Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.
- First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Although a cherished right of the people, freedom of the press is different from other liberties of the people in that it is both individual and institutional. It applies not just to a single person's right to publish ideas, but also to the right of print and broadcast media to express political views and to cover and publish news. A free press is, therefore, one of the foundations of a democratic society, and as Walter Lippmann, the 20th-century American columnist, wrote, "A free press is not a privilege, but an organic necessity in a great society." Indeed, as society has grown increasingly complex, people rely more and more on newspapers, radio, and television to keep abreast with world news, opinion, and political ideas. One sign of the importance of a free press is that when antidemocratic forces take over a country, their first act is often to muzzle the press.
Thomas Jefferson, on the necessity of a free press (1787)
The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
From: WWW.America.gov Archives
Newt Gingrich in describing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians uses eliminationist language " inauthentic " " invented " Palestinians which means as a people the Palestinians have no rights and have no rights guaranteed by International Law or the United nations - as non-persons Israel is permitted according to Newt Gingrich, GOP, Fox News and the US government to treat the so-called Palestinians in any manner they wish which they have been doing for over 60 years now.
But we should remember and not get too obsessive about USA Israeli relations when the US supports a whole gaggle of authoritarian ant-democratic fascist style regimes from Uzbekistan to Saudi Arabia to the new Libyan Regime to the Junta in Honduras .
The example of Libya is once again to remind all nations that their government and their sovereignty all depends on their relations with America. So called sovereign nations are not permitted to do anything substantive unless approved by the Pentagon and Wall Street for whom the politicians and legislators work.
For instance in America there is no longer such a thing or animal as Free Public Space -all space all parks all roads and sidewalks and buildings are owned by the Rich and powerful. In the beginning of the creation of the 13 colonies as America was hijacked by those with wealth and power so only they could say what laws to pass and who shall be considered a true American Citizen -white wealthy male Christians .
Occupy Wall Street Dec. 12see more at YouTube remember to pass them on RTs Facebook etc.
swamp the NET. We need to keep up the momentum and pressure to make any difference especially those who are keyboard revolutionaries.
What can we expect from the Americans or at least those who control America the Rich and Powerful the 1% who do not even recognize the basic civil rights of their fellow citizens who are part of the 99% as we have seen over and over again since the beginning of the Occupy Movement.
The police across America and here in Canada treat those who dare speak out as criminals who have no rights or as non-citizens or non-persons while they treat Corporations as having all the rights of a citizen.
It should sadden people to see such draconian and brutal actions taking place during the so called Holiday Season of brotherly love and all that when in fact those in control just want like their spokesperson Mr. Scrooge just want to make more money . Besides that's all Xmas is about is money, money, money so those who have a lot can win the game of giving the most expensive presents to each other.
As for the Nazarene his teachings are merely an embarrassment to the rich and powerful who have purchased the best pews in the richest churches.
similarity of attack by Israeli army at the funeral of a murdered peaceful Palestinian protester to that of the police attacks on peaceful protesters in oakland USA.
Israel and US military routinely target journalists
Rachel maddow Eric Holder on voter rights' suppression
So is there a connection between Israeli soldiers tactics used on peaceful protesters with the tactics of police forces in the USA in cracking down on Occupy protesters in the USA.
Max Blumenthal as discussed in an earlier post claimed American police forces were being trained in fact by the Israeli military in tactics to be used on peaceful demonstrators.
So here's the most recent example of the Israelis attacking a funeral and peaceful protesters.
Israeli soldiers attack in the most brutal and vicious manner the peaceful mourners at the funeral of a peaceful Palestinian protester who had been killed by Israeli soldiers.
One of the striking images in this eyewitness report is the protesters being attacked while trying to help someone who had been seriously injured which brings to mind the recent actions of police attacking peaceful protesters in the Occupy Movement in the USA and especially the incident in Oakland when an Iraqi vet was deliberately shot down by the police followed by the police shooting at those who tried to help this wounded peaceful protester.
An Eyewitness Account of the Israeli Attack on Mustafa Tamimi’s Funeral By Holly Rigby December 14, 2011 "Information Clearing House"
-- This has been one of the darkest and most disturbing days I have ever had to experience. The funeral of Mustafa Tamimi, murdered by the IOF at a demonstration at Nabi Saleh on Friday, ended with the IOF shooting endless rounds of the teargas canisters that killed Mustafa at unarmed mourners, beating and arresting people with impunity as they walked across Nabi Saleh village after the funeral.
Nabi Saleh, a small village of only 550 people, has been organising non-violent protests against the theft of their land since 2009. The illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish has continued to grow and expand since 1976, and the tiny village has been holding the demonstration for two years protesting against the confiscation of the village’s main water supply, the Kaws Spring. Nabi Saleh has become infamous for its violence and arrests against Palestinians, but until yesterday nobody had been killed there by the IOF.
Mustafa, a 28 year old Palestinian activist, died on Saturday morning after being critically injured when a tear gas canister was shot directly at his face from the inside of an armoured Israeli jeep only ten meters from where he was standing. The tear gas canister ripped through one side of his face causing a massive brain haemorrhage, and despite initial optimism he would survive on Friday night, he tragically passed away on Saturday morning.
...IOF soldiers were savagely beating anybody within their vicinity, three or four soldiers at a time grabbing men and throwing them to the floor, kicking them violently and stamping on their heads. As I stood back from the scene taking photographs, a soldier suddenly lunged towards us entirely unprovoked and threw one of the ISM activists I was with against the barrier of the road, doubling him over it as his body crashed to the ground. I screamed in his face WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU ANIMALS and he shoved me out the way and turned back to the group of soldiers that has amassed to join in the violent spree.
As they tried to arrest more and more people the group of strong and defiant Palestinian women we were with threw their bodies over the men they were trying to drag away, and the soldiers began dragging these women by their hijabs, their clothes, wringing the necks of the men who were under this pile of women and trying to pull them from underneath. Covering and protecting the bodies of those trying to be arrested, the women were screaming so loudly for the soldiers to stop and this sound pierced my heart more deeply than any sound bomb could ever have done.
After arresting three and beating many more, the group was forced to retreat back up the hill we had come from, running from the soldiers as they fired round after round of tear gas after us. A tear gas bomb exploded directly at the feet of one of the protesters, and inhaling the thick plumes of smoke he began suffocating and collapsed on the ground. As people gathered around him trying to help him, the soldiers who were watching what was happening started firing tear gas directly at the group that was helping the unconscious man, and they were forced to drag his body up the hill to escape.
...This is not propaganda. This is not my opinion. This is an account of a terrible scene that should only reinforce how destructive and cruel this occupation really is. Those who try to explain or justify the behaviour of the Israeli army are as complicit in these actions as the soldiers perpetrating these terrible crimes. Silence is compliance – I will not be silenced.
This is how the Israeli's show their respect of those who mourn and protest peacefully at the funeral of a Palistinian killed by the Israeli Army. So who in this instance are the barbarians. The US Mainstream Media either won't touch this story or will spin it in favor of the Israelis depicting the Israelis as the victims and not the Palestinians.
And yet Obama and Hilary Clinton still support the rogue nation of Israel.
But to be fair the police forces in the USA have shown they are just as brutal cracking down on the protesters as are the Israelis.
Video: Israeli army violence follows funeral of Mustafa Tamimi, "martyr of popular resistance" by maureen at Electronic Intifada.net on Mon, 12/12/2011
Compare this video at Occupyoakland with clips below of Israeli army attacking protesters and journalists.
As noted a few days ago according to Max blumenthal American police forces are being trained by the Israeli's about how to deal with peaceful protesters.
so lets see if there are similarities in tactics.
Footage of Scott Olsen being shot by Police at Occupy Oakland
Israeli and US military and US police forces routinely target journalists
Imad Ghanem's full video
Uploaded by ABNormal62 on Jul 30, 2007
This journalist has been shot while he was recording a fight between palestinians and israelians (in Palestinians' Territories).
While he was waiting for help (he will lose both legs!) Israeli IDF continued to shoot at him and those who tried to help him..
In this clip we see how Israeli forces respond to a peaceful protest
Bil'in Palestine - Journalist shot in head at point blank
Reuters journalist killed in Gaza
Meanwhile the Obama Regime still supports various authoritarian regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Honduras and now defending Uzbekistan which boils detainees alive.
In the case of Uzbekistan President Obama is giving that brutal regime more support than did President George W. Bush.
Obama Seeks to Resume Aid to Repressive Dictatorship in Uzbekistan by: Stephen Zunes, Truthout December 14, 2011
The US Senate Appropriations Committee, in a move initiated by the Obama administration, has voted to waive Bush-era human rights restrictions on military aid to the Islam Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan, one of the most brutal and repressive regimes on the planet. The lifting of the restrictions, now part of the Foreign Operations bill, is before the full Senate and appears to have bipartisan support. The Obama administration has indicated that it intends to provide taxpayer-funded military assistance to Uzbekistan once the legislation passes both houses of Congress.
Torture is endemic in Karimov's Uzbekistan, where his regime has banned all opposition political parties, severely restricted freedom of expression, forced international human rights and nongovernmental organizations out of the country, suppressed religious freedom, and annually taken as many as 2 million children out of school to engage in forced labor for the cotton harvest. Thousands of dissidents have been jailed and many hundreds have been killed, some of them literally boiled alive.
...The Obama administration is making this controversial move in order to open the Central Asian nation to transit military equipment and other supplies in and out of Afghanistan, particularly after neighboring Kyrgyzstan looks likely to close its US military base in Manas when the lease runs out in 2014. Potentially of greater consequence, Pakistan has threatened to cut off supply routes to US forces in that landlocked country, so there is a scramble to look for alternatives. Unfortunately, as defenders of administration policy have put it, Afghanistan is surrounded by dictatorships, leaving them little choice but to provide assistance in return for transit rights.
The Uzbek government has insisted that these human rights restrictions be dropped in return for providing US forces with a northern route into the country. As Justin Elliot of Salon put it, "Operation Enduring Freedom - otherwise known as the war in Afghanistan - could soon result in less freedom for the people of Uzbekistan, if the Obama administration gets its way."
and so it goes,
GORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment