Naomi Klein, Hisham Matar, Maaza Mengiste and More Have Withdrawn From the PEN World Voices Festival

 https://lithub.com/naomi-klein-isabella-hammad-maaza-mengiste-and-more-have-withdrawn-from-the-pen-world-voices-festival/

Naomi Klein, Michelle Alexander, Hisham Matar, Isabella Hammad, Maaza Mengiste, Zaina Arafat, and Susan Muaddi Darraj are among the writers who have signed a damning open letter to PEN America in which they announce their decision not to participate in this year’s PEN World Voices Festival due to the organization’s inadequate response to the unfolding genocide in Gaza.

“In the context of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza,” the letter reads, “we believe that PEN America has betrayed the organization’s professed commitment to peace and equality for all, and to freedom and security for writers everywhere.” The letter goes on to detail the various ways in which PEN America has failed Palestinian writers and journalists—as well as their allies in the United States—since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, and take the organization to task for declining “to join other leading human rights organizations and United Nations officials in the demands for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”

One of the world’s most high profile literary events, and the centerpiece of PEN America’s annual programming, the PEN World Voices Festival is a weeklong celebration of international literature which has taken place in New York and Los Angeles each April/May since 2005. Its 20th incarnation is likely to be the rockiest on record, however, as the past three months have seen the 102-year-old free expression organization mired in controversy.

 https://www.ndp.ca/vote-for-peace?source=20240315_INBND_PLIS_1_FORWARD_NWMODE_NDP_EN_INBND&utm_medium=INBND&utm_source=NWMODE&utm_campaign=Palestine%2FIsrael_INBND&utm_content=20240315_INBND_PLIS_1_FORWARD_NWMODE_NDP_EN_INBND

For five months we have watched horror unfold in Gaza and in Israel. We grieve with two peoples utterly traumatized by violence, death, and terror. And we are outraged by Canada’s failure to take actions to try to stop it.

Palestinians are suffering on a massive scale from Netanyahu’s bombardments and ground offensive in Gaza. So many innocent people – including thousands of children – have been killed. Many more are forcibly displaced, injured, and now starving. Canadians are terrified for their friends and family in Gaza. Gaza is the worst place in the world to be a child. 

Canadians also continue to mourn friends and family in Israel who were killed in the horrible Hamas terror attacks and fear for their futures. Those whose loved ones were taken hostage fear every day that they will never see them again.  

We are witnessing the complete failure of the international community to uphold international law and the failure of the Liberal government to lead us in the right direction.  

Prime Minister, for five months we have urged you to find the moral courage to take actions to stop this horror. We are outraged by your failure to act. 

Canada cannot stand by while thousands more die.   

In the absence of action from your government, the NDP have put forward a motion calling on your government to: 

- Demand an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages; 

- Suspend all trade in military goods and technology with Israel and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas; 

- Immediately reinstate funding and ensure long-term continued funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and support the independent investigation; 

- Support the prosecution of all crimes and violations of international law committed in the region, and support the work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court; 

- Demand unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza; 

- Ensure Canadians trapped in Gaza can reach safety in Canada and lift the arbitrary cap of 1000 temporary resident visa applications; 

- Ban extremist settlers from entering Canada, impose sanctions on Israeli officials who incite genocide, and maintain sanctions on Hamas leaders;  

- Advocate for an end to the decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories and work toward a two-state solution;  

- Officially recognize the State of Palestine and maintain Canada’s recognition of Israel’s right to exist and to live in peace with its neighbours. 

Canada must call on Israel and Hamas to end this violence NOW, and work towards a sustainable solution where Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace and security, with full recognition of their human rights.  

Amazon rainforest teetering on the brink of destruction - Petition

Amazon rainforest teetering on the brink of destruction: 

in the vast, green heart of the Peruvian Amazon, a big problem runs deep – the threat of oil drilling and the decrepit “Oleoducto Norperuano” This pipeline, owned by PetroPerú, has caused over 90 oil spills over the last 20 years. Imagine crude oil spilling into rivers and forests, harming the land where Indigenous communities live, their water, and their food. It's a disaster that's happened too many times and one that never gets remediated.  

 Now, here's where things get even more troubling. Spanish bank, Santander, has provided substantial financial support, approximately $1 billion, for the expansion and upgrade of the Talara refinery – directly contradicting its environmental commitments. The Talara refinery, also owned by PetroPerú is where the oil from the Oleoducto Norperuano is processed and exported. This makeover will see the refinery’s processing capability jump from 65,000 barrels of oil per day to 95, 000 – further exacerbating the oil demand and threat to the ecological integrity of Amazonia. With the bank's Annual General Meeting scheduled for March 22nd, the timing is critical for your voice to be heard. It is paramount that Santander is held accountable for its environmental policies and stop financing projects that harm vital ecosystems.

PETITION on website for StandEarth, link above.

Canada reinstates UNRWA funding on International Women’s Day | Ceasefire.ca

Canada reinstates UNRWA funding on International Women’s Day | Ceasefire.ca: 

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 30,000 people, displaced more than 85% of the 2.3 million-strong population from their homes and left more than half of the strip’s infrastructure in ruins, according to data from Gaza’s health ministry and the UN. – The Guardian 

 US plans to build a floating port off the Gaza coast to bring in more aid You need drivers, trucks and a distribution system that doesn’t exist. – President of Refugees International.  The US plans to build a floating port off the Gaza coast on which shipborne food aid can be unloaded from ships from Larnaca, Cyprus and a causeway for it to be driven onshore. The question is, then what? Most of Gaza’s population, the majority of whom have been displaced several times over, are not concentrated at the beach. Jeremy Konyndyk, a former senior aid official in the Biden administration and now president of the Refugees International aid advocacy group, asks: Who is going to distribute it? [Our] presence in northern Gaza is pretty close to zero because the Israelis have wanted everyone out and then have been restricting access to the north ever since.

Tell your MP: Vote for the NDP motion on Palestine! - CJPME Content Site

Tell your MP: Vote for the NDP motion on Palestine! - CJPME Content Site

On March 18, Parliament will finally be voting on an important motion in support of Palestine. This the first opportunity since Oct. 7 that MPs will be asked to vote individually on questions related to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, so this is extremely significant.  

The motion, introduced by the NDP, includes important proposals on how to respond to Israel’s current genocidal war on Gaza and the catastrophic humanitarian crisis that has ensued. These include an immediate ceasefire, an arms embargo, the resumption of aid funding for UNRWA, and more – items that CJPME and others have advocated for months. Please join CJPME in demanding that all MPs vote in support of the NDP motion on March 18.

Use the fields below to send an email to your local MP and the political party leaders and demand that they vote YES in support of the NDP motion for Palestine. Parliament must stand up for an end to the bloodshed. Make sure that your MP is counted

Open Letter & Petition to the Israeli and U.S. Governments and Others Weaponizing the Issue of Rape

Open Letter to the Israeli and U.S. Governments and Others Weaponizing the Issue of Rape | Portside: Whether we identify as feminists, as Jews, as anti-zionists, as all of the above, or as allies, and wherever we are based in the world, we proclaim that we can hold many truths simultaneously in our heads and in our hearts; that is what we do every minute of every day. 

We excoriate rape and all forms of sexual assault against anyone of any gender or age – whether perpetrated by Hamas, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) or anyone else. We also excoriate carpet bombing of civilians, deadly blockades of food, water and fuel, use of illegal chemical weapons, targeted murders of journalists and aid workers, decimation of homes, hospitals, schools, houses of worship, infrastructure and entire family lines, annihilation of culture, kidnapping and hostage-taking, and all war crimes when committed by any party.

Israel’s current campaign to discredit feminists – especially feminists of color, Arab feminists and Jewish anti-zionist feminists – and others critical of its lethal offensive against Palestinians is insulting and dishonest, but it is nothing new. We see it for what it is: a cynical attempt to incite public fury and deflect attention from the genocide it is perpetrating. And far too many public figures and elected officials have allowed themselves to become participants in this onslaught of accusations against us.

So, let us once again make ourselves clear: We condemn rape. We condemn genocide. And we also condemn the opportunistic manipulation of the issue of sexual assault by those committing war crimes themselves – or by anyone else.

We support the investigation initiated by the highly-qualified members of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry into the entire range of war crimes committed during both the October 7 Hamas attack and the Israeli state’s subsequent assault on Gaza – an effort in which Israel thus far has refused to participate. We also support additional inquiries into these sexual assault allegations conducted by impartial feminist and human rights authorities with proven expertise in, and sensitivity about, sexual violence, as well as provision of a comprehensive range of services for all survivors by those explicitly trained in addressing sexual trauma. Additionally, we urge investigation into reported atrocities by both Israeli military personnel and non-state actors – including vigilante settler groups – throughout Israel and the Occupied Territories.

Finally, we continue to raise our voices as part of the world-wide call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and political prisoners, termination of U.S. military aid to Israel and an end to Israeli apartheid.

Below is a list of initial signers of this statement.

Please click here if you would like to add your name; the list will be updated periodically.