bus for having a foreign passport, and while he honestly wasnt part of the freedom march, he was returned to cairo. not understanding he asked a few people about it. two days later he was at a meeting in cairo and at the demo today! thats fucking coo.
3. in the UK they have made it a law that all goods must be labelled if they are produced in occupied palestine! what a great fucking success. i hope we can get that going in the US as well.
The boycott/divestment/sanctions (BDS) that the south african delegation is calling for is going to be incredible. i will post our declaration that we sign tomorrow, as soon as i get it. right now the draft is being send to gaza and the west bank for review, and we will finalize it tomorrow morning, hopefully.
ok, update on me getting into gaza:
most everyone is leaving tomorrow or within the next few days. there are a small group of us who will still try to get in in the coming weeks, there are no guarantees. i wont discuss my strategy here, but i still have a lot of hope.
friends, i appreciate all your supprt. i dont know if i will get into gaza, but this trip has been worth it for the international community and this movement. while i have many criticisms about the way things have been organized there is so much learning to take away from this. and the coalitions and friendships that have been created, in this unique crucible, are going to last for a long time. this part of my trip was not planned and is very different than the days to come, hopefully.
some lessons for me:
1. the movement lacks a real depth of analysis of power. there is still too much emphasis on working with embassies, representatives, police, etc. we still havent figured out that WE, the MASSES, are the ones who give them power, and we only strengthen it by coming to them for permission, acceptance, and approval. the analysis of power also applies to how leadership is defined, created, and carried out. i want to go into this much more, because it reflects a lack of self-reflection and our own personal addictions to being in various positions of power.
2. decision-making process must be consensus. when i was in the zapatista national congress we worked with hundreds of people to get consensus, and meetings lasted full days, but an extraordinary thing came out of it. it must be done, and we cant be lazy about fully democratic process. especially when working with radical italian, french, and greek anarchist groups. its better to work together than get separated, and ultimately its the best process.
3. what does it mean to listen. fuck, if people would just slow down and listen to one another, and respect what has been said with no attachment to their own ideas but just contribute with the best interest of the group, we would be so much more productive. listening doesnt just mean being quiet when someone else talks, it means holding a space where creativity and honesty can happen.
4. i am tired of working with "important people". the codepink delegation kept saying "look who is here, we have this intellectual, this person, balh blah blah" and it makes us all feel like shit. its not necessary. STOP doing it! we are all in the movement.
5. a long discussion about what it means to be male/female and what it means to be a man/woman is very necessary now. codepink has really surfaced a lot of things for me about power/gender dynamics. more on that later.
i am going to suggest that you check out the louisville website for photos and to stephon's facebook page for videos. johnsdoemaine on facebook, for those of you who understand what that means.
peace.
i met yesterday with the most exciting element of the entire international congregation, the congress of south african trade unions, cosatu, whose motto by the way is "an injury to one is an injury to all"! as a wobbly i just knew we would get along, and sure enough they have emerged as the pearl in this mess, and i am happy to say that i believe something extraordinary will come of this.
where to start...
i think i described in basic detail what happened the first day, where we were at a demo at the UN building in cairo. immediately we were surrounded by riot cops, but were essentially corralled in a small area and we were not allowed to move, and basically we were kept in or kept out. an interesting tactic. the police seemed keen on not arresting anyone, which is a strategy that they have kept so far. but it made me feel really weird to be penned inlike that. there was mass disorganization, and we were notified that the codepink leadership sent in two reps to deal with the UN to negociate on our behalf with the egyptian govt.
they decided to ask for a deal that would accept two buses to go to gaza if they wouldnt allow us all. like i said before, a fatal strategic error.
why its wrong, i think our gaza freedom march organizers in gaza say it best:
Dear Gaza Freedom March organizers and participants,
After a lot of hesitation and deliberation, we are writing to call on you to reject
the "deal" reached with the Egyptian authorities. This deal is bad for us and, we
deeply feel, terrible for the solidarity movement.
We initially felt that if representatives of all forty plus countries can go to Gaza
and lead a symbolic march along Palestinians it would convey the message to the
world public opinion, our main target. However, after listening to the Egyptian
Foreign Minister's press conference last night on Aljazeera and the way he described
the deal in details, we are unambiguous in perceiving this compromise as too heavy,
too divisive and too destructive to our future work and networking with various
solidarity movements around the world.
Mr. Abu Al-Gheit described the 100, that they graciously accepted to allow to enter
Gaza, as those from organizations which Egypt considers "good and sincere in
standing in solidarity with Gaza the same way as we [the regime] do." He described
the rest as "from organizations that are only interested in subversion and acting
against Egyptian interests, to sow havoc on the streets of Egypt, not to stand in
solidarity with the Palestinians." He also said that the Egyptian public was wise
enough to see that those were hooligans and stayed away from them. Other than the
obvious divisiveness that agreeing to this deal would cause, what's wrong with this
picture:
1) The Egyptian government in this press conference painted a picture of the great
majority of the internationals participating in the GFM as hooligans and agents
provocateurs, not real solidarity groups. This is a grave insult to all of us, to
all our partners and to the entire GFM, as it depicts us all as partnering with
"fanatic," "destructive" forces, not forces for ending the siege and for the rule of
law;
2) Arab and international public pressure on countries imposing the siege on Gaza
are rising dramatically due to the actions that you ALL have engaged in and the
excellent media messages that you have sent. This deal is being used now to release
pressure .
Either they allow all 1400 participants into Gaza (if they are "hooligans," best to
get rid of them from Egypt and "ship" them to Gaza, right?) or we strongly urge you
to reject the deal out of hand as too little, too late, too divisive and too
ill-conceived.
We cannot possibly decide on this matter, as ultimately this is up to ALL of you. If
a CLEAR majority among the international delegations feel that you want to go
through with the deal, we shall always welcome you in Gaza and deeply appreciate
your solidarity. But we feel your solidarity without coming to Gaza, exposing the
siege against you and us, may bear more fruit for us and towards ending the siege,
at least from the Egyptian side.
We have repeatedly argued that the march itself is not supposed to be only a
symbolic gesture, but rather a key part of a process, a series of events, which may
ultimately lead to lifting the deadly siege. We want to intensify and continue
building an effective solidarity campaign, not divide it.
We salute you all and thank you from our hearts for the indescribable work you have
all done for Gaza!
Respectfully,
Haidar Eid,
Omar Barghouti,
I am deeply moved by the long-term commitment to total freedom and not accepting anything less despite the fact that there will be intense suffering in the meantime. it very much reminds me of the what the zapatistas call "being in resistance", basically not accepting anything short of complete and total liberation.
we have heard that while we have been halted here in cairo that there are leaflets being dropped by israeli airplanes in the north of gaza saying that there is an imminent airstrike, the same leaflets that were dropped last year at the ssme time before operation cast lead began. while it may be a terrifyingly cruel piece of psychological warfare, we can only assume that we are facing another attack in gaza. so far nothing has started, but its scary for us here, since we are stuck.
egypt has made an incredible mistake in stopping us in cairo. first, if they had let us arrive to al-arish and stop us there we could have caused much less uproar in the middle of the desert than in the middle of the capital. they are forcing the issue upon themselves that they are intimately complicit in the seige of gaza, and a puppet of the israeli and american govts in all this. i mean, unintentionally, this convergence has led to the total rejection of all tourism in the egyptian sinai, because all foreign passport carrying individuals are sent back to cairo. this economic impact to egypt must be huge. and the MASSIVE security apparatus that has had to be mobilized in cairo must be infinitely expensive. all this makes it clear to me that egypt MUST be under tremendous pressure from the US and israel to hold the line, because this is not looking good for egypt at all.
yesterday we had a rally to support our hunger strikerns at the journalism syndicate, and there were hundreds of internationals and egyptians, who participate at tremendous risks to themselves. most are tortured and beaten and detained for long periods of time.
but what has been going on in the undercurrents is the most interesting to me. the international coalition that has been building out of this scramble, with no previous organizing, has taken us days but has been fruitful. hardcore, committed, veteran activists with solid politics and big hearts have been meeting in small cafes and in hotel rooms in this fascist land. we are watched, followed, bumped, hassled, intimidated, but we are not getting arrested or dissappearing, so its not THAT scary. but i am paranoid all the time. yesterday an israeli secret police guy followed me for a block and confronted me, that was actually seriously scary.
last night we saw police gather around the circle where all our hotels are, and we were prepared to be blockaded into our hotels in the morning so that we couldnt carry out the action that we had been preparing.
as it turns out, only one hotel which had a lot of the codepink organizers was barricaded by the police, and nobody was allowed to leave. they were on house arrest, and it eventually took them 5 hours of negotiation with the foreign ministry to let them out. but the beautiful thing was that we had already developed a new leadership autonomous from the codepink folks, and we organized the march today without them, so we were still able to pull of the coolest action i have been a part of in a really long time.
the plan was for all participants (now dwindling to around 500, as most have gone home), to loosely gather in groups of 3, 4, or 5 around the entrance to the egyptian national museum at around 10am. when the signal was given, we would all converge and take the street and begin the march. its called a flash demonstration, and it was incredibly successful. as soon as the women sent up the flag, i was in the front line, locking arms and we took this massive street, a main artery of traffic in downtown cairo, in a matter of seconds. i looked around and before the police could control it, we had two to three hundred people taking the 12 lane road, both side. we held it for 45 minutes. the police surrounded us quickly, so we werent able to march very far, but we blocked traffic. the police were certainly ready for an action, but they werent ready for us to do what we did, for it to happen so fast and so fucking organized. they surrounded us and we sat down, attempting to keep the police in a circle around us. riot cops, the rank and file guys, were certainly scared, it was easy to make a connection quickly with most of them to calm them down, they didnt want to be there and most of them agreed with us, but they had orders and they get tortured if they dont follow orders just like anyone else who doesnt follow the rules in egypt. but thent he scary beefy plain-clothed guys got it, and they split our march in half and started picking one person out at a time, beating, kicking, and punching us until we were all out of the street and corralled on the sidewalk between a building and three sides of riot cops 4 rows deep. it was extremely tense, to say the least. medics tended to the injuered, a couple of people had gashed under their eyes, but it didnt seem like there were broken bones or busted heads. people were banged up, but not seriously injured. on my end of the action we sat and they tried to drag me away but some hardcore ladies held on to me and stopped them from doing it, but then a 75 year old woman who was fasting for three days needed to leave, the riot cops wouldnt let her go through their lines, and the only other exit was through the thugs kicking the shit out of people, so i had to help the lady jump over a steel fence, which was hard for her, but she made it, and ultimately it was safer for her. meanwhile the cops, all of them, were targetting journalists and anyone with a camera, and mostly men, but there were many women who were roughed up.
once we were corralled, i was constantly going to the edges, training people how to de-escalate so that we could all stay safe. after a few hours things calmed down a bit, and we started to have meetings about what to do with the space. there were 400 of us in a small space, only big enough for us to stand, and barely move around. lots of older folks, many people pretty freaked out, because the action was so intense and the police were stronger than many had anticipated. a few key reps from the different delegations represented gave moving speeches.
al-jazeera and bbc and other news sources had us live on tv, and egyptian tv as well.
sa the day went on, some people were allowed to leave and thats when it began to change. the solidarity had changed, somehow. about 3/4 of the original march had left, and it left us in a very vulnerable position. we were still trying to hold our edges of the occupied space with less people and more cops, and in the interim the egyptians were sending in groups of plain-clothes guys, huge men, into our area. they were obviously doing recon, and strategizing about how to disperse us, and we kept feeling more and more threatened on the inside and the outside, as there was no way to remove the men from our demo. we simply didnt have the organization, the tactical wisdom, nor the numbers to do so. we decided to end the action and leave calling it a success after 7 hours of occupying a space and getting across our messages to international media, before the cops could escalate.
now i am back at the hostel, writing, extremely tired but since i havent written yet i thought i should get this stuff down and out.
oh, just a couple of exciting things, slightly random:
1. my "round-table" meeting with the greeks, indians, south africans, spanish, scottish, italian, canadian, british, irish, and french happened in the bar where in 1919 the revolution began in egypt against the british occupation. i thought that was pretty fucking cool, auspicious, even?
2. one guy who was travelling as a boisterous american tourist to the sinai was turned back on a bus for having a foreign passport, and while he honestly wasnt part of the freedom march, he was returned to cairo. not understanding he asked a few people about it. two days later he was at a meeting in cairo and at the demo today! thats fucking coo.
3. in the UK they have made it a law that all goods must be labelled if they are produced in occupied palestine! what a great fucking success. i hope we can get that going in the US as well.
The boycott/divestment/sanctions (BDS) that the south african delegation is calling for is going to be incredible. i will post our declaration that we sign tomorrow, as soon as i get it. right now the draft is being send to gaza and the west bank for review, and we will finalize it tomorrow morning, hopefully.
ok, update on me getting into gaza:
most everyone is leaving tomorrow or within the next few days. there are a small group of us who will still try to get in in the coming weeks, there are no guarantees. i wont discuss my strategy here, but i still have a lot of hope.
friends, i appreciate all your supprt. i dont know if i will get into gaza, but this trip has been worth it for the international community and this movement. while i have many criticisms about the way things have been organized there is so much learning to take away from this. and the coalitions and friendships that have been created, in this unique crucible, are going to last for a long time. this part of my trip was not planned and is very different than the days to come, hopefully.
some lessons for me:
1. the movement lacks a real depth of analysis of power. there is still too much emphasis on working with embassies, representatives, police, etc. we still havent figured out that WE, the MASSES, are the ones who give them power, and we only strengthen it by coming to them for permission, acceptance, and approval. the analysis of power also applies to how leadership is defined, created, and carried out. i want to go into this much more, because it reflects a lack of self-reflection and our own personal addictions to being in various positions of power.
2. decision-making process must be consensus. when i was in the zapatista national congress we worked with hundreds of people to get consensus, and meetings lasted full days, but an extraordinary thing came out of it. it must be done, and we cant be lazy about fully democratic process. especially when working with radical italian, french, and greek anarchist groups. its better to work together than get separated, and ultimately its the best process.
3. what does it mean to listen. fuck, if people would just slow down and listen to one another, and respect what has been said with no attachment to their own ideas but just contribute with the best interest of the group, we would be so much more productive. listening doesnt just mean being quiet when someone else talks, it means holding a space where creativity and honesty can happen.
4. i am tired of working with "important people". the codepink delegation kept saying "look who is here, we have this intellectual, this person, balh blah blah" and it makes us all feel like shit. its not necessary. STOP doing it! we are all in the movement.
5. a long discussion about what it means to be male/female and what it means to be a man/woman is very necessary now. codepink has really surfaced a lot of things for me about power/gender dynamics. more on that later.
i am going to suggest that you check out the louisville website for photos and to stephon's facebook page for videos. johnsdoemaine on facebook, for those of you who understand what that means.
peace.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
in the thick of it
firstly i am sorry for not writing sooner, it has been absolute mayhem. this report will be very short and i will fill in things later when i have more time.
the plane ride was late and i got here one step behind.
egyptian govt denied buses for code pink and police were stopping all actions.
i arrived and immediately went to an action at the UN embassy where a tragic strategic error was made byb codepink in their demands with the egyptian govt. they said that if the govt wont let all the buses in then they should let two buses in with the aid.
keep in mind that literally tons of aid lies rotting in a stadium in al-arish, miles from the gazan border. anyway, the next day the wife of pres mubarrak agreed to the two buses, and codepink accepted the deal unilaterally, and a huge division ensued.
i have been working with radical reps from greek, scottish, south african, indian, french, irish, spanish, italian and american contingents to try to unify the march and get a coherent strategy, message, etc.
it has been absolutely crazy, but i feel very good about the conversations that have happened. i will fill this in more later. i cant give many specifics now because i am working in a completely fascist environment where any more than six people convened may be arrested and all coffee shops and hotels are afraid to harbor anyone having meetings. its a very tense environment. it is tremendously more brutal for the egyptians.
the idea now is to have a unified march tomorrow, on the 31st, in cairo, because we are unable to leave. security forces prevent all tourists from even crossing the bridge leaving cairo towards the border. the egyptian govt has put themselves in the position, obviously very difficult, to fully support the seige of gaza and it is evidenced by their total repression of our march.
i am in good spirits, but organizing furiously, day and night, and having meetings all the time. there is no immediate hope of entering gaza with the march anymore, so there are plans for future organizing and also making the most of the time that we have here together as internationals. almost 500 have left early, according to many people.
i will be updating more soon, with plenty of details, but i wanted to put something out there. sending love, please send hope and strength. we are fighting here, and its with our minds right now, trying to find a way to not lose the momentum and power that we have as an international presence.
codepink has been rejected almost completely by the gaza freedom marchers, due to their poor leadership and poor decision making which has divided the international community in a very bitter and angry fight. my time has been spent as a liason between various groups representing different interests to try to maintain unity and solidarity. the egyptian govt has been successful in dividing us, and then we are doing a fan-fucking-tastic job of completing their job with our individual interests and egos and inability to see a long term strategy. more later...
the plane ride was late and i got here one step behind.
egyptian govt denied buses for code pink and police were stopping all actions.
i arrived and immediately went to an action at the UN embassy where a tragic strategic error was made byb codepink in their demands with the egyptian govt. they said that if the govt wont let all the buses in then they should let two buses in with the aid.
keep in mind that literally tons of aid lies rotting in a stadium in al-arish, miles from the gazan border. anyway, the next day the wife of pres mubarrak agreed to the two buses, and codepink accepted the deal unilaterally, and a huge division ensued.
i have been working with radical reps from greek, scottish, south african, indian, french, irish, spanish, italian and american contingents to try to unify the march and get a coherent strategy, message, etc.
it has been absolutely crazy, but i feel very good about the conversations that have happened. i will fill this in more later. i cant give many specifics now because i am working in a completely fascist environment where any more than six people convened may be arrested and all coffee shops and hotels are afraid to harbor anyone having meetings. its a very tense environment. it is tremendously more brutal for the egyptians.
the idea now is to have a unified march tomorrow, on the 31st, in cairo, because we are unable to leave. security forces prevent all tourists from even crossing the bridge leaving cairo towards the border. the egyptian govt has put themselves in the position, obviously very difficult, to fully support the seige of gaza and it is evidenced by their total repression of our march.
i am in good spirits, but organizing furiously, day and night, and having meetings all the time. there is no immediate hope of entering gaza with the march anymore, so there are plans for future organizing and also making the most of the time that we have here together as internationals. almost 500 have left early, according to many people.
i will be updating more soon, with plenty of details, but i wanted to put something out there. sending love, please send hope and strength. we are fighting here, and its with our minds right now, trying to find a way to not lose the momentum and power that we have as an international presence.
codepink has been rejected almost completely by the gaza freedom marchers, due to their poor leadership and poor decision making which has divided the international community in a very bitter and angry fight. my time has been spent as a liason between various groups representing different interests to try to maintain unity and solidarity. the egyptian govt has been successful in dividing us, and then we are doing a fan-fucking-tastic job of completing their job with our individual interests and egos and inability to see a long term strategy. more later...
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