WAWA/WeAreWideAwake is my Public Service to America as a muckracker who has journeyed seven times to Israel Palestine since June 2005.
WAWA is dedicated to confronting media and governments that shield the whole
truth.
We who Are Wide
Awake are compelled by the "fierce urgency of Now" [Rev MLK, Jr.] to raise
awareness and promote the human dialogue about many of the crucial issues of our
day: the state of our Union and in protection of democracy, what life is like
under military occupation in Palestine, the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land,
and spirituality-from a Theologically Liberated Christian Anarchist
POV.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils." George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796
"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast." Unamuno
"Imagine All the People Sharing All the World." John Lennon
"If enough Christians followed the gospel, they could bring any state to its knees." Father Philip Francis Berrigan
"You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down." Tom Petty
"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution." Emma Goldman
"We have yet to begin to IMAGINE the power and potential of the Internet." Charlie Rose, 2005
Only in Solidarity do "We have it in our power to begin the world again" Tom Paine
"Never doubt that a few, thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
"You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32
DO SOMETHING!
Photo of George shown here and in web site banner courtesy of Debbie Hill, 2000.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence
HomeBlogFebruary 2011 February 21, 2011: The March from Tahir Square to Gaza and What They Want
February 21, 2011: The March from Tahir Square to Gaza and What They Want
February 21, 2011: The March from Tahir Square to Gaza and What They Want
Being a typically limited American, I only speak and understand English, but as I am well connected I requested my friend, brother and hero, a 1948 Palestinian Muslim refugee from the Galilee, Dr. Khaled Diab, to translate this chant that has now risen up from Tahrir/Liberation Square in Egypt:
"This is a great
Chant. I translate it as follows: 'Ready to be martyrs, by the
millions, to Jerusalem we are going.' This was a chant that was used in the Liberation Square of Egypt. I wish I can be with with
them.-Khaled"
In October 1948, Dr. Diab was forced from his home and olive groves that his family had owned for generations by Israeli Forces. Dr. Diab then made his way to America and after many years of hard work, he achieved a job in the Defense Industry with Top Secret Clearance during the Cold War.
After THAT DAY we call 9/11, Dr. Diab established the Interfaith Olive Trees Foundation for Peace that was dedicated to raising awareness and funds to help replace the over one million food bearing trees that Israel's Wall has destroyed.
"Financed with U.S. aid at a cost of $1.5
million per mile, the Israeli wall prevents residents from receiving health
care and emergency medical services. In other areas, the barrier separates
farmers from their olive groves which have been their families' sole livelihood
for generations." [Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Page 43, Jan/Feb. 2007]
I commemorate Dr. Diab's life, many of his achievements and also began telling the story of my spiritual journey in my first book:
Although Israel continues to deny Dr. Diab has inalienable right to return to his homeland as enshrined in the UN UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS-which Israel's very statehood was contingent upon upholding- his heart, mind and spirit have never left Palestine.
Article 13: (1) Everyone has the right to
freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any
country, including his own, and to return to his country.
And thus, Dr. Diab and ALL the People of The World are now invited to 'walk like an Egyptian' and join the Tahrir4Gaza International March to Gaza, which began to be disseminated on FaceBook and Twitter-just as the Egyptian Revolution was:
"Tahrir4Gaza" Egyptian/International March to Gaza
Egyptians still feel the shame of the Mubarak era Egyptian blockade of
Gaza and have declared their intent to see that blockade shattered once and for
all. The main groups that lead the Egyptian revolution are involved in this
march and together we intend to erect a Tahrir Square style campsite next to
Rafah Crossing until the blockade is over. Together we intend to make this
happen sooner rather than later.
STAFF:
PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTOR FOR GAZA - KEN O'KEEFE
PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTOR FOR EGYPT - AHMED R. ELASSY
The "Tahrir4Gaza" Egyptian/International March to Gaza has been rescheduled to begin March 15, 2011, as requested by the Egyptians.
THE BACK OF MY POSTCARD WITH THIS MAP STATES:
Visitors since 07.22.05
Visitors: 25339708
"HOPE has two children.The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." - Aquinas
Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
" In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."-Mother Teresa
“You cannot talk like sane men around a peace table while the atomic bomb itself is ticking beneath it. Do not treat the atomic bomb as a weapon of offense; do not treat it as an instrument of the police. Treat the bomb for what it is: the visible insanity of a civilization that has ceased...to obey the laws of life.”- Lewis Mumford, 1946
The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures." - William Fulbright
“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Rev. MLK
Establishment of Israel
"On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations." - May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the Establishment of Israel