On Saturday 8th November at 11.30am there will be a rally outside Marks and Spencer’s in Aberdeen to raise concerns about the bombing campaign taking place in Iraq/Syria. With thanks to Jonathan Russell.
All those speaking at and attending the rally from across the political divide are horrified by the rise of ISIS and do see the need for action to deal with the rise of ISIS.
We are united in that we consider that the bombing will, in the long term, make the situation worse as more people get killed and much needed infrastructure is destroyed.
There is one thing many people in the Middle East hate more than ISIS and that is Western Involvement.
Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament will be hosting the event.
The group’s chair, Jonathan Russell said:
“Interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria have all been disastrous leading to broken countries with hundreds of thousands dead and millions in refugee camps.
“Over the past three years there has been a massive increase in arms sales to the Middle East in particular Saudi Arabia but also Oman and Turkey it is these very countries allies of the West that have funded and armed ISIS and through whom oil has been sold. We need to be starving ISIS of resources, supporting the Iraqi government and Kurds, giving many more resources to refugees and toward rebuilding these failed countries.
“Bombing by West just feeds this wild frenzy of blood. We need a long term solution to the area this requires negotiation not more bloodshed”
Those speaking at the Rally will be Dame Anne Begg MP, Christian Allard MSP, Dr Jill Austin , Brian Carroll Aberdeen Trade Union Council and Sean McVeigh Radical Independence Campaign.
For further information contact Jonathan Russell
Tel 01224 586435
mobile 07582456233
or email jhamiltonrussell@hotmail.co.uk
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By Jonathan Russell Chair of Aberdeen and District CND
The first of a series of Rallies aimed at raising awareness of the folly of the bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria will take place this Saturday 25th October at 11.30am outside Marks and Spencer hosted by Radical Independence Campaign, Aberdeen.
CND plans to hold a similar event in the near future.
My first reaction concerning ISIS was that something had to be done about this appalling organisation.
I still feel this but consider that the Wests bombing leading as it always does to the killing of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure was not a viable solution.
We have witnessed an ever increasing spiral of violence in the Middle East. Michael Portillo said last week on the Moral Maze on radio 4 that given this background it is not totally surprising that such a monster of an organisation has arisen. Violence I would assert leads to violence and division. Western policy in my eyes has been stark starring bonkers.
We arm Islamic tribal groups in Afghanistan and then we bomb them.
We arm Iraq to beat Iran and then we bomb them.
We bomb Libya to get rid of Qaddafi and leave behind a failed state where Al Qaida’s flag flies over many towns and cities.
We arm rebels mostly Sunni Islamists to beat Assad and now we bomb them.
Nobody gains from this but the arms companies who in a time of general economic meltdown see the value of their shares rise.
ISIS is barbaric but so are we in are use of drones and bombing often leaving behind not only death and appalling injuries but also un-depleted uranium. We also have brutal allies in the area such as Saudi Arabia who have beheaded over 79 people this year and the Egyptian Government who have hanged hundreds of Moslem Brotherhood supporters.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Oman the Wests allies have armed ISIS and helped in their training.
ISIS are not alone they have allies in trained Sunni Ba’ath party soldiers who have considerable military experience and Sunni tribal groups who hate both the West and the Iraq and Syrian Governments.
By bombing, we have acted as ISIS’s recruiting agency. Many people in the Middle East in particular the Sunni population from surrounding countries as well as Iraq and Syria hate the West and will fall in behind ISIS as the lesser of the two evils from their perspective. In my mind the West and Al Qaida and its affiliates feed off each other in this endless spiral of blood.
So here are some alternative solutions.
Stop selling and sending arms to the Middle East
Make sure arms are not still reaching ISIS
Stop buying oil from ISIS
Start negotiating seriously for a Middle East settlement which includes Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Palestinian reps, Kurdish reps, Sunnis and Shia, Russia and China as well as the West and Israel
Rather than spending money on bombing massively increase aid to support people who have led their countries due to the conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Libya.
If we do not do this we will be getting into an ever deeper mess with exculpating brutality on all sides.
I salute the those Labour MP’s including are very own Anne Begg MP who along with the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Caroline Lucas from the Greens for their opposition to the intervention to the UK getting involved. In particular I would commend John Barron, Conservative MP who has led the opposition to interventions in Iraq, Libya, Syria and now this latest calamity he has consistently got it right.
It is now up to us the citizens of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire and across Scotland and the wider UK to start getting active and make our voices heard.
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Aberdeen & District CND are delighted to be hosting Alan Mackinnon, SCND executive member, who will be speaking on his new pamphlet: “Falling Eagle, Rising Dragon – The dangers of a new arms race in the Asia-Pacific region” at a public meeting on Monday 9th June.
The dangers of a new arms race in the Asia-Pacific region Obama’s ‘pivot’ to Asia has shifted America’s geo-strategic focus to the new realities of power across the world. Our guest speaker, Alan Mackinnon, will examine how this pivot is raising tensions in the region and could trigger a new Cold War with huge regional and global implications.
After the presentation there will be an opportunity for questions and contributions.
CND believes that to prevent any future mass destruction of human population the UK Government should:
Scrap the Trident nuclear missile system.
Cancel plans for the next generation nuclear weapons
Work for international nuclear disarmament
Time and Date: 6:15pm, Monday, 9th June Venue: Unite the Union, 42-44 King Street, AB24 2TJ Website:http://www.banthebomb.org/ Contact: Mike on 0797-476-3082
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On Friday night, the 16thof May, Aberdeen Art Gallery hosted an opening evening for adults. The verdict: huge success. Suzanne Kelly attended.
A programme of fun, varied, creative, and thought-provoking activities awaited the many visitors to Aberdeen Art Gallery on Friday 16th.
When closing time came at 10 p.m., it came too soon.
The activities were, by and large, based around the theme of World War I.
Local historian, published writer, and my former neighbour Graeme Milne held writing workshops.
Participants selected random words pulled from an envelope and composed poems on the war theme.
The theme was beautifully, touchingly and sometimes humorously brought to life in a series of postcards Milne showed the attendees, and by the poems he read. One postcard from Christmas Day 1914 is reproduced at the end of this article.
Peacock Visual Arts had a massively popular printing workshop. Visitors queued and talked about the events, while waiting to choose from a number of famous WWI propaganda images and create their own screen print in a choice of colours of ink and paper. Alphabet blocks and ink also allowed those participating to create their own propaganda posters.
Finished posters by the score hung to dry on a line; Kitchener’s famous image was surreally reproduced in many colours. Peacock didn’t stop printing all evening.
People milled around exhibitions, tried on period costumes and posed for photos, and wrote telegrams. Paper crane making gave people the chance to hide origami cranes in the gallery for people to discover the next day. Another popular activity was designing and making poppies.
People worked in near silence as they concentrated on making individual poppies from felt, ribbon, paper and tulle; these were mounted on rings, pins and headbands. The interactive, informative, creative, and overall fun nature of these events made the night the success it was.
Wartime sketching workshops allowed people to try their skills at quickly capturing models in army uniform. A prize was awarded during one session to Marion Black, who had this to say about the evening:
“I think there should be more things like this in Aberdeen; I think the creative art scene needs to be encouraged. I study history of art, and there’s not that much out there for events; there’s Peacock and a few others… we have an amazing gallery; the collection here is amazing.”
This event was part of the Festival of Museums event programme taking place across Scotland from Friday 16th May to Sunday 18th May 2014. Visit http://festivalofmuseums.com/ for details.
Before the event, Anna Shortland, the informal learning officer and event co-ordinator for Aberdeen Art Gallery, said:
“The Art Gallery is an amazing, unique place at any time of the day, and so we are confident that people will have a brilliant night.
“We know that our visitors are keen to see the gallery in a more informal and social context – having fun in a museum or art gallery is not just for children but for adults too. The line-up is sure to bring in new audiences and we’ve already had lots of interest in this event.”
The evening was exactly the sort of event Aberdeen needs: well thought out behind the scenes, and spontaneous, fun, unrestricting and educational for the attendees. More like this please! But amid all the creating, singing and socialising, I could not forget the words on the postcard that ‘Jamie’ wrote to his mother.
His words in pencil were quite faint; the card they are on is ageing, but the sentiment of a young man at war, thinking of home on a Christmas Day, are something I will remember for a long time:
“December 25 1914 – Dear Mother, This is a board to remind (thou) it is Xmas, but as this is the day of ______ it well may be in time for next Xmas. At any rate it will be in time for the new year or sometime after it. We are holding Xmas day so we are getting a fed [sic] off them so we will have to make it as merry as we can. I am longing for a few lines from you soon. Hoping this Xmas you are all well, and wishing you all a Happy New Year as this leaves me in the best of spirits, but would of [sic] been pleased holding the New Year at home. This is Xmas day in Italy – Jamie”
– I found myself hoping that this ‘Jamie’ made it home and saw many more Xmas days; so many never made it home again.
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Voice’s Old Susannah takes a look over the past week’s events in the ‘Deen and beyond. By Suzanne Kelly.
Tally Ho, Cheerio, etc. It’s genuinely been a great week in the granite city. I had some great new BrewDog single hop beers this week; the Amarillo on draft was heavenly (yes, I still have my 5 BrewDog shares).
I also had a great vegetarian meal in Café 52 (yes, I know them, too – funny that my weeks often involve doing things I like with people I like); congrats to them on being named one of the city’s top 10 restaurants in an article by Kirsty Ellington Langan (whose father I know – but I’d no idea she’d written this review – which also rates Rustico and Yatai, both of which I greatly enjoy – though I don’t know the people behind them).
There are however restaurateurs who review their own places on the Trip Advisor website and even offer incentives for good reviews. Such practices are totally against Trip Advisor rules of course (thankfully I don’t associate with anyone like that).
I’m also busy working on some paintings for a group show at Under The Hammer which will be going up next Saturday; do stop in if you’re around (wine will be had around 3pm).
Aside from that I’m busy getting my garden in shape with help from some friends. Lots of bee and butterfly friendly plants coming soon from the excellent Poyntzfield nursery on the Black Isle (don’t know them, but have used them for years). Best of all, Lord Warner (don’t know him) has a scheme which will save the NHS! Result! And that’s how the spring is starting for me.
The campaign to save and re-open Bon Accord Baths has cross-party support and thousands of supporters throughout the area. Lions and lambs are lying down together, doves are flying around with olive branches, and editorials in different local media all seem to think this great idea is a great idea. (PS I’m happy to be helping the campaign in some small measure).
A gathering place for all citizens in the centre of the city, offering affordable exercise and a social hub? What’s not to like? Could this ‘mend our broken heart’ (copyright P&J)?
It looks as if some £5 million or so will be needed to get the baths running. At present a team of volunteers with all sorts of expertise are working on it; help if you can. No doubt some of the city’s better off multimillionaires who want to see a unifying city centre gathering place that benefits the public will be keen to get involved. Let’s see – £5 million is 4.6% of £92 million, and 7% of £140 million. Just saying.
It is understood that the officials who banned the BBC from entering the art deco baths to do a spot of filming are going to soon see sense and let the BBC film there after all.
On the dangerous structure note, things are very grim in Edinburgh. A 12 year old girl is dead after a wall in Liberton High School’s PE block fell on her. Edinburgh Council had an unfortunate recent history of managing public and private property repairs. A scandal is still unfolding wherein its repairs officials forced private home owners to undertake remedial works at hugely inflated fees – some of the work is thought to have been unnecessary.
As the BBC put it:
“Two reports which reveal how a £40m black hole emerged in Edinburgh City Council’s property repairs department have been published. Auditors from Deloitte were called in two years ago to investigate allegations of fraud and mismanagement. They found serious failings and a lack of accountability in how the department was run. The department’s head, Dave Anderson has since resigned.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-22314731 . (I hope Anderson got a nice golden goodbye package).
No wonder they didn’t have time to ensure the city’s own properties were well maintained. City Council teams have since “..found nine walls similar to the one which collapsed on Keane in Castlebrae Community High and Leith Academy secondary schools. A number of smaller free-standing walls were also identified in 11 primary schools.” according to Metro 4/4/14). Let’s hope the city will get its act together soon. Perhaps Aberdeen could take some proactive measures and fix its problem properties?
Perhaps it’s time for a few definitions spawned from this week’s news reports.
Trauma training:
Let’s face it; war is hell. Once you’ve signed up to defend your country/king/queen/economy, you may have to kill people. Mostly this can be done these days without anyone but cannon fodder leaving command central. It’s great that we’ve drones that can whiz round to search and destroy; no one’s hands ever need get dirty (well apart from the odd Afghani wedding guest and the like).
Still, if you’re going to send out the infantry now and again (for police actions, obviously not wars), best to make sure you know how to give them proper first aid.
we can’t hurt business, bad for the economy don’t you know
You might get away without giving troopers the right kit for where you fly them, but you’ll need medics; it’s good PR if nothing else. When missile are going off, a medic might well be as useful as a 747 instruction card at 30 thousand feet or ducking and covering in the face of an incoming nuclear weapon. But it makes us look good.
Still, you’ll have to show you’ve got trained medics, and training can only mean one thing: defence contracts. Defence contracts can only mean one thing: money.
How can you possibly train medics and others how to deal with soldiers who’ve been mildly wounded by automatic weaponry, mines, chemical warfare or missiles? Why, by tying up live farm animals, shooting and stabbing them, operating on them as they suffer, and then killing them. Repeat as necessary. Stabbing and amputation is apparently a big seller on the trauma training circuit, though Old Susannah wonders whether there is really that much stabbing happening on our front lines? Not so much I suspect.
Is there a great deal of automatic weaponry created by east and west being used to turn soldiers into Swiss cheese who will be nearly impossible to save? Definitely. Are there plenty of mines out there ripping off the odd human arm and leg? Most definitely.
There are no alternatives to the tiny amount of suffering that the pigs and goats get when their limbs are hacked off by ‘trainers’. You’ve got an industry going now, and we can’t hurt business, bad for the economy don’t you know.
However, according to those pesty people at PETA,
“U.S., Canada, Norway, Denmark, the U.K., and Poland were the only six NATO countries—out of 28—that still stab, shoot, blow up, and kill animals for cruel military training drills.”
What else can we do but make money and make animals suffer? How better to prepare someone for treating a wounded troop than being able to take a bullet out of an enemy piglet? Well, while we’re busy sending troops out to make the world safe (how’s that working out for you by the way?), 36,000 victims of gunshot wounds were treated in United States Emergency rooms in 2010. According to the Los Angeles Times:-
“The medical journal Pediatrics this week reported that, based on the most recent data from 2009, children are hospitalized for gunshot wounds at a rate of 20 a day, or one child every 72 minutes, for a total of 7,391 hospitalizations in 2009. Nine of 10 wounded kids are male, and disproportionately African American, which focuses the problem even more.” http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/28/news/la-ol-kids-guns-hospitals-gun-control-20140128
I don’t know why a Los Angeles paper would be interested in gun crime; perhaps it was a slow news day.
It’s gratifying that people in this kind of training work are so entrepreneurially creative
I think it’s so wonderful we’ve got doctors in the armed forces who want to save lives (doctors who nobly uphold their Hippocratic oaths by being complicit in shooting and killing animals and people). I suppose we could train the forces doctors in emergency rooms where people, not animals, were the ones who were being shot, but that’s probably not much of an income generator.
Then we come to landmines. That would be a good case for blowing live animals up, because there are only 70 landmine injuries a day every day in the world. I’m not suggesting anything ludicrous like sending troops to clean up the landmines of past wars and helping the civilians who get injured by our left behind junk; for one thing, I doubt there’s as much money in cleaning up after military actions as there is in setting them up.
Then we come to the scientific, medical, ethical and logical reasons why we need to stab pigs, sheep and goats to teach people how to treat stab wounds. I’ve no solution to that, as I can’t find any record of knife crime in the US, UK or Europe. Nope, guess we’d best stick it to the animals, literally. As usual.
It’s gratifying that people in this kind of training work are so entrepreneurially creative that they’ve come up with the wheeze of making money by torturing animals for democracy. If that’s not capitalism at its finest, then I don’t know what is.
There is one theory that briefly crossed my mind for a second; I dismissed it promptly. What if the real purpose of getting people to accept the squeals of suffering animals, and to be able to cause that suffering was not to teach how to suture up wounds, but rather to make the trainees immune to suffering, to bond them together in a bloody slaughterhouse, and to weed out anyone who would object to this ‘training’ and say ‘this is wrong’.
I guess my imagination must be in overdrive; surely the military wouldn’t engage in any psychological conditioning. The only stupider idea that came to me was to cut our military spending, and buy more bread than guns, solve conflicts peacefully by building infrastructure, and leave the animals out of trauma training.
To bring it closer to home, an Aberdeen University trained doctor hit a sticky wicket in Afghanistan after he failed to notice that detainee civilian Baha Mousa was beaten to a pulp and then to death by the UK’s peacekeeping forces. A witness reported hearing the murdered widower say:
“I am innocent. Blood! Blood! I am going to die. My children are going to become orphans.”
Did former healer Dr Keilloh act like a doctor should? Well, his pals think so. Dr Jim Rodger, medical adviser at the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, said:
“Dr Keilloh is extremely disappointed at the decision of this Fitness to Practise Panel and he will need time to consider the implications of this erasure and his future course of action. He would like to say how much he appreciated the wealth of support he has received from his family, patients, colleagues and friends.”
The panel acknowledged that, at the time, Keilloh was still a junior doctor who had not been given the predeployment training he was supposed to have … accepted that Keilloh’s judgment may have been clouded by the traumatic experience [I dare say Baha Mousa’s experience was probably a bit more traumatic than Keilloh’s; and the torture of the trauma training animals was probably not a great time either]
NHS “membership charge” (Modern English compound noun c. Lord Warner) – a proposed flat £10 per week charge for using the National Health Service.
That nice Mr Nick Tesco of The Members was on Facebook this week, issuing some curious anthropomorphic swear words I hadn’t previously heard. What caused his distress? A think-tank has said we should all chip in £10 per week for the NHS. For some reason, Nick seemed unhappy.
Well, I’m sure like me you’re wondering why we didn’t just think of this sooner. The NHS is saved! Thank you Lord Warner! Warner once worked alongside St. Anthony Blair, who of course had nothing at all to do with sweetening the NHS for privatisation or carving it up for private companies to jump in. (or in engineering wars).
Everyone has a spare ten pounds per week, don’t they? Well, let’s get with Warner’s plan, and pay it, along with our Council tax, to keep the NHS going. Clearly there is no bureaucracy in the NHS, no extraneous middle managers, no ridiculous bean-counting exercises, supply chain mismanagement, fraud, waste or pre-privatisation manoeuvring that could be got rid of.
No, it’s up to you and me to start paying our way for the NHS. Some of you may have been of the naïve opinion your taxes went to the NHS, but that seems to have eluded Warner and his co-author Jack O’Sullivan when they proposed a fair, flat tenner per week tax.
Here’s what my Lord Warner said:
“Many politicians and clinicians are scared to tell people that our much-beloved 65-year-old NHS no longer meets the country’s needs… Frankly, it is often poor value for money. The NHS now represents the greatest public spending challenge after the general election. MPs taking to the streets to preserve clinically unsustainable hospital services only damage their constituents.”
Warner, in a report he has co-authored for the think-tank Reform, says dramatic action is needed as the NHS faces an expected £30bn-a-year gap by 2020 between the demand for healthcare and its ability to respond, and needs several new funding streams to remain viable.
I’m sure we’ll all be queuing up to help the government monitor our bodies
Revenue could also come from higher, hypothecated “sin” taxes on alcohol, tobacco and gambling, and taxes on sugary foods because of rising obesity. Inheritance tax needs to be collected from more than the current 3.5% of the 500,000 people who die each year, and visitors staying overnight in hospital should pay “hotel charges”.
A £10 monthly fee would be used to fund local initiatives to improve prevention of ill-health and an annual “health MoT” for everyone of working age, say Warner and co-author Jack O’Sullivan, an expert in new thinking in health and social care.
I’m sure we’ll all be queuing up to help the government monitor our bodies – and then get even more money for its new wheeze of selling our health data to private companies. We’ll be in great shape soon! Result!
And it gets even better: Warner wants alcohol and cigarette ‘sin taxes’ for those in the herd who won’t be squeaky clean (but surely government officials will be immune). Sin taxes on the way soon? I’ve enough trouble with my syntax as it is. Let’s just get down to privatising the whole system, and setting up weekly blood and urine tests for the poor to boot.
Alas, reading the 191 page report when I should be painting is giving Old Susannah high blood pressure, and I’m not getting any younger. More later, particularly on the interesting Mr Sullivan and Lord Warner. I wonder if either of them have any reason to want privatisation? Surely not.
Nicky Tesco is interested in this stinktank, and so am I.
Next week: More definitions, if I pass the State’s health tests, and more on the police and related arresting new developments.
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In 2011, Jonathan Russell wrote three articles on the Libyan conflict in Aberdeen Voice, in part because of the lack of public outcry. Here he presents the last part of his four article series.
Libya is an artificial state like much of the Middle East and Africa, carved out in the colonial era of early 20th century by Italy. After independence in 1951 Libya was ruled by a constitutional and hereditary monarchy under King Idris, Libya’s only monarch, who presided over an essentially tribal society.
On 1 September 1969, a small group of military officers led by 27-year-old army officer Muammar Qaddafi staged a coup d’état against King Idris, launching the Libyan Revolution.
Following the murder of Qaddafi in October 2011 and the collapse of his allies, the National Transitional Council (NTC) were recognised by the NATO powers at the same time however countries like Cuba and Venezuela who had offered to broker negotiations left their embassy’s in Libya.
The NTC from its outset was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood who are now, of course, out of favour with their erstwhile NATO backers.
In August 2012 a new Assembly was elected dominated again by the Brotherhood as in Morsi’s Egypt or Tunisia. The Muslim Brotherhoods ally Nuri Abu Sahmain is President of Libya. Mohammed Magarie replaced Mostafa Abdeljali in August last year as Head of State and Ali Zeidin replaced Abdurrahim al-Keib as Prime Minister in November last year following internal and external difficulties.
The latest news on March 12th throws Libya into even greater turmoil. Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeiden was deposed on March 12th and fled to Malta, the Maltese government confirmed, on a stopover toward a reported destination of Germany.
Zeidan fled his country immediately following a vote of no confidence which ended his roughly one-and-a-half-year term as prime minister of the North African country. The hasty departure of the ex-diplomat rendered moot any attempts to arrest him.
Zeidan, who during his term as prime minister was once kidnapped and held for hours by armed militants, failed in recent days to stop rebels in the country’s east from controlling the sale of crude oil there. In spite of armed forces loyal to the government ensuring that a tanker called “Morning Glory” remained in harbor in Al-Sidra – the city has been held for months it left port and escaped flying a North Korean flag.
Back in Tripoli the blunder turned the mood in the provisional parliament against Zeidan. The subsequent no confidence vote was later criticized by Libyan media as a “trick” on the former prime minister.
Rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran now appears to be the winner in the war of nerves over the strategically vital oil harbors. Until July 2013 he was commander of the unit sent to protect the oil installations, explains Libya expert Amanda Kadlec of the Chatham House think tank in London.
“This gave him ease of access to all the port facilities throughout Libya”
His supporters have occupied three terminals, she says, and he has called for a separate government for a portion of eastern Libya. It remains unclear how many fighters Jathran commands, but according to Kadlec, reports range anywhere from 800 to 20,000.
Numerous accounts confirm the reality that lawless bands, armed by NATO during the war with modern weapons and which include foreign and local Al-Qaeda and other jihadists, are carrying out daily bombings across the country in the struggle for local control. Tripoli itself has numerous armed militias controlling various sections of the capital.
The general picture in Libya is that of developing armed struggle between local tribal militias and the Brotherhood that controls the central government with leaders in the provinces of Cyrenaica and Fezzan seeking to break away from Tripoli.
Congress has summoned militias allied to the Brotherhood to the capital to try to prevent a coup. As a result, the main opposition party, the centre-right National Forces Alliance, has deserted Congress together with several smaller ethnic parties, leaving the Brotherhood’s Justice and Construction party heading a government with crumbling authority.
The July 2013 coup in Egypt against Morsi has further weakened the government which had intended to support Morsi with finance from oil revenues.
Libyans are increasingly at the mercy of militias who act outside the law, demand bribes for services and help perpetrate rampant corruption. Popular protests against militiamen have been met with gunfire; 31 demonstrators were shot dead and many others wounded as they protested outside the barracks of “the Libyan Shield Brigade” in the eastern capital Benghazi in June last year and a further 44 were killed in Tripoli on 8th September.
The unreported Libyan diaspora
Prior to the 2011 “revolution” Libya had a population of 5,613,380 of whom roughly 2 million are now either internally displaced in camps or outside of the country. Official statistics suggest that 1.2million are now living in Tunisia, 400,000 in Egypt and 30,000 in Chad with others scattered around the world. We hear virtually nothing in our media about this and very little about the deteriorating situation inside Libya.
Libya exports terrorism
According to the New York Times, 13th June 2013, some of the more militant Islamic factions are now fighting in Syria and arms for the Islamic groups are coming from Libya.
However, Qaddafi’s assertion in 2011 that the rebels included Al-Qaeda groups was dismissed by the Western media. Prior to the conflict Al-Qaeda sympathisers had trained in Afghanistan then, on their return to Libya, started a bombing campaign. This led to arrests and imprisonments but ACCOR they were let out on amnesty largely according to the Amnesty 2010 report on Libya due to the influence of Qaddafi’s son Salif.
Though the NATO intervention against Qaddafi was justified as a humanitarian response to the threat that Qaddafi’s tanks and planes would slaughter dissidents in Benghazi, the international community has chosen to ignore the continuing and escalating violence. The foreign media, which once filled the hotels of Benghazi and Tripoli, have likewise paid little attention to the near collapse of the central government.
The strikers in the eastern region Cyrenaica, which contains most of Libya’s oil, are part of a broader movement seeking more autonomy and blaming the government for spending oil revenues in the west of the country. Foreigners have mostly fled Benghazi since the American ambassador, Chris Stevens, was murdered in the US consulate by jihadi militiamen in September 2012.
Violence has worsened since then with Libya’s military prosecutor Colonel Yussef Ali al-Asseifar, in charge of investigating assassinations of politicians, soldiers and journalists, himself assassinated by a bomb in his car on 29 August last year.
Rule by local militias is also spreading anarchy around the capital. Ethnic Berbers, whose militia led the assault on Tripoli in 2011, temporarily took over the parliament building in Tripoli. The government called on the Supreme Security Committee, made up of former anti-Qaddafi militiamen nominally under the control of the interior ministry, to restore order.
At least 19 prisoners received gunshot shrapnel wounds, with one inmate saying “they were shooting directly at us through the metal bars”. There have been several mass prison escapes this year in Libya including 1,200 escaping from a prison after a riot in Benghazi in July.
The Interior Minister, Mohammed al-Sheikh, resigned last year in frustration at being unable to do his job, saying in a memo sent to Mr Zeidan that he blamed him for failing to build up the army and the police. He accused the government, which is largely dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, of being weak and dependent on tribal support.
Other critics point out that a war between two Libyan tribes, the Zawiya and the Wirrshifana, is going on just 15 miles from the Prime Minister’s office.
the terror network only retreats to remote areas, regroups and eventually bounces back
The surrounding area both Sudan and Mali and of course Syria have been greatly affected by Qaddafi’s fall. There has been civil wars in Mali and conflict in the Sudan. Al Qaeda has used Libya as a training ground for sending combatants into Syria.
In the rocky mountains and uncovered wastes of south-western Libya, al-Qaeda’s North African branch has established a haven after French and West African forces drove them out of their fledgling Islamic state in northern Mali a year ago.
Now, according to interviews with local soldiers, residents, officials and Western diplomats, it is restocking weapons and mining disaffected minorities for new recruits as it prepares to re-launch attacks.
It is an al-Qaeda pattern seen around the world, in hot spots such as Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan and increasingly in North Africa: seemingly defeated, the terror network only retreats to remote areas, regroups and eventually bounces back – pointing to the extreme difficulties involved in countering their growth and influence.
On Saturday January 18th 2014, a group of heavily armed fighters stormed an air force base outside the city of Sabha in southern Libya, expelling forces loyal to the “government” of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, and occupying the base. This report has been confirmed by the Saudi Gazette in an article dated 22nd January:
“The Tamenhint air base 30 km northeast of Sebha is reported to be back in pro-Qaddafi hands after Tebu forces from Murzuk who were guarding it withdrew. They unilaterally pulled out Monday evening [Jan. 20] claiming that the government was deliberately exploiting clashes in Sebha between Tebus and Awlad Sulaiman in order to divert attention from moves to replace it with a new administration.”
At the same time, reports from inside the country began to trickle in that the green flag of the Jamahiriya was flying over a number of cities throughout the country. Despite the dearth of verifiable information – the government in Tripoli has provided only vague details and corroboration – one thing is certain: the war for Libya continues.
Since mid-January forces that remain allied with the former Jamahiriya political and economic system set up by Qaddafi have taken control of several cities and towns in the south. Clashes have also been reported around the capital of Tripoli, where nationalist forces have fought pitched battles with militias and military forces backed by the GNC regime. (Libya Herald, 20th Jan)
These developments have prompted French Admiral Edouard Gillard in the Washington post to appeal for a fresh NATO intervention.
Dissatisfaction is growing among the Libyan population. Once the most prosperous nation in Africa, with a standard of living that exceeded several European countries, the conditions inside the country have drastically deteriorated since 2011. The decline in living standards, the failure of the regime to rein in the militias that terrorize the population, the collapse of the oil industry and widespread corruption have drawn broad criticism, even among the favoured elites.
Another decree issued in January prohibits scholarship students and public employees from speaking out against the conditions prevailing in Libya. According to AllAfrica.com:
“It calls on Libyan embassies abroad and others to draw up lists of names and refer them to the Prosecutor General for prosecution.”
What is certain is that unrest will continue for some considerable time and the civilians who NATO and the UN Security Council resolution 1973 was meant to protect will be those that suffer the most and it is almost certain that the world will continue to turn a blind eye.
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In 2011, Jonathan Russell wrote three articles on the Libyan conflict in Aberdeen Voice, in part because of the lack of public outcry. Here he presents the second part of a new four article series.
As in the whole of the Middle East human rights abuses were of considerable concern under the Jamahiriya Government. The Amnesty International Report in 2010 in its introduction makes the following point:
“Freedom of expression, association and assembly continued to be severely curtailed and the authorities showed little tolerance of dissent. Critics of the government’s human rights record were punished. Former detainees at Guantánamo Bay returned to Libya by US authorities continued to be detained; one died in custody, apparently as a result of suicide.
“Foreign nationals suspected of being in the country irregularly, including refugees and asylum-seekers, were detained and ill-treated. An official investigation began into the killing of prisoners at Abu Salim Prison in 1996 but no details were disclosed and some of the victims’ relatives who had campaigned for the truth were arrested.
“Hundreds of cases of enforced disappearance and other serious human rights violations committed in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s remained unresolved, and the Internal Security Agency (ISA), implicated in those violations, continued to operate with impunity.”
What Amnesty fails to report however, is that health services and education were available to a high standard to everyone, food and electricity was heavily subsidised, all the population had been housed and the position of women in society was better than anywhere else in the Middle East or Africa, and in many ways better than many Western countries. The situation in Libya was also far from straightforward.
Numbers of men, particularly from Benghazi, had gone to Afghanistan to the Al-Qaeda training camps then returned to Libya and started a bombing campaign. The largest grouping of Al-Qaeda prior to the conflict fighting in Iraq came from Benghazi.
According to West Point authors Joseph Felter and Brian Fishman,
“Saudi Arabia took first place as regards absolute numbers of jihadists sent to combat the United States and other coalition members in Iraq during the time frame in question. Libya, a country less than one fourth as populous, took second place. Saudi Arabia sent 41% of the fighters.”
According to Felter and Fishman,
“Libya was the next most common country of origin, with 18.8% (112) of the fighters listing their nationality stating they hailed from Libya.”
Other much larger countries were far behind:
“Syria, Yemen, and Algeria were the next most common origin countries with 8.2% (49), 8.1% (48), and 7.2% (43), respectively. Moroccans accounted for 6.1% (36) of the records and Jordanians 1.9% (11).”
This means that almost one fifth of the foreign fighters entering Iraq across the Syrian border came from Libya, a country of just over 6 million people. A higher proportion of Libyans were interested in fighting in Iraq than any other country contributing mujahedin. Felter and Fishman point out:
“Almost 19 percent of the fighters in the Sinjar Records came from Libya alone. Furthermore, Libya contributed far more fighters per capita than any other nationality in the Sinjar Records, including Saudi Arabia.”
“But since the Al Qaeda personnel files contain the residence or hometown of the foreign fighters in question, we can determine that the desire to travel to Iraq to kill Americans was not evenly distributed across Libya, but was highly concentrated precisely in those areas around Benghazi.” ( See chart below from the West Point report, page 9 )
Unsurprisingly, Qaddafi and his government saw them as a threat to the stability of Libya. Apart from the sanctions, this was a major reason why Qaddafi came to the agreement with the West which was facilitated by Tony Blair.
None of this excuses the human rights abuses, but does put them in a wider context.
What can be said is that for the majority of people in Libya, life was good; however, if you went against the regime, watch out.
Though human rights violations in Libya under Qaddafi were bad, what followed in the wake of the so called ‘revolution’ far outstripped the human rights abuses of his time.
Armed militias continue to commit serious human rights abuses with impunity, including arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and unlawful killings. Thousands of people suspected of formerly supporting or fighting for Qaddafi’s government remained detained without charge or trial and with no means of remedy. The most famous of these is Salif Al-Islam, Qaddafi’ second son, who is still being held by one of the militias in Zinan.
Tens of thousands of people who were forced to leave their homes in areas perceived to have supported Qaddafi in 2011 remain internally displaced and continue to be at risk of revenge attacks and other abuses. Undocumented foreign nationals faced arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention, exploitation and torture or other ill-treatment.
Human Rights Watch recently posited the possible reasons for Libya’s current lawlessness. In a dispatch posted on 20th October 2013, Human Rights Watch described mass executions carried out by Libyan rebel groups on the day of Qaddafi’s death. In the days that followed, HRW gathered hard evidence of the executions and of who was responsible, which it presented to transitional authorities shortly afterward; to date, no investigation has been carried out.
“The failure to investigate systematic executions helped set the stage for the militia lawlessness in Libya today,” wrote Fred Abrahams, special advisor to HRW’s program office.
“Impunity for those and subsequent crimes sent the message that Libya’s armed groups stand above the law.”
Law 38 granted amnesty to those who committed crimes if their actions were aimed at “promoting or protecting the revolution” against Qaddafi.
On the 23rd October 2013 Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, stated that:
“two years after the conflict, Tawarghas and other displaced communities are still waiting for justice and effective reparations for the abuses they have suffered. Many continue to face discrimination and live in under-resourced camps with no solution in sight.”
Human rights Watch in their 2013 report have said:
“As of October, roughly 8,000 people were in detention. The majority of them were held for more than a year without charge or due process rights, including judicial review and access to a lawyer. The Ministry of Justice holds around 3,000 detainees, around 2,000 are held by the Ministry of Defence or Supreme Security Committee. The rest were being held illegally by various armed groups.’’
Given that most of the country is being run by militias the figures are likely to be in reality much higher.
Conditions in militia-run facilities varied, with detainees in some facilities reporting repeated torture and deaths in custody. Conditions in state-run facilities appeared to improve, although there continued to be cases of abuse and some deaths in custody.
Following rising violence the Interior Minister Mohamed Khalifa al Sheikh resigned in August last year
Non-Libyans from sub-Saharan Africa, mainly migrant workers, are particularly vulnerable to abuse, facing harassment, arrests, ill-treatment in detention, forced labour and no regulated access to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Sporadic armed confrontations between militias across the country have caused hundreds of deaths; the victims included children and other civilians not involved in the fighting. Impunity remained entrenched, both for gross human rights violations committed in the past and for ongoing human rights abuses by armed militias.
Amnesty UK Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Libya Researcher, reported the following:
“The authorities have failed to break the stranglehold of the militias. Hundreds of armed militias that fought against Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi’s repressive regime now pose the greatest threat to human rights in Libya.
“In 2012, our researchers visited the country and found evidence of a catalogue of abuses, including arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, unlawful killings and forcible displacement. All are casting a shadow over post-revolution Libya.
“Torture is rife in Libya. It is carried out not just by military and security entities but also armed militia groups operating outside of legal frameworks.
“When our researchers visited 11 detention facilities in central and western Libya used by various militias, there was only one facility in which detainees did not report torture and ill treatment. In ten, detainees showed us injuries resulting from recent abuse.
“At least eleven people detained by militias have been tortured to death.
“So far, not one person has been brought to justice for these human rights violations. There have been no effective investigations into cases of torture and deaths in custody.”
Following rising violence the Interior Minister Mohamed Khalifa al Sheikh resigned in August last year. Some 500 prisoners in Tripoli jail undertook a hunger strike to protest being held for two years without charges. When the government ordered the Supreme Security Committee to restore order, they began shooting prisoners through the bars. Where was the outcry from the West? In July 1200 prisoners escaped a jail after a riot in Benghazi. In short, lawlessness and anarchy is spreading
The position of women
Whilst Islamic law established almost equal rights for women in relation to divorce for the past 1,400 years, under the Gaddafi’s Jamahiriya Government the rights of women became greatly enhanced. Women were granted equal rights to men with many younger women in the cities wearing western clothes and thirty percent were in employment, which compared well with many other Middle Eastern countries.
Women were also increasingly seen driving, shopping and travelling without husbands or male companions, a practice which is forbidden in some countries in the Middle East. Child brides were banned and the minimum legal age to marry placed at 18. Women became lawyers, judges, aircraft pilots, army commanders and Ministers in the Government. It has been suggested that women had a stronger position in Libya than in any country in the world. By all accounts, the rights of women have taken a severe setback since the destruction of Jamahiriya, particularly in areas held by Al Qaeda.
Religion
According to the Human Rights Watch 2013 report, attacks against religious minorities started in October 2011, and intensified in 2012. Armed groups motivated by their religious views attacked Sufi religious sites across the country, destroying several mosques and tombs of Sufi religious leaders. Armed groups attacked churches in at least two incidents in Tripoli in May and September. The government’s security forces have failed to stop the attacks and have made no significant arrests.
Ethnic displacement
Amnesty International has said that a total around 65,000 people are internally displaced across Libya, not just Tawarghas, but members of the Mashashya tribe from the Nafusa Mountains, residents of Sirte and Bani, Walid, and Tuaregs from Ghadames too.
The Tawarghas, ethnic black Libyans, are among those who have suffered the most. More than 1,300 Tawarghas are estimated to be missing, detained or were subjected to enforced disappearances, mainly in Misratah. Most were seized by militias and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, such as electric shocks, whipping and beatings with metal bars or water pipes in detention.
Amnesty International has asked the Libyan authorities to investigate all cases of enforced disappearance and indiscriminate torture, including of victims perceived as pro-al Qaddafi.
The European Union (EU), last year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and its member states have been assisting the Libyan authorities in tightening border security and developing “an integrated border management strategy” in order to curb “illegal migration” to Europe at the expense of human rights. Amnesty International has repeatedly urged the EU to fully protect the human rights of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants, and put in place a satisfactory system for assessing and recognising claims for international protection.
Migrants in Libya are often perceived to be a threat to national security. Since May 2012, the Libyan authorities have deported 25,000 persons.
“EU funding should be used to promote and protect human rights in Libya, especially while the country is still recovering from a recent armed conflict and confronted with a legacy of abuse,” Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui from Amnesty International has said.
“It is deeply troubling that EU funds appear have been used to support detention centres where thousands of foreign nationals are unlawfully held. Asylum-seekers and refugees who are entitled to international protection and should only be detained because of their status in the most exceptional circumstances are among those routinely detained and abused in detention.”
Libya’s immigration detention practices not only violate the country’s international obligations under refugee and human rights law and standards, but they are also at odds with EU human rights obligations as well as EU standards concerning the detention and return of third country nationals.
Libya’s Constitutional Declaration, adopted in 2011, declares that the “state shall guarantee the right of asylum by virtue of the law”. It is urgent the authorities translate this principle into real action and adopt legislation establishing a national asylum system.
Amnesty International has urged the EU, and member states, not to enter into further agreements on migration control with Libya until the government demonstrates that it respects Human Rights.
Thousands of people deemed to have entered Libya “irregularly” have been held in detention for months before their deportation, without access to a lawyer or the ability to challenge their forcible removal and/or detention.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui from Amnesty International (AI) has said:
“The Libyan authorities must amend their legislation by setting a maximum detention period pending deportation for migrants.”
AI also found evidence that the Libyan authorities have resumed deporting foreign nationals diagnosed with infections such as hepatitis or HIV after compulsory medical tests were introduced earlier this year. No individual should be deported on the grounds of their medical condition. Hassiba continued:
“Reintroducing compulsory testing for foreign nationals and deportation on the ground of their health status amounts to scapegoating them and only proves how inadequate Libya’s public health policies are.”
At the time of AI’s investigation a total of 5,000 refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants were held in 17 “holding centres” under the Ministry of Interior, in addition to an unknown number of detainees held by militias. AI’s delegates also met a small number of unaccompanied children, sometimes as young as 10, who had been detained in at least three “holding centres” for months.
Many of the “holding centres” visited had extremely poor hygiene standards exposing those held there to the risk of disease, including chest infections and chronic diarrhoea. At the “holding centre” in Sabha, where some 1,300 were being held last May, detainees were held in filthy, overcrowded rooms.
The prison also lacked a functioning sewage system – and piles of garbage filled the corridors. Around 80 detainees – who complained of itchiness on their hands and genitals, suggesting a scabies infection – were held in a courtyard in the sun as treatment, but became dehydrated due to extended exposure to sun.
Denying detainees proper medical care is inexcusable. Libya’s government must show the world it is serious about protecting the rights of all individuals in Libya, whatever their status and nationality.
To date, NATO, which waged the air campaign against Qaddafi’s forces, has failed to investigate properly at least 72 civilian casualties caused by its airstrikes. The UN Commission into Libya also received written reports from the authorities stating that NATO launched about 3,000 airstrikes on several civilian and military targets in Libya. According to the same unverified reports, these strikes resulted in the death of 500 civilians and 2,000 injured.
The same reports stated that NATO had targeted schools, universities, mosques, and others civilian locations. According to the same sources, 56 schools and three universities were directly hit by these strikes. Furthermore, it is claimed that NATO airstrikes have resulted in the closure of 3,204 schools, leaving 437,787 students without access to education.
Security Council members that initially championed resolution 1970 referring Libya to the ICC have been largely silent on Libya’s obligation under that resolution to cooperate with the court.
The Truth About Libya: NATO Crimes & Mass Media Lies Exposed! Reported by Russia Today in 2011.
Though some of the people in Libya have benefited for the majority life has turned into nothing short of a nightmare.
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Scottish CND will be organising a walk from Scottish Parliament to Faslane and a demonstration and rally on Saturday 5th April in Glasgow. With thanks to Jonathan Russell, Chair Aberdeen and District CND
At present all of the UK ‘s Nuclear weapons are based in Scotland at the Faslane Nuclear base on the West coast of Scotland near to Glasgow and surrounding areas with Scotland’s highest density of population.
The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament will be organising two major related events which the general public can get involved with to raise awareness of the horrific nature of Nuclear Weapons.
The first is a Spring Walk which will start on Tuesday April 1st at 12.15 pm outside the Scottish Parliament and takes in on its way Currie, Bathgate, Coatbridge, Glasgow, Dumbarton and eventually arriving at the Faslane Nuclear base on Monday 7th April.
One of our local members Alister Coutts ( pictured ) who is going on the walk gave the following reasons for doing so.
“Even though I’ve been involved in environmental activism for around 10 years, I’ve not been a member of Scottish CND for all that long and only went to Faslane for the first time in April 2013, but I’ve been opposed to nuclear weapons, and indeed nuclear power, for as long as I can remember. My first reason for joining the peace walk is therefore to do as much as I can to remind the public that the stunning countryside surrounding Gare Loch has been completely and utterly destroyed by the abhorrent presence of the Trident Nuclear Missile base for 50 years too long.
“The peace walk will also be a great opportunity to highlight the fact that the upcoming Independence Referendum presents the people of Scotland with the chance to start the process of ridding not only Scotland, but the UK as a whole, of these weapons of mass destruction forever. My hope is that this could also have a positive knock on effect and result in other countries around the world being pressurised into destroying the nuclear arsenals as well.
“From a more personal viewpoint, having a daughter: Kate, a son: Robbie and three beautiful grandchildren: Alfie, Molly and Kenzie, my second reason for taking part in the march is to do as much as I can to ensure that their future is bright in a nuclear weapon free, and I would like to hope, an eventually neutral, Scotland.”
Included in the events of the walk but for all the public to get involved in will be a March and Rally on Saturday April 5th starting at 11.30am and ending at 12.30pm with a Rally. Speakers at the rally will include Nicola Sturgeon MSP Deputy First Minister, Patrick Harvey MSP. Lord Provost Sadie Docherty, Lesley Riddoch, Dave Moxham (STUC) and Rev Sally Foster-Fulton. Music will be provided by the Gleeboom drummers.
Local MSP Christian Allard has put out the following statement:
“There is clear opposition to nuclear weapons being based in Scotland. Yet the Westminster Government, in this latest budget, have missed their last chance to commit to getting rid weapons of mass destruction before the referendum.An SNP Government in an independent Scotland would be committed to removing Trident from Scottish waters for good.’’
“In the meantime I would urge anyone who is concerned about the presence of nuclear weapons in Scotland to make sure their voice is heard at this series of events in April.”
Jonathan Russell Chair of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament added:
“the Independence referendum gives the opportunity for Scotland to get rid of its Nuclear Weapons. He also challenged the Labour Party to end its present stance on replacing Trident.’ Nuclear weapons have the potential to kill us all and are a scourge on humanity. We need to see concerted efforts internationally to get rid of these weapons and here in Scotland we should be setting an example.”
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As part of Aberdeen’s Festival of Politics, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign Aberdeen are screening the film Children in Chains (40mins), followed by a Q&A with the director Jon Pullman, a political activist and film director from Edinburgh.
Children in Chains is his most recent project, and focuses on the abuse of Palestinian children in the Israeli Military Court System.
Many children stand up against the occupying soldiers of Israel combatting tanks and guns with mere stones but as the film explains, “for them the consequences of defiance can be kidnap, torture and imprisonment”.
SPSC asked him to explain a bit about the making of the film;
SPSC:Tell us something about your latest film project
JP: Children in Chains was inspired by a seminar which I attended and filmed back in 2011. Having been involved in the campaign for justice and human rights in Palestine for many years, I really thought I knew all there was to know about the suffering endured by ordinary people living under Israeli occupation. However, the main presentation at this event was given by a West Bank-based lawyer, Gerard Horton.
Gerard spoke powerfully and in some detail about the appalling treatment of young Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli military court system. It was a shocking revelation to most of us and I realised that I had to make the information more widely available through film.
SPSC: How did you make it?
JP: The core of the film is Gerard’s presentation. However, in order to avoid just a talking head, with the limited appeal that would have, I built up a selection of commentary and often harrowing real-life footage that would help bring the issue alive and hopefully engage a much wider potential audience.
SPSC: What challenges did you face?
JP: The difficulties are always in the edit. And deciding on a target audience. I wanted to produce a documentary that was short enough to be usable at meetings, classes and public events, but long enough to make an impact with the subject matter. I also wanted to give a bit of background historical context for those not necessarily familiar. This is a challenge in itself because how do you summarize a conflict so misrepresented and so disputed in just a few minutes.
SPSC: What was the most striking/surprising/shocking thing when you made the film?
JP: The sheer volume of incriminating material on the internet. Much of the footage I used in Children in Chains was filmed by Palestinian activists on the ground. These days, we rarely have to rely on third party witnesses to tell us what’s going on in the world; there is usually somebody there with some sort of lens. It is shocking to me that the cruelty and violence involved in the oppression of the Palestinian people is so visually documented and freely viewable and yet unacknowledged by the political powers that really matter.
SPSC: Why should people see this film?
JP: Israel-Palestine is a subject that most people glaze over at the mere mention of. This is largely due to how the conflict is portrayed – an intractable squabble over land. The reality is much darker and disturbing. The brutal and illegal abuse of Palestinian children is just another aspect of Israel’s project to destroy Palestinian identity, but, by nature of the subject, has a particular power to move people, and through that, transform awareness. This film aims to do that.
SPSC: Do you have any other Palestinian projects in the pipeline?
JP: I visited the West Bank twice in 2011 and brought back many hours of vibrant, life-affirming footage of ordinary life among Palestinians and remain determined to produce a film that documents this experience. I think it’s important to depict and celebrate the positive aspects.
‘Children in Chains’ and Q&A with Director Jon Pullman will be taking place on Thursday 27th March, 7.30pm, upstairs at the Blue Lamp. The event is free. All welcome.
All those speaking at and attending the rally from across the political divide are horrified by the rise of ISIS and do see the need for action to deal with the rise of ISIS.
