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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.
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The Walls of Berlin and Bil'in |
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 Garth Hewitt: From the Broken Heart Of Gaza |
FACTS ABOUT THE WALL from friends in Bethlehem
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Eileen Fleming's Biography
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"We're on a mission from God."
The Blues Brothers "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
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Tom Petty
"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution."
Emma Goldman
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Charlie Rose, 2005
Only in Solidarity do "We have it in our power to begin the world again"
Tom Paine
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John 8:32
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Declaration of Independence |
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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 |
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Home  Blog September 2009 September 9, 2009
09/09/09: "If I can't dance it's not my revolution."-Emma Goldman
Mine neither.
For the last two days-all I want to do is dance, dance, dance.
Here is some of what has been moving me and what follows is a repeat of myself:
"The struggle is in the mind. We must bury our own monsters and stop condemning people. We are all Christ and Hitler. We want Christ to win. We're trying to make Christ's message contemporary. What would he have done if he had advertisements, records, films, TV and newspapers! Christ made miracles to tell his message. Well, the miracle today is communications, so let's use it."-John Lennon
The more I learn, of less I am certain,
except for the need to remain open
to the Mystery we call God;
Creator of unfathomable diversity
Artist of intricate details
who crafted verdant mountains where fragile flowers dwell
who designed the ocean depths
and no human eyes have yet to read their deepest tales.
So it is with us;
unknown realities within
The Divine indwells;
thirstily seeking us as we search hungrily for what we desire to possess;
Peace of mind and life to the full.
So many voices in the world striving to convince, when all that really matters is the peace that can be within;
Begins with Detachment from outcome:
Just do your best and Let It Be...
When one lets go of the need to control and to self-defend
When one has a heart for the poor and oppressed
When one seeks and sees The Divine within all creatures and events
When one trusts The Holy is in control-although the daily news denies it.
When one accepts The Other has a plan and desires to find it.
When one comes to understand The Eternal Mystery is more than any concept
And welcomes the diversity of men rather than deny them.
When one accepts we will not stand on any accomplishment,
But on our motives and the love that drives it.
When one is aware that evil as well as good cut through every human heart
And learns to make friends with silence
The Light is ever present to guide us.
Silent time in nature is as necessary as bread
Prayer is poetry and service her manifestation.
To forgive is divine and necessary to be divinely forgiven.
And therein lies the peace that passes all understanding.
And every drop of dew are but tears from heaven,
Shed each day a new,
For me, for you
For what we did and did not do
To help bring in The Kingdom.
And the Kingdom comes from above and it comes from within.
IMAGINE a kingdom of sisterhood of all nations and all men.
I do.
I also believe that education is The Way to Compassion
And I have a radical hope that Compassion is The Way to Change Our World.
"HOPE has two children. The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine
“Hopi” means Peaceful People, and the truest and greatest power is the strength of peace. Because Peace is the Will of the Great Spirit.
But do not think that just because the True Hopi People have been told by the Great Spirit never to take up arms that the True Hopi People will not fight, even die for what we know to be the right way of Life.
The True Hopi People Know how to fight without killing or hurting.
The True Hopi People Know how to fight with Truth and Positive Force In The Light Of the Great Spirit.
The True Hopi People Know how to educate by clear thoughts, good pictures and by carefully chosen words.
The True Hopi People Know how to show to all the world’s Children the True Way of Life by setting an example and by working and communicating in a way that reaches the minds and hearts of all people who are truly seeking the methods of a simple and spiritual Life which is the only Life that will survive.
The true Hopi People preserve the sacred knowledge about the way of the earth because the true Hopi People know that the earth is a living, growing person and all things on it are her children.-Hopi Wisdom
The Many Layers of NaHalat
Shimon beg the question: Where's the money coming from?
August 8, 2009
[Occupied
East Jerusalem] Last Sunday morning just before sunrise, Israeli forces
evicted seventy more Palestinians from their homes in the Jerusalem
neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, which is being taken over by the Nahalat
Shimon settlers.
"The
events in Sheikh Jarrah garnered international censure from the
European Union, the United Nations (UN) and from Britain, which said it
was 'appalled' at the move. US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday night called the Israeli
evictions "deeply regrettable" and she urged "the government of Israel
and municipal officials to refrain from such provocative actions." [1]
Israeli
forces also demolished the Al-Kurd family protest tent for the sixth
time. The Al-Kurd family was evicted from their home in the Sheikh
Jarrah neighborhood last November, just prior to my first visit and I returned again on June 10, 2009.
Less
than a five minute walk from my room at the Ambassador Hotel and less
than ten from the Old City of Jerusalem is the neighborhood of Sheikh
Jarrah. Around the corner
from my hotel and up the hill from the Al-Kurd Tent is a newly erected
community center with a plaque "Dedicated to the Children of Shimon
Hazadik Neighborhood" from a Dr. Rubin Brecher and family of Lawrence, New York.
According
to Jewish tradition, Shimon Hazadik (which means 'The righteous') was
the High Priest at the time of Alexander the Great. He reminded the
people of what's important in the world and he used to say: "On three things the world stands: the Torah, on Service [prayer] and on acts of kindness."[2]
Mrs.
Al-Kurd, known as Um Kamal [mother of Kamal] and her now deceased
husband Mohammed had lived in the neighborhood from 1956 until the
morning of November 9, 2008 when the Israeli police enforced a court order that evicted them.
When
I returned to the tent on June 10, 2009 and asked Um Kamal where her
calm strength and perpetual smile came from, she gestured to the sky
and responded, "Allah: God gives me."
Maher
Hannoun interjected, "Um Kamal is a strong woman because she has a
strong connection to this land where we both were born! Even for
millions of dollars we would
never sell our land, our hopes, our dreams! We are here legally and we
have a contract that was signed between the government and UNWRRA, but
what gives us the
real power to fight is seeing all the people who come to be with us
here believing in human rights. We need every one to carry our message
around the world that this is our home and we will never leave here.
"In
Gaza they attacked with F16 tanks. In Jerusalem they attack with
evictions and transferring property. More than 500 homes in this
neighborhood have already received
eviction notices. They are building 200 settler units and an American
Israeli company named Nahalat Shimon Builders is behind it."
Nahalat Shimon is also the name of a settler group and a real estate company.
On
August 2, 2009, "Israeli riot police wielding clubs kicked out two
Palestinian families from their homes in occupied east Jerusalem on
Sunday, defying international protests
over Jewish settlement activity in the area. Clashes erupted after
police moved in at dawn around the homes in the upmarket Arab district
of Sheikh Jarrah following an Israeli court decision ordering the eviction of the 53 Palestinians, including 19 minors.
“I
was born in this house and so were my children,” said Maher Hanoun,
whose family was evicted along with the neighboring Ghawi household.
“Now we are on the streets. We have become refugees.”
"The
Supreme Court ordered the evictions following an appeal by the Nahalat
Shimon International settler group which claimed Jewish settlers have
title deeds for the properties,
despite UN and Palestinian denials. Jerusalem authorities have also
given permission for the construction of about 20 housing units in
Sheikh Jarrah, in defiance of global calls for a halt to all settlement activity in occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank." [3]
On
November 9, 2008, at 3:30 AM, Reverend Richard Toll was awakened in his
hotel room in the Ambassador while the Israeli Occupying Forces/IOF
broke down the door of
the home of the Al Khurd family. Rev. Toll informed me that he was
jarred awake by a woman’s pain filled scream that was indescribable.
The
Al Khurd family had lived in their home in the Sheikh Jarrah
neighborhood since the days when east Jerusalem was under Jordanian
control. The United Nations upon contract
with Jordan allotted them the land after they became refugees when they
were expelled from their home in west Jerusalem by Zionists during the
1948 war.
Hasib
Nashashibi, of the Ensan Center for Democracy and Human Rights [an NGO
coalition of Palestinian Muslim and Christians] explained to me, “When
Jordan controlled
this land and the UN granted privileges to the Palestinian refugees
including those from west Jerusalem, such as education, health care,
and relief and development;
they also allowed the refugees to give up some privileges and receive a
home and land deed instead. Jordan never fulfilled their obligation to
send the written
documentation that these west Jerusalem refugees are land owners and
not tenants. Now the Israeli’s are trying to make them refugees for the
second time!”
Since
East Jerusalem’s occupation by Israel in 1967, the Oriental Jews
Associations and the Knesseth Yisrael Association have been waging a
brutal take over of the Khurds’ home, claiming that the land originally belonged to Jews.
In
1972, they succeeded to register the land in their name with the
Israeli Land registrar. In 1999, settlers burst into the home and set
up an occupation in a wing of the house
that belonged to the couple’s son, Raed. The Khurd family hired lawyers
and have spent a fortune in court battles and in 2006, the Israeli
court finally revoked the claim
of ownership by the settlers. However, on February 25, 2007 the Israeli
Supreme Court issued an order to evict the settlers but it was never
enforced!
In
Israeli law, all of Jerusalem, including the eastern half of the city,
is considered to be the “indivisible” capital of the Jewish state and
religiously fundamentalist settlers have been claiming land all over occupied East Jerusalem based on title deeds that pre-existed 1948.
Since
Israel became a state 531 Palestinian villages have been destroyed and
750,000 Palestinians were made refugees in 1948, and Israel continues
to make more!
President
George W. Bush became a willing collaborator in this on going injustice
in his infamous 2004 exchange of letters with Ariel Sharon. Bush agreed
that Israel would
not be expected to return to the armistice lines of 1949 and declared
that Israel would be able to hold on to its “population centers” in the
West Bank. This is nothing
more than Orwellian spin that attempts to justify the established
settlement blocs for every one of them are illegal under international
law.
"Michshol Hafrada" is Hebrew for "The Separation Wall" and separation translates to Apartheid in Afrikaan.
Before
I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out And
to whom I was likely to give offence. Something there is that does not
love a wall, That wants it down.-Robert Frost
The
Wall has divided Palestinians from Palestinians and has stolen their
aquifers, denies them access to their land, jobs, families and holy
sites and for every mile it consumes over $1.25 Million USA Tax dollars.
The
Wall was deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice but no
president has yet demanded Israel to tear down this wall!
The
so called Holy Land is a Swiss cheese of land locked enclaves; known as
Bantustans in Afrikaan. Jewish only colonies have been implanted to
divide the Palestinian neighborhoods
throughout occupied territory. Over 100,000 Palestinians are trapped
and then daily humiliated and tortured at the over 600 checkpoints that
deny them access to their families, land, jobs, resources and holy sites.
Since
1967, over 22,000 dwellings -averaging eleven people per unit- have
been bulldozed by Israeli forces usually because they interfere with
settlement expansion.
Israel attempts to justify their immoral actions with three distinct categories:
1.
Collective Punishment: Homes of suspected terrorists-in reality that is
anyone who opposes the occupation- as well as the families of
suicide/homicide bombers.
These punitive actions amount to 15% of the over 22,000 homes destroyed since 1967.
2.
Administrative demolitions for lack of building permits: Israel refuses
to issue any and this accounts for 25%. In occupied east Jerusalem one
out of four Palestinian homes have a demolition order.
3. Security: The blanket reason given for all of Israel’s injustices and illegal actions.
On
December 20, 2006, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who received a Nobel Peace
Prize for his relentless work confronting and challenging South
Africa's Apartheid regime was quoted in The Guardian:
"I've been deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land. I have seen
the humiliation at the checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when
young white police officers prevented us from moving about…Israel will
never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A
true peace can ultimately be built only on justice…If peace could come to South Africa, surely it can come to the Holy Land."
I
imagine Shimon Hazadik might remind "the children" who are taking over
the neighborhood that,"From Moses to Jeremiah and Isaiah, the Prophets
taught...that the Jewish
claim on the land of Israel was totally contingent on the moral and
spiritual life of the Jews who lived there, and that the land would, as
the Torah tells us, 'vomit you
out' if people did not live according to the highest moral vision of
Torah. Over and over again, the Torah repeated its most frequently
stated mitzvah [command]:
"When
you enter your land, do not oppress the stranger; the other, the one
who is an outsider of your society, the powerless one and then not only
'you shall love your neighbor as yourself' but also 'you shall love the other.'" [4]
I
also imagine Shimon Hazadik might be interested- as we all should- in
knowing from whom and where the money comes from that equips the
Nahalat Shimon settlers.
1. http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0804/p06s12-wome.html
2. http://www.chabadonline.com/scripts/tgij/paper/Articlecm.asp?articleID=1289
3. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\08\03\story_3-8-2009_pg4_6
4. Rabbi Lerner, TIKKUN Magazine, page 35, Sept./Oct. 2007
Why i am RED!
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"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 |
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UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
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.
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The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway. © 1968, 2001 Kent M. Keith " In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."-Mother Teresa
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“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 |
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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 |
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“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 |
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Establishment of Israel |
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"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
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