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MRN

The aspiration of the Media Review Network is to dispel the myths and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims and to foster bridges of understanding among the diverse people of our country. The Media Review Network believes that Muslim perspectives on issues impacting on South Africans are a prerequisite to a better appreciation of Islam.

How stupid is condoleezza Rice?

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By William Blum

(source: Counterpunch.org)

On April 9, Condoleezza Rice delivered a talk in San Francisco. Or tried to. The former Secretary of State was interrupted repeatedly by cries from the audience of “war criminal” and “torturer”. (For which we can thank our comrades in Code Pink and World Can’t Wait.) As one of the protesters was being taken away by security guards, Rice made the kind of statement that has now become standard for high American officials under such circumstances: “Aren’t you glad this lady lives in a democracy where she can express her opinion?” She also threw in another line that’s become de rigueur since the US overthrew Saddam Hussein, an argument that’s used when all other arguments fail: “The children of Iraq are actually not living under Saddam Hussein, thank God.”

My response to such a line is this: If you went into surgery to correct a knee problem and the surgeon mistakenly amputated your entire leg, what would you think if someone then remarked to you how nice it was that “you actually no longer have a knee problem, thank God.” … The people of Iraq no longer have a Saddam problem.

Unfortunately, they’ve lost just about everything else as well. Twenty years of American bombing, invasion, occupation and torture have led to the people of that unhappy land losing their homes, their schools, their electricity, their clean water, their environment, their neighborhoods, their archaeology, their jobs, their careers, their professionals, their state-run enterprises, their physical health, their mental health, their health care, their welfare state, their women’s rights, their religious tolerance, their safety, their security, their children, their parents, their past, their present, their future, their lives … more than half the population either dead, disabled, in prison, or in foreign exile … the air, soil, water, blood and genes drenched with depleted uranium … the most awful birth defects … unexploded cluster bombs lie in wait for children … a river of blood runs alongside the Euphrates and Tigris … through a country that may never be put back together again.

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Israeli troops kill unarmed palestinian protestors on borders

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By Patrick O’Connor

(source: World Socialist WebSite)

Israeli soldiers yesterday killed at least fifteen Palestinians and wounded many more as they suppressed protests held at border posts facing Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza to mark the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the Zionist state. This latest massacre of Palestinian civilians inflicted by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) again demonstrates the Israeli government’s brazenly unlawful operations. The situation also exposes the Obama administration’s “humanitarian” pretext for the bombardment of Libya.

NATO’s war is supposedly necessary to protect unarmed civilians from the possibility of being killed by government forces—but Washington raises no objections to the murderous activities of its closest ally in the Middle East, which it arms and finances to the tune of billions of dollars each year.

The exact death toll from yesterday’s demonstrations remains unclear, with differing numbers provided by various media outlets. According to the Associated Press, Lebanese security officials reported that ten people were killed on the Lebanese side of the border fence. One person was shot dead by an Israeli sniper in Gaza. Others were killed in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights when a crowd of unarmed protestors broke through the demarcation fence with Syria and marched into the village of Majdal Shams.

May 15 marks the anniversary of Israel’s establishment in 1948, but for the Palestinian people it is commemorated as “the catastrophe,” or al-Nabka. The Zionist state was founded through a terror campaign triggering one of the largest forced migrations in modern history. An estimated 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled their homes, and their property was expropriated. Denied the right to return ever since, there are now about 4.5 million refugees and their descendents in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the occupied territories.

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Press release

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MRN Demands Immediate Release of Na’eem Jeenah

The Media Review Network deplores the arrest of well known South African analyst Mr Na’eem Jeenah by Israeli authorities.

We are outraged by the heavy handed conduct of the Netanyahu regime’s security whereby access to Jeenah by South Africa’s ambassador has been denied.

While we find the cowboy-style behaviour of Israel to be consistent with its apartheid character, we condemn it nevertheless and demand his immediate release.

We support the call made by AMEC (see text of statement here-under) to launch an international campaign in order to secure his release. We find it unacceptable that neither his whereabouts nor the reason for his unlawful detention has been made known.

We also call on the SA government to publicly renounce the Israeli regime’s disgraceful violation of Jeenah’s human rights and take all necessary steps to ensure that he is released unconditionally.

Issued By:

Iqbal Jassat – Chairman, Media Review Network

Cell: 083 594 3749

Email: mrn_ij@telkomsa.net

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Cosatu statement on detention of naeem jeenah

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While workers vote ANC at home, Israel detains and deport a South African academic to enforce apartheid in Palestine

COSATU condemns detention, interrogation and ultimate deportation of South African academic by Israeli police on eve of local government elections in South Africa

On the 17th May, a Day before millions of workers and people of our country flocked to the polls to defend our hard won gains, defend democracy and affirm their dignity by voting the ANC, one of our own, Naeem Jena, a South African academic on Middle East affairs based in Johannesburg was detained, interrogated and ultimately deported by Israeli police in that country.

Naeem is not only a researcher and academic, but also an ardent activist involved in solidarity work with all oppressed peoples of the world, from Swaziland to Zimbabwe, from Western Sahara to Cuba and in bold, Palestine. He is also one of the leading voices on the issue of a Global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against the colonial and apartheid state of Israel for it continued occupation of Palestine.

According to a statement by the Coalition for a Free Palestine (CFP), “Na’eem was subjected to a harsh ten hour interrogation, had his passport and private belongings impounded, and was then deported under guard, like a common criminal to Instanbul, Turkey.”

The statement went on to say, “The fact that he has been treated like a common criminal, and subjected to treatment normally reserved for terrorist suspects is all the more worrying. It is very hard not to draw the conclusion that the Israeli State, fearful of both the democratic developments in the Middle East as a whole, the rising opposition to its disastrous apartheid policies at home, and the gathering momentum of the BDS campaign, is now frantically trying to suppress all those it deems to be its enemies. The irony of course is not missed, these actions of the Israeli State have immeasurably strengthened comparisons with the Apartheid South African state who also tried (and failed) to contain and suppress dissent.”  

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