Tens of thousands to surround White House on June 8 in protest of Rafah invasion

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Original article by peoples dispatch republished under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Photo: Craig Birchfield

The people of the United States challenge Biden’s complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza, demand Biden end aid to Israel

Tens of thousands of people will are mobilizing to surround the White House on June 8 in protest of Biden’s complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza, principally the brutal invasion of Rafah, which takes more and more Palestinian lives each day. 

Biden had claimed in the past that the invasion of Rafah by Israel would be a red line, and even threatened to withhold weapons shipments (while actually halting some shipments of bombs) over the threat of invasion. 

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah—they haven’t gone in Rafah yet—if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities—that deal with that problem,” Biden said during a CNN interview on May 8.

Nevertheless, Biden did nothing after Israel’s threats of invasion escalated into reality. The recent tent massacre horrified billions across the globe after Israel bombed forcibly displaced Palestinian families—using US-made munitions. To this day, Biden continues his unconditional support for Israel.

Despite Biden’s earlier statements, he recently claimed that the recent massacre did not cross any of his “red lines.” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday that “as a result of this strike on Sunday, I have no policy changes to speak to.”

“The Israelis are going to investigate it. We’re going to be taking great interest in what they find in that investigation. And we’ll see where it goes from there,” Kirby said.

Ahead of the mass mobilization, Layan Fuleihan of the People’s Forum said, “Biden has blood on his hands!” She added, “Genocide is a red line! Over 13,000 children murdered by Israel, is a red line! We will march in Washington D.C. to remind him that the people of this country refuse to be complicit in these war crimes!”

The mass demonstration on June 8 has been called by a diverse range of Palestinian diaspora formations as well as anti-imperialist groups. These include the Palestinian Youth Movement, National Students for Justice in Palestine, U.S. Palestinian Community Network, the People’s Forum, Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Palestinian Feminist Collective, the ANSWER Coalition, U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, International Jewish Anti Zionist Network, Writers Against the War on Gaza, Healthcare Workers for Palestine, and Palestine Popular University.

“How many more homes have to be destroyed, how many children need to be killed, until this government takes definitive action to stop Israel’s war crimes. We are tired of hearing that Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are ‘concerned about the civilian death toll’. If they were really concerned about what Israel was doing, they would suspend all aid and tell Israel to accept one of the many ceasefire deals that is on the table. This genocide needs to end, and Biden has the power to do it,” said Celine Qussiny of the Palestinian Youth Movement.

“On June 8th, tens of thousands will show Biden that the people are his red line — we refuse to allow him to continue the genocide against the people of Gaza! Instead of a red line, Biden gave a green light to Netanyahu’s invasion of Rafah by agreeing to send more U.S. bombs and missiles. While the government that speaks in our name arms the genocidal Israeli regime to the teeth, the people want freedom for Palestine,” said Brian Becker, National Director of the ANSWER Coalition. 

Original article by peoples dispatch republished under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingTens of thousands to surround White House on June 8 in protest of Rafah invasion

Coming soon …

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I need to write an article about why Keir Starmer’s Labour Party needs to be actively opposed.

Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted "I support Zionism without qualification." He's asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.

There are 2 critical, urgent issues – Israel’s Gaza genocide and the climate crisis – and many secondary issues.

Keir “I support Zionism without qualification” Starmer is a passionate Zionist very supportive of Israel’s genocide. I have briefly argued that Israel are contemporary Neo-Fascists, committing crimes created at the end of WW2 to address and prevent Fascist atrocities from ever happening again.

The Muslim Vote campaign can provide direction for others in opposing Starmer & Co. Us non-Muslims can support them with our votes.

Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards

The climate crisis needs an immediate transition to renewable energy from fossil fuels i.e. no new fossil fuels. Anything less than that is not addressing the issue. Labour has said that there will be no more new oil and gas licences. We need North Sea’s Rosebank to be stopped too.

Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.
Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.

There are still few details of Labour’s proposed Great Bristish Energy’s proposal. We’ve learned that it’s not an energy company and has got a very cheap logo. It’s an investment vehicle instead of an energy company putting public money at risk in promoting bullshit technologies like carbon capture and Hydrogen. It’s clear that Labour are listening to the fossil fuel bullshitters.

Labour are staying with the notion of incessant growth when we need universal human rights and a habitable planet.

There are further issues: privatisation of the NHS, the suggestion of a return to PFI, attacks on welfare benefits, the refusal to tax the filthy rich.

Hopefully soon.

Continue ReadingComing soon …

Jeremy Corbyn formally launches campaign to be independent MP for Islington North

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/jeremy-corbyn-formally-launches-campaign-to-be-independent-mp-for-islington-north/

Corbyn said he wanted to be an “independent voice for equality, for democracy and for peace”

The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn formally launched his campaign to be elected as an independent MP for Islington North last night (29 May). Corbyn is standing as an independent after being blocked from being a Labour candidate in the general election.

At a packed meeting, Corbyn started the launch by saying that he wanted to be an “independent voice for equality, for democracy and for peace” and slammed what he described as a “political system that is no longer, sadly, offering the hope to so many people that it should.”

Corbyn continued by saying: “Politics should be about hope. Politics should be about making sure that those that are silenced are heard, those that are pushed aside are brought back in, those whose needs are so often unmet. It short, it is about the hope that we can bring to people. That’s what politics ought to do.”

Among the specific policy areas Corbyn pledged to campaign on were scrapping the two child benefit cap, ending sanctions for benefits claimants, taking public services such as water and Royal Mail into public ownership and introducing rent controls in the private sector.

Corbyn launches election campaign as an independent

Mr Corbyn was suspended as a Labour MP in 2020 for his response to a report into anti-Semitism in the party.

Launching his campaign at a community centre in Crouch Hill, he accused Labour of “denying democracy” by not allowing him to stand for the party.

“Labour members were denied a vote. If you shut down that democratic voice then you’ve got problems. That’s why I’ve decided I will run,” he said.

He also said he had sent a message of support to Diane Abbott amidst the uncertainty over whether she will be allowed to stand for Labour and attempt to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat.

Continue ReadingJeremy Corbyn formally launches campaign to be independent MP for Islington North

Amid Outrage Over Rafah Massacre, Second IDF Attack on Camp Kills 21

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Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Israeli tanks move near Israel’s border with the southern Gaza Strip on May 25, 2024.
 (Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images)

“How much more can the Palestinians survive this?” asked one researcher. “Safe zones targeted, refugees killed with merciless brutality.”

As humanitarians and world leaders condemn an Israel Defense Forces bombing and resulting fire in a Rafah “safe zone” that killed 45 people and wounded hundreds more, the Israeli military on Tuesday killed at least 21 more at another refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

“Four tank shells hit a cluster of tents in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area that Israel had advised civilians in Rafah to move to for safety,” Reuters reported, citing health officials in the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave. “At least 12 of the dead were women.”

Gaza-based journalist Hind Khoudary said on social media Tuesday: “I have a live hit on Al Jazeera in a bit and all I’m thinking about is how I will report on this massacre again. My heart is pounding so fast. My [fingers] are shaking. I want to cry.”

According to Agence France-Presse, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters on Tuesday that “I don’t know about this incident. We are putting this incident under investigation, and we will update you in advance.”

Hagari also addressed a probe into the Rafah attack—which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “tragic mistake”—during a Tuesday press briefing, saying that “on Sunday night, we eliminated senior Hamas terrorists in a targeted strike on a compound used by Hamas” and “due to unforeseen circumstances, a fire ignited tragically taking the lives of Gazan civilians nearby.”

“Contrary to reports, we conducted the strike outside the area that we designated as a humanitarian area and called civilians to evacuate to. Our strike was over a kilometer-and-a-half away from the Al-Mawasi humanitarian area. What we call the safer zone,” Hagari said. “Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size… We are looking into all possibilities including the option that weapons stored in a compound next to our target, which we did not know of, may have ignited as a result of the strike.”

The IDF’s claims about the Sunday massacre have not quelled outrage around the world—including from U.S. lawmakers urging President Joe Biden to suspend weapons and diplomatic support for Israel’s war, which has killed over 36,000 Palestinians, injured another 81,000, and left thousands more missing and believed dead beneath the rubble, according to Gaza health officials.

Palestinians who have so far survived the Israeli assault on Gaza for more than seven months are struggling to find food, water, shelter, and medical care. The IDF has destroyed civilian infrastructure—including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques—across the enclave and severely restricted the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Both deadly IDF attacks on displaced Palestinians in and near Rafah came in the wake of the International Court of Justice last week directing Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive or any other action in the Rafah governorate,” which followed the ICJ’s January order that the country “take all measures within its power” to uphold its obligations under the Genocide Convention.

Middle East Eye reported Tuesday that Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a Palestinian presidential spokesperson, “called the new attack a massacre, and called for the implementation of the International Court of Justice decision last week for Israel to halt its offensive on Rafah,” which began earlier this month.

Responding to the Tuesday attack on social media, London-based researcher Naks Bilal said that “without humanitarian intervention it is impossible to see how this does not stop.”

“How much more can the Palestinians survive this? Safe zones targeted, refugees killed with merciless brutality,” Bilal added. “Focus energy on calling for intervention, or there will be no Palestinians.”

Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingAmid Outrage Over Rafah Massacre, Second IDF Attack on Camp Kills 21