A community to turn the tide...

Listening to the interview with William Parry that I had recorded when he was in the Hudson Valley recently, I was struck by how deeply committed some writers and artists are to the cause of Palestinian rights. William Parry's book comes out of his determination to make a difference in the Middle East. And just as he reenforces our hopes for Palestinian freedom, we reenforce his.

Maybe that is what book tours are all about. There will always be some people who have never given the plight of the Palestinians a second thought. But then there are the groups of committed activists who work very hard, year after year, to end apartheid. Maybe this community will eventually turn the tide of public opinion in the United States.

The American Spring in DC

Margaret Flowers didn't disappoint. As one of the initiators of the Occupy DC movement this fall, Margaret described the following event this Spring.

The American Spring: A Time for Occupy To Blossom

National Occupation of Washington, DC Will Bring Occupiers Together to Share Experiences, Educate Each Other and Build an Independent Movement to Shift Power from Concentrated Wealth.
 
It is certainly a tall order against an entrenched and increasingly violent state opposition. But it is all we have to restore democracy to the United States. And sometimes mass movements can create magical changes.

Just how long do we have to pack up and escape a nuclear meltdown from Indian Point. Manna Jo, Environmental Action Director for the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, said it just depends on the wind that day. If it is blowing in your direction, look at the wind speed and your distance from the plant. Within 20 to 50 miles, you are risking your life by not evacuating before the wind gets to where you and your family are.

Was it greed or ignorance that resulted in these plants being built in the first place? Maybe greed breeds ignorance.

GUEST: Dalit Baum, co-founder of Who Profits from the Occupation, a research initiative of the Coalition of Women for Peace in Israel, speaks to us about using boycotts to win human rights.

I got to know Dalit when she posted the following to a BDS website. That was lucky for the listeners of Activist Radio, as she turned out to be a wonderful guest.

Dear Fred

As you might know, we have a 5-year research project in Israel called "who Profits" www.whoprofits.org - where we publish a database of companies involved in the occupation. We have a complete mapping of all settlement products and we have put a lot of effort into investigating dead sea products such as Ahava. It is crucial for our work to be very precise with our facts, and not to fall into exaggerations and all sorts of false information on the web, which can discredit our campaigns.

Check out our new whoprofits website:

http://www.whoprofits.org/company/ahava-dead-sea-laboratories

On your website I see this quote: "CVS should stop selling Ahava, as well as other products made in Israel's illegal settlements. These include L'Oreal's Natural Sea Beauty, Dead Sea Salt Foot Soak, and Swisa Beauty Esensuals." This is not precise. Of these, only Ahava is a settlement product, it is produced in a settlement and partially owned by two settlements. Also, the mud they sell (as mud, not extracts) is excavated in the occupied area, in contradiction with international law (forbidding pillage of natural resources). The dead sea minerals used by Ahava as well as by other companies are excavated in the south of the dead sea by Dead Sea Works, which is officially in 1948 Israel.

I would also encourage you to look for sales of SodaStream http://www.globalexchange.org/sodastream in your area, as it seems that they are gaining momentum in the US. This is also a settlement product, and now, for the first time, the is a cheap alternative we can offer to this product. See where they sell near you: http://www.sodastreamusa.com/where_to_buy.aspx

Good luck in all and let me know if you need anything... Dalit

I was thinking during our interview with Karen Charman how much we resist stories like this about the catastrophic danger of a nuclear plant like Indian Point. I full meltdown would destroy the southern part of New York State. We might never be able to return to our homes, that is if we were able to get out in time.

"Few of us," Arthur Miller once wrote, "can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the State has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied."

We are all too busy trusting the state and the corporations that run it. Indian Point is that time bomb in our midst that is just too troubling to consider.

Olympia Food Co-op

The Olympia Food Co-op is boycotting Israeli goods to protest that country's apartheid policies. The lawsuit against the Olympia Food Co-op is part of a growing attack against Palestinian rights organizations in the US. The "Irvine 11" found guilty of "conspiring to disrupt" a campus speech of Israeli ambassador Michael Oren is another example.

Perhaps the most blatant example, however, is the FBI searches and grand jury hearings targeting Palestinian rights activists.

SIGN THE PLEDGE:

23 anti-war and international solidarity activists have been subpoenaed to appear in front of a Grand Jury in Chicago, headed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. They have done nothing wrong. They have educated and organized against U.S. wars around the world. And they have stood in solidarity with the peoples of Palestine and Colombia.

All 23 of the targeted activists said that they will not cooperate with this witch hunt against the movements so many of us have worked to build. The U.S. attorney is working to put these activists in prison. Whether some of them are indicted, or others are jailed for refusing to testify, the threat is very real.

We pledge...

-We will carry forward the fight for our right to speak out, organize and to stand in solidarity with those who want freedom;
-We will stand up to any escalation of the attacks on anti-war and international solidarity activists;
-We will join the national day of protest when anti-war and international solidarity activists are ordered to appear in front of the Chicago Grand Jury or indicted.

http://www.stopfbi.net/get-involved/pledge-of-resistance

Barbara Harvey interview

I was glad we were able to convince Barbara Harvey, lawyer for the Olympic BDS movement, to be on this Thursday. Her court case was postponed, and she had wanted to wait until the hearing was finished to be on Activist Radio. But our talk covered a range of BDS topics, including the very important TIAA/CREF divestment campaign headed by Jewish Voice for Peace. I had not known that Barbara was very involved in that campaign. We will have to have her back on Activist Radio in the spring.