In December 2013, a US drone strike killed 12 people at a wedding in Yemen. On the 4th of May 2014, Code Pink staged a drone strike on a mock wedding in front of the White House. This was an American instead of a Yemeni style wedding so tourists and cops could understand.
As protesters crossed Lafayette Park towards the Penn Ave, a US Park Police woman attempted to stop them because they were pushing a rack of chairs. She denounced chairs as “structures” not permitted in the park and whined about permits. Most likely the claim that it is somehow “illegal” to sit in a chair in Lafayette Park is an attempt to interfere with the Peace Vigil. After foolishly putting out her hand to stop one group, she had to drop her objections and demands for permits after realizing the protest would not be in the park at all, but rather on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Once set up, the wedding was staged, and as the bride and groom proceeded back from the altar the drone struck, leaving “bodies” on the ground under what appeared to be bloodstained tarps. A speaker then reminded onlookers that a real drone strike would often include a “double-tap,” i.e., a second bombing aimed at killing first responders aiding the victims of the first attack. This is a notorious tactic when used by insurgents with paired IED’s, yet the United States has emulated it in drone bombings worldwide.
Democracy Now report on the drone attack on a wedding party in Yemen:
Jewish Voice for Peace will take advantage of Black Friday (the biggest shopping day of the year), Chanukah and the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People to educate DC shoppers about the injustice of the Israeli occupation, ask shoppers to refuse to buy SodaStream products, and call on local store managers to tell their corporate headquarters to stop stocking the products. Join Us!
WHY BOYCOTT SODASTREAM?
SodaStream markets itself as an environmentally friendly product to “Turn Water Into Fresh Sparkling Water And Soda”… but there is nothing friendly about the destruction of Palestinian life, land and water resources!
SodaStream is an Israeli corporation that produces all of its carbonation devices in an illegal settlement in the West Bank. All Israeli settlements exist in direct contravention to international law! This settlement company obscures its true illegal origin by marking its products “Made in Israel”, however “made in an illegal Israeli settlement” is more like it.
For pacifists and folks on the left generally, Veteran’s Day is not something we make a big deal about. One doesn’t want to appear to glorify war. Frankly, we do enough of that already here in the United States. On the other hand, one can look at Veteran’s Day as an opportunity to look at war for what it is, rather than glorifying it. Talking to veterans is one way to do this. This is the eighth segment in a series of videos of my fabulous Uncle Joe who joined the ancestors on June 18, 2012. He made it out of the Korean War without serious injury but he never forgot those who weren’t so lucky.
What does the mainstream media tell us about the on-going crisis between the Palestinians and the state of Israel? As a busy community activist addressing issues that are close to home, I can honestly say I don’t know what’s going on there. But the difference between the bits and pieces I pick up from the mainstream press and the progressive alternative media is striking.
If you listen to the network news, who refuses to “pick sides” for fear of appearing less than “objective”, you’ll hear that the situation is basically hopeless and that the two sides will never reconcile. Perhaps it is due to time constraints built into the format of television news that makes it so difficult for the networks to educate their audience on the history of the conflict or even to present anything approaching a complete picture of the current conditions. An analysis of the military and economic interests that have compelled one US administration after the another to support the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to support Israel financially and to give only tacit rebukes when they continue to expand the settlements illegally, not to mention the human rights violations, is hard to come by. It may be the time constraints that make all of this difficult to report. It’s also possible that the corporations that own most of the news (General Electric, Westinghouse, Rupert Murdoch, et al) actually profit from the on-going conflict. But as I said, I don’t know what’s going on there.
I do know that I appreciate it when media activists like Netfa Freeman of the Institute of Policy Studies and contribution producer for the WPFW public affairs program Voices with Vision, not only make it to the demonstrations that I don’t have time for, but also report on them. His audio documentary on the Gaza flotilla tragedy, takes us to the demonstrations outside of the Israeli embassy after the event. This was of course back in May, but as President Obama assures the world that the relationship between Israel and his administration is all good, it might not be a bad idea to revisit this regrettable demonstration of Israel’s military policy. Gaza Flotilla Tragedy: The Audio Story
Comments are closed 
