Later this month, ships from all over the world will converge in the Mediterranean and set sail for the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip. This international coalition is called the Freedom Flotilla.

The Free Gaza Movement has sailed eight missions to Gaza in the past three years, five of them successful. The last three were violently stopped by the Israeli Navy; the boat Dignity was rammed three times and the Spirit of Humanity turned back in January 2009, then seized and all aboard arrested.

This time the Freedom Flotilla is upping the ante and instead of one- and two-vessel challenges, will be breaking Israel’s siege with an eight-boat front.

In the past, the Israel Navy could pick us off as individual boats. Now, including Free Gaza’s four ships, 700 passengers and some 5,000 tons of reconstruction materials and medical equipment. This includes Free Gaza’s MV Rachel Corrie, which was purchased through generous donations from Malaysia’s Perdana Global Peace Foundation.

The Israeli government has responded to the “sea intifada” coming its way with saber rattling and accusations of serving Hamas. Israel has proscribed the Turkish human rights and relief group Insani Vardim Vakafi (IHH). IHH is responsible for sending a cargo ship and passenger ship in the Freedom Flotilla. Israel has accused it and Free Gaza of “supporting terrorism.” Half the Israeli navy is set to challenge the mission, with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the helm commanding the operation in person. The air force is on standby and “diplomatic pressure” is being applied behind the scenes. The message is clear from Israel: “We will stop you and we will use force to stop you.”

At no point does the Freedom Flotilla enter Israeli territorial waters. The journey starts in local European or Turkish waters, courses through international waters and ends in Gaza’s territorial waters. No checkpoints interrupt us. No walls daunt our sight. We’ve proven that it’s possible to sail a clear line with no borders, as we want the world to be, until we get to Gaza.

Free Gaza is best described as a tactic but in practice, a tactic within a score of tactics active in the global solidarity movement. But it is an expensive one — and many have criticized the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been spent on the missions for boats and finding boats, flagging, registration, legal costs, management costs, port fees, crew pay, mooring fees, repairs, renovation, GPS, warehouses for cargo, crane and forklift hire. Collectively the cost of the Flotilla runs literally into the millions of euros. Some ask: “Isn’t that money better spent on ‘aid’?”

Every Palestinian family we met in Gaza, particularly after Israel’s invasion last winter kept saying to us: “We don’t want aid, we need a political solution; we need our rights. Our issue cannot be reduced or swapped into bags of flour or food parcels. Palestine is not a humanitarian issue — it is a political one.” This reality, of the need for justice, tests the aid industry in Palestine, and the false “objectivity” and lack of political will in the face of human suffering with the claim: “We don’t take sides. We want to continue to keep giving our humanitarian aid.”

Well, we do take sides — that of direct democracy over occupation and apartheid.

This flotilla is an interruption to a discourse of power that says — governments know best, leave it to us to negotiate new “freedoms” and realities; a continuation of not even top-down but top-to-top processes of keeping power out of the hands of ordinary people. Leaders fly from continent to continent, round table discussions go round and round, elephants in the room stamp their feet and roar ignored. This flotilla puts that power back into our hands — to interrupt this ongoing Nakba.

We will not stop. From 1948 until now, history keeps repeating itself, colonies keep expanding, corporations keep reaping the rewards of reproducing repression; daily dispossession and casual killing is normalized, and alienation from the consequences of our work and actions keeps us compartmentalized. The occupation is reproduced on a daily basis in factories, classrooms, courtrooms, cinemas, art galleries, supermarkets and holiday resorts. Radical refusal, radical transgressions can make change happen. Refusing to be alienated from our brothers and sisters and recognizing our community is the essence of solidarity.

This flotilla represents radical solidarity and a force that can be realized when people from all over the world act on their conscience. It’s a force made real through stepping out onto the streets or into occupation-supporting businesses, through speaking out, through fundraising in mosques, churches, synagogues, schools; through writing, singing, sharing, relaying and promoting, and packing and driving boxes of materials and cement, and cheering on and praying for and protesting any attack.

Israel may well succeed in stopping us — but this is an unknown and here is power in that. We can affect that which hasn’t happened yet.

When Rachel Corrie stood in front of the bulldozer driver that killed her, she acted on radical trust — that the soldier would see her humanity. She lost, because the soldier had lost his humanity. Yet Rachel’s faith abides in each of us. Because if our oppressors are losing their humanity then we must never stop showing them that we have it. We are undertaking this mission in the spirit of those who have fought and sacrificed their lives for our collective humanity, and to remind everyone who can see of the need to act on it.

Ewa Jasiewicz is a coordinator with the Free Gaza Movement (http://www.freegaza.org/).

For updates on the Freedom Flotilla, including the Emergency Response Plan (in the event that Israel launches a military attack or naval blockade), please visit Gaza Freedom March’s Freedom Flotilla Support page.

Source: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11266.shtml

South Park‘s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have long been criticized by many various groups for their raunchy, comedic style, which also happens to offend a great deal of the American public. The show has poked fun at Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Scientologists, Mormons, African Americans, the Queen of England…basically, it’s what you would call an “equal opportunity offender.” It’s writers reject the idea of political correctness and spare no one individual or group in their quest to depict taboo subject matter with mockery and satire. And that’s their right, as human beings living on this earth – freedom of expression – no harm, no foul.

So it comes as no surprise that the latest hot-button episode has gotten the general public in a frenzy; however, their reactions have not been directed at the creators of the show, but rather two main culprits: Revolution Muslim for it’s completely insane and unjustified reaction, and the mainstream media for it’s poor portrayal of the issue. The title of this post also refers to “false flag attacks”, which we will delve into a little later on.

Revolution Muslim is not the face of Islam

Let’s start with Revolution Muslim‘s radical, extreme reaction to the South Park episode. The small group (no more than 10 members) posted a message on their website warning the creators of the show of their possible untimely death:

We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.

The Theo Van Gogh to whom they are referring was a Dutch film director who, after producing and releasing a film, Submission, which was critical of the treatment of women in Islam, was murdered by a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim in 2004, in reaction to the film.

Along with their message, they also posted a picture of Van Gogh lying on the street after he was murdered. The group’s members, in later interviews, claim their comments were not threats, but merely predictions of what would likely happen. Regardless of semantics, the fact still remains that this group, who by the way is  despised by much of the greater Muslim community for being possible agent provocateurs set out to smear Islam, has received a great deal of media attention for it’s members’ comments.

Revolution Muslim has absolutely no community support whatsoever, local or otherwise, but that hasn’t stopped the media from picking up the story and running with it like no tomorrow! Never did members of the media think to bring in other voices, other viewpoints, into the discussion to weigh both sides of the issue. No, that would require them to acknowledge that there even is another side.

More on Revolution Muslim and it’s two Zionist Jewish-convert founding members in part 2 of this post, but for now, let’s move on to the mainstream media’s pathetic “coverage” of this latest scandal in television. Personally, I have two major bones to pick with regards to the mainstream media coverage that I’ve seen.

The Mainstream Media is at it again

First is Anderson Cooper’s ridiculous and shameful excuse for investigative journalism on CNN. Who does he invite on to his show to discuss the South Park/Revolution Muslim controversy? The famous Islamophobe, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an ex-Muslim known for her controversial attacks on the whole of the Muslim population, claiming that Islam is a “backwards religion” which can be characterized as “the new fascism”. This is who Cooper, a supposedly respectable journalist, thought would be the best choice for discussing this controversy. He did not even try to level the playing field by interviewing a single Muslim American spokesman for his 10-minute segment. Watch it and judge for yourselves.

[youtube XZbtgjx9xE0 Anderson Cooper & Ayaan Hirsi Ali]

What’s the saying? “Adding insult to injury”… yes, injury: the false impression that Revolution Muslim represents the broad spectrum of mainstream Muslims in America; and as for the insult: the idea that Ms. Ali was the best choice for an interview, which was supposed to be a platform to respond to Revolution Muslim’s insane reaction, but was just another way of justifying and promoting their hate-filled propaganda as “the face of Islam.”

Jon Stewart hops on the bandwagon

My second gripe is with Jon Stewart, a Jewish-American comedian, and host of the satirical, late-night news program, The Daily Show, which, like South Park, also airs on Comedy Central. Personally, I’m more-or-less a fan of Stewart and have been for some time. Lately though, within the past couple years, my overall respect for him has dropped dramatically, mainly due to learning more about his personal views on specific issues which I find important and hold near and dear: the “war on terror”, Palestine and Israel, and the latest, the Obama administration. All that aside, however, I’m still able to sit down and watch his show regularly partly because it’s really the only thing I can bear to watch on television nowadays, and partly because generally speaking, he’s still a fairly humorous individual.

Not so with his coverage of the South Park/Revolution Muslim controversy. Like South Park, The Daily Show also is no stranger to making fun of religions, but his segment was not about mockery or satirical comedy. It was about singling out and marginalizing an entire faith, based on the stupid comments made by ONE group, which has no respect in the Muslim community whatsoever. First, Jon Stewart joked and made derogatory comments about Revolution Muslim for threatening the creators of the show. Then he went on to thank all the “other” religions for not reacting to or behaving like those “radical Muslims” did with regards to South Park.

Finally, he played a reel of clip after clip of his show’s consistent mockery of different religions. One thing which sticks out however, is his over-focus on clips of him making fun of Jews, emphasizing the lack of violence that ensued afterward. Like this is supposed to mean something? Of course a Jew can make fun of Jews, just like a Muslim can make fun of Muslims and so on. I just take issue with Stewart’s sudden naivete…either that or he’s just plain sold out. I’m leaning more towards the latter.

You may be asking, “So what’s wrong with his coverage? Don’t you also NOT like Revolution Muslim? How does his coverage conflict with your views?” Well, mostly for the same reasons that I take issue with Anderson Cooper’s coverage, along with the rest of the mainstream media. The issue is not that I oppose him calling out the group. The issue is that, like Cooper’s segment, Stewart’s coverage failed to address the real issue: that Revolution Muslim is a marginal group, a radical group, a group without any sort of following, and one which in no way speaks for Islam or Muslims.

The only thing remotely similar to this was at the end of Jon Stewart’s segment, when his correspondent, Aasif Mandvi, a Muslim-American, mentions that although the South Park episode might trouble him, what’s more upsetting is “someone, in the name of a faith that I believe in, threatening another person for doing it.” But that’s it, they didn’t go any deeper into the fact that those people who did something “in the name of a faith that I believe in” actually do not represent the mainstream beliefs, viewpoints, or values of that faith.

So what’s the big fuss?

As a Muslim, I have no problem with Stewart mocking Muslims like he does with other religions. Similarly, I have no problem with the creators of South Park portraying the Prophet Muhammad or Prophet Jesus (pbut), or whatever other crazy shenanigans they come up with.  It’s television, it’s comedy, and most importantly, it’s everyone’s freedom of expression to say, do, or broadcast whatever they wish, along as they don’t harm another individual. If you don’t like it or it offends you, then turn it off! We could all use a little less television in our lives, anyways.

I’m not advocating passivity or complete silence, but there’s a difference between voicing your distaste with something and violently threatening someone because of what he or she said. This is true not only for this specific incident, but also for others that have occurred in the past, including the film for which Mr. Van Gogh was murdered, as well as the infamous Danish cartoons fiasco, and many other similar, non-Islam related incidents. The important thing is be able to balance one’s feelings about something, with his reaction towards it, simple as that! Also, to be aware of and to clarify the conception that whoever the mainstream media chooses to highlight or portray in their coverage, more often than not, doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of the general population. Mainstream news today is not even news anymore, it’s entertainment and whatever holds the highest entertainment value is what makes it to the air.

A more balanced response

The renowned Muslim scholar, Tariq Ramadan, was recently interviewed by Riz Khan on Al Jazeera and his intelligent and eloquent response to this controversy really hits it straight home. The entire interview is worth the watch, but he speaks specifically about the South Park issue at around 13:00 minutes. Check it out below:

[youtube 3S-7sgbOt3k Tariq Ramadan on Riz Khan]

What are your thoughts or views on this controversy? Do you agree with the media’s portrayal of the issue? Do you think they’ve missed the ball completely and focused on sensationalizing the issue? Comments are welcome!

The Gaza Freedom March may have passed, but Palestinians in Gaza continue to march for their freedom on a daily basis. They are protesting the illegal, Israeli buffer zone, pretty much every day now. This buffer zone stretches across approximately 300 metres and annexes Palestinians’ land used for agriculture, work, and most importantly, homes. The IDF illegally imposes this buffer zone along the Israeli border in Gaza and claims to reserve the right to shoot at anyone who breaches this arbitrarily annexed land.

For the past months, Palestinians in Gaza, joined by many international activists, have been peacefully and non-violently resisting the buffer zone in what has become almost daily protests at the border. The protests are modeled after the long-standing weekly protests in Ni’lin and Bil’in in the West Bank.

Today, a young man, Ahmed Deeb, 21-years-old, was shot by IDF soldiers with what is called a “dum-dum” bullet, which basically explodes inside your body, on impact. Ahmed was hit in the leg and the bullet severed his femoral artery. He lost a lot of blood and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Ahmed is the latest of too many martyrs who have been killed by the occupation forces. For more information, please visit: http://palsolidarity.org/2010/04/12163

[youtube w1gY4dxqifA]

This incident marks the latest in the cruel and extreme response the IDF exhibits when faced with peaceful, non-violent protesters fighting for the right to live, work, and play on their own land. In the past month alone, 19 Palestinian and international activists and demonstrators have been injured by live ammunition. Three were shot just in the past 5 days. This is more than just some tear gas, which demonstrators have grown accustomed to. These are live bullets, shot at demonstrators, with the intention of injuring them! Why? Because they were throwing rocks, according to soldiers. Rocks vs. Bullets…guess who wins?

Bianca Zimmit, an international activist from Malta, was also shot just days ago, while demonstrating at the buffer zone. she sums up the situation best when she says, “We were holding Palestinian flags on Palestinian land.” Here is her own footage of her getting shot. For more on her story, you can visit Max Ajl’s blog: http://www.maxajl.com/?p=3489

[youtube b__rZ3yjlW8]

These incidences have been escalating over the past months and it’s becoming very clear that non-violent, peaceful resistance is the “Achilles heel” of the Israeli occupation. Palestinians and internationals alike, neither have let this violent response stop them from what continuing the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Most, if not all, of them plan to return to the next demo, as soon as they are back on their feet. They are not afraid of bullets, they are not afraid of the IDF, they are not even afraid of death, because they know that whatever happens, they’re on the right side of history. Whatever happens, they’re fighting for freedom, justice, and the liberation of an occupied people. And nothing can shake that determination…not even the possibility of death.

We pray for the God’s love and mercy to shower the martyrs and their families, both in this life and in the hereafter. And we pray for Palestine to live and breathe the freedom she has only dreamed of. Ameen.

Also, if you have not yet done so, please consider joining the GFM mailing list for email updates and action alerts.

Yesterday, CommonDreams.org ran an article about how the US will announce its plans to begin profiling US-bound passengers in a major shake-up of air travel security measures.

First of all, if everything they have been doing up until this point was not called ‘profiling’ then I’m not sure I want to find out what is. Secondly, when the US begins openly acknowledging and even legalizing policies/actions which they previously only did covertly and under the radar, that’s when you know you should be scared.

I can’t help but to refer to the recent Supreme Court ruling which overturned two precedents that upheld restrictions on corporate spending for election campaigns. Basically, we already knew that corporations were heavily involved in funding election campaigns of their favorite candidates; but what this Supreme Court ruling did was not only open the flood gates on the corruption which will undoubtedly ensue because of this, it also made a once covert and under-the-table act one that is now open, legal, and totally “on-the-books”.

The same thing is beginning to happen with these new profiling measures for US-bound air passengers. I’ve included the article below but I thought I’d highlight some of the more interesting parts in bold.

The best part is the last quote from Peter King.

Under the new measures to begin this month, which will apply to US citizens as well, the level of screening of travellers will depend on how closely their personal characteristics match against intelligence on potential terrorists.

The measures will replace mandatory enhanced screening of all passengers travelling to the United States from 14 mostly-Muslim nations, put into place following a failed Al-Qaeda attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day.

“It’s much more tailored to what intelligence is telling us and what the threat is telling us, as opposed to stopping all individuals from a particular nationality,” said an unnamed US official quoted by The Washington Post.

The announcement to be made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) comes after a three-month review of security protocols, said the Post, citing a senior administration official.

“It is much more surgically targeting those individuals we are concerned about and have intelligence for,” the official said, according to the New York Times.

The current “no-fly” list is to remain in place under the new procedures, but supplemented by cross-referenced information that may see passengers subject to further screening even if their names are not flagged, the Wall Street Journal said.

Characteristics such as nationality, age, recently visited countries, and partial names will be used alongside the “no-fly” list, the Journal said.

The move aims to avoid the intelligence failures that allowed the alleged Christmas Day bomber, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to board the Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam wearing underpants rigged with explosives, even though US intelligence had been alerted to information on him.

Fragmentary intelligence on a possible attacker — a partial name, certain physical characteristics, or nationality — would be forwarded by the DHS to airlines and foreign governments, the Los Angeles Times said, and the information used as a guide on who would be screened.

“This is not a system that can be called profiling in the traditional sense. It is intelligence-based,” said the official, quoted by the New York Times.

US government guidelines prohibit authorities from singling out people on the basis of race or ethnicity, but the Christmas Day plot swiftly recharged the delicate debate surrounding racial profiling.

In the wake of the botched bombing at least one lawmaker, Republican Peter King from New York, called for US authorities to be less hesitant on the issue.

“The fact is, while the overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding people, on the other hand 100 percent of the Islamic terrorists are Muslims, and that is our main enemy today,” he told Fox News after Abdulmutallab was apprehended.

Since December the Obama administration has meanwhile also pledged to boost airport security by speeding up the installation of full body scanners at US airports, and to increase funding for federal air marshals on flights deemed most at risk.

It follows Thursday night’s attacks, by Israel, which destroyed a cheese warehouse and cinema complex. Three Palestinian children were among the injured.

[youtube 0qAoV-EuOCY]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 2010

CODEPINK Protests Netanyahu inside AIPAC Gala
Activists call for end to siege on Gaza and illegal settlements

Washington D.C.: Shortly after announcing Israel’s commitment to defense in his address to the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Gala, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was disrupted by a demonstrator.  Rae Abileah, 27, from Half Moon Bay, CA, jumped onto AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr’s private table alongside the stage and unfurled a pink banner that said “Netanyahu: Build Peace Not Settlements!”  Abileah shouted, “Lift the siege of Gaza! No illegal settlements!” as she was forcefully removed from the building.  A second disruption came moments later from Joan Stallard, from Washington, DC, who shouted, “Stop the settlements!”

CODEPINK’s protests of the policies of AIPAC during their national conference this week have included daily morning protests, staging of a checkpoint for attendees, an afternoon press conference announcing the launch of a city-wide boycott of products illegally made in the settlements, and the release this morning of a spoof press release from AIPAC announcing that the organization was calling for a settlement freeze.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 23, at noon CODEPINK is planning to build a settlement (including homes and beds) inside Senator Schumer’s and Senator Lieberman’s offices (Hart Senate Building, offices 313 and 706).

CODEPINK condemns AIPAC’s silence on the illegal settlements and calls for continued military aid to Israel, which last year was used in the attack on Gaza, breaking international law.  With the new tensions between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over settlements, activists believe that now is the time to stop AIPAC from dictating US foreign policy in the Middle East.  “The timing is right to the break the detrimental influence of AIPAC, which demands unquestioning public and financial support for Israeli despite its illegal actions,” said Rae Abileah, a national organizer with CODEPINK and a Jewish-American of Israeli decent.

American Jewish peace activists are outraged at the influence that AIPAC has on U.S. policy. “AIPAC supports policies of aggression that damage Israel’s reputation, harm innocent Palestinians, and contribute to making America less safe in the world,” said Jewish-American activist Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK. ”

###

CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities.  More info at:www.codepinkalert.org

Village of Iraq Burin and Bacha settlement in background.

Latest News, Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, March 20th, 2010

This afternoon the Israeli military killed 16-year old Mohammad Qadus from Iraq Burin, a village south of Nablus, with a live round on his heart. A second youth, Asaud Qadus, 19 years old, was critically injured after being shot in the head. Mohammad was trying to carry Asaud to safety when he was hit.

Today, just as every Saturday in the last few weeks, settlers from the settlement of Bracha attacked the village of Iraq Burin. The community of around 600 people has lost over 100 dunum to the settlers who claim more land.

Eyewitnesses report that today the number of settlers and Israeli military was unusually high. At around noon, settlers and soldiers invaded the village. 

People stepped out of their homes to defend their village and a struggle ensued. The military took up positions with several jeeps at strategic points and chased the youth in the streets of Iraq Burin. 

They shot tear gas, sound grenades and life ammunition randomly at homes and people. Asaud Qadus was shot by live ammunition in the head. Young Mohammad ran to carry the injured youth to safety but was himself targeted in the heart by live ammunition. 

Medics and ambulances were prevented from entering the small community. Only after a long time both youth were allowed to be carried out of the village and to a hospital in private cars. Mohammad was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital in Nablus while Asaud is still in critical condition. 

Two people were arrested but no further details are known about them yet.

Shoot-to-kill policy

Mohammad was the latest victim shot while protesting since Bassem Abu Rahmah, 31, was killed by a high velocity tear gas canister in Bi’lin last April. His death comes only two weeks after Ehab Barghouti, a 14-year-old boy from Nabi Saleh village near Ramallah was shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet by the Israeli military on 5 March 2010. He is still in critical condition. 

Killing children with live ammunition is not an accident, It is a crime. Of the 16 people killed by the Israeli military in connection with anti-Wall protests since 2002, half were under the age of 18. 

The pattern of killings related to anti-Wall protests shows that the occupation forces engage in killings cycles: during a wave of killings in 2004/2005 8 were killed, then again between July 2008/ April 2009 6 were killed. This is very likely just the start of yet another wave of killings.

This systematic criminal policy against our people is a war crime and supports the settlers in stealing Palestinian land. Israel will continue with its shoot-to-kill policy against our children and youth until the international community starts to hold it accountable for its crimes.

Source: http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2206.shtml

Last week, Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, Alazhar University’s top cleric, passed away of a heart attack at the age of 81. He was indeed a very controversial figure both within Egypt, as well as the Muslim world as a whole. As Egypt scurries to find a replacement for Sunni Islam’s most prestigious seat of Islamic learning, many are wondering what this means for the future of Al-Azhar, its role, and whether it has been hijacked by the state.

Interesting tidbit of which I was previously unaware, and ashamedly so: the seat which Sh. Tantawi held, as the leader of Al-Azhar University, is actually a government post. Basically, the leader is a presidential appointee, instead of one who is chosen based on a general, scholarly consensus, as according to the traditions of Islam. This has been the case since the ’60s when Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the university and made civil servants (public employees) of its entire staff. Yep, the whole of Al-Azhar University is on the Egyptian government’s payroll, so now you know where ridiculous religious rulings like the “Wall of Shame” fatwa come from. Indeed, Al-Azhar University is cleverly used as a mouthpiece for the Egyptian government.

Regardless of what your personal views of Sh. Tantawi are, one thing seems to be very clear: his controversial, and at times, provocative nature has only served to strengthen the general, predominant view in Islam which opposes the idea of a single individual scholar with superior, unquestionable status (ie: “The Pope” syndrome). When just about anyone, from the most renowned university professor to the country-bound shepherd tending his flock, can criticize and ridicule a fatwa given by the highest authority in Islam, then the case for an Islamic super-authority is completely delegitimized, and rightfully so!

But the question still remains: will this be an opportunity for alternative movements to come into play? Or will it once again, be more of the same? Between this and the run up to the 2011 presidential election (and El-Baradei’s very public fight for candidacy), it looks like it will be a couple of very interesting years in Egyptian politics!

[youtube fzngz1MUOP8 Al Jazeera English - Al-Azhar's Future]

Today is March 16th, 2010 and although this day may not carry a sentimental value for some, it carries the lasting memory of a true hero for many others. Today is considered Rachel Corrie Day in many peoples’ minds across the world.

Rachel Corrie was a non-violent peace activist fighting for Palestinian human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Exactly 7 years ago, she was killed by an Caterpillar bulldozer operated by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) while trying to prevent the IDF from demolishing the home of a local Palestinian pharmacist, Samir Nasrallah. She was 23 years old at the time.

Rachel had taken a year off from school to travel to the Gaza Strip during the Second Intifada to help the helpless in the Palestine. She used her body (and her life) as a shield against the unjustified oppression carried out by the state of Israel, on the Palestinian people. Since her death, many solidarity actions take place around the world on this, the Rachel Corrie Day of Conscience.

Just last week, her family, after waiting 7 years, has finally received its day in an Israeli court to hear the testimonies of those present at her killing, and hopefully receive the justice they deserve by placing accountability on those responsible. They also understand that this is an opportunity that hundreds and thousands of Palestinians never receive, every day. We wish them all the best in their quest for peace and justice for their daughter, for the Palestinian people, as well as all oppressed peoples around the world.

On this day of conscience, I’m thinking about the bravery and courage of the young Rachel Corrie, and how her story should inspire us all to always do what is right in the face of oppression, regardless of our fears and uncertainties about the future. On this day, we keep the memory of Rachel alive.

In honor of her memory, I’d like to share a video of a speech Rachel gave when she was in the 5th grade. It is truly heartwarming, inspiring, and a clear predictor of her heroic nature as an adult.

[youtube UK8Z3i3aTq4 Rachel Corrie - I'm Here Because I Care]

To learn more about Rachel Corrie and her family’s ongoing law suit, please visit the Rachel Corrie Foundation.

To find out about solidarity actions taking place in your area, or to register your action, please visit the GFM Rachel Corrie page.

To learn more about what you can do to stop Caterpillar from selling bulldozers to Israel, to be used as military weapons, please visit the GFM Caterpillar page.

May Rachel always be remembered in the hearts and minds of all people around the world. May she be a constant reminder of the courage and bravery needed to fight for freedom and justice and against evil and oppression. And may she be granted the infinite love and mercy of the Almighty.

[youtube 5xNVVKRHyFc The Real Deal with George Galloway - Cynthia McKinney]