Manifestation for peace during the Zanzibar International Film Festival coordinated by the young activists in Eastern Africa.
A Peace March was led by Peace Clubbers from Tanzania Mainland, Unguja and Pemba on the final day of ZIFF Peace Camp in Zanzibar.
Manifestation for peace during the Zanzibar International Film Festival coordinated by the young activists in Eastern Africa.
A Peace March was led by Peace Clubbers from Tanzania Mainland, Unguja and Pemba on the final day of ZIFF Peace Camp in Zanzibar.
The huge wave of demonstrations that is sweeping Israel for the last month and half, including a demonstration of 300,000 protestors in Tel-Aviv on August 6th, presented a "very clear message".
"A very clear message: The Israeli working class in general, and young people in particular, revolts against the soaring prices of housing and basic commodities, and no longer agrees to silently abide to a social system that works against the interest of the vast majority, and for the interests of the few."
"This social protest movement, characterized by the setting-up of thousands of protest tents throughout the country, is led by young people, and raises demands that address the needs of the general population, but also specifically the needs of youth and students."
"The wave of revolutions in the Arab countries, which saw the unleashing of creative energy, against oppression and poverty, and for democracy and social justice, has long hit Europe, where young people took to the streets in Spain, Greece, and elsewhere. Now, we are now witnessing a similar struggle in Israel: Young people, many of which have been dormant and passive, are now taking interest in politics, mobilizing massively on the streets, and are involved in democratically discussing the strategy and tactics of this movement."
"The Young Communist League of Israel (YCLI) has supported this protest movement since its onset, as it expresses the interests of the great majority of young people in Israel, Jews and Arabs alike. Our commitment to social change, and our vast experience in organizing both cadres and masses, means that our Comrades are in the leadership of many local protest encampments, and are also present in the national leadership of the movement."
"We have a special responsibility in broadening the scope of the protest movement, bringing it into the periphery of the country, to poor neighborhood inside the big cities, and into small towns, far off from the metropolitan areas. This is most evident in Arab towns and villages, where we are the key player in this recent wave of struggle, leading the initiatives of building protest encampments and organizing demonstrations."
"As an integral part of this young, vibrant, dynamic and growing social movement, we raise immediate demands, which include:
"In addition to these – and other – immediate demands, YCLI contributes to the struggle on the ideological and on the political level.
Ideologically, we state, based on our Marxist-Leninist perspective, that this social struggle, in essence, is between two classes and two world outlooks: On the one hand, there's Prime Minister Netanyahu's capitalist world outlook, which is manifested in benefits for the ultra-rich, and in attacks on the rights of workers and students, under the slogans of privatization and "free market economy"; On the other hand, there is our socialist world outlook, that support an egalitarian, peaceful and socially just society, which will respect social, civil and national rights.
Politically, our contribution to this social movement is twofold:
First, we insist on making the connection between the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian people, and the enormous social, economic and moral cost that the Israeli society has to pay for marinating it. Our position that the struggle for social justice is intertwined with the struggle for peace, is becoming more accepted as people realize that the hundreds of millions of Shekels that are currently spent on building settlements and increasing the military budget, could have been spent on building kindergartens, schools, hospitals and libraries.
Second, we emphasize that the success of this movement could be achieved only through adoption of a joint Jewish-Arab character. The movement needs to address openly the unique problems of the Arab citizens of in Israel (who comprise more than 20% of its population), and must create a close cooperation, on a massive scale, between Jewish and Arab youth. This kind of cooperation can help consolidate a broad public behind our demand for complete national and civil equality for the Arab-Palestinian minority within Israel.
The protest movement brought into activism a broad layer of young people, Jews and Arabs, contributed to their politicization, and presented them with a perspective of deep social change. As such, it is a most important development that we, as Young Communists, need not only study and analyze, but also immerse ourselves in it, involve our cadre and sympathizers, and help consolidate a clear perspective on how to take the struggle forward. Doing this will contribute to the cause of Peace and Socialism, which we believe is to prevail."
Both sides to the ongoing conflict in Libya must ensure that detainees in their custody are not tortured or otherwise ill-treated, Amnesty International said today.
The call followed reports from Amnesty International's delegation in Libya on Tuesday, which has gathered powerful testimonies from survivors of abuse at the hands of both pro-Gaddafi soldiers and rebel forces, in and around the town of Az-Zawiya.
TESTIMONIES OF ABUSE COMMITTED BY REBEL FORCES:
___Against fighters loyal to Colonel Gaddafi
On Tuesday, Amnesty International met officials at Bir Tirfas School which is now being used to detain pro-Gaddafi soldiers, alleged foreign mercenaries, and suspected Gaddafi loyalists.
The officials said that they would not repeat the human rights violations of the former regime. They vowed to uphold the rights of the detainees to be treated with dignity and afforded fair trials.
In an overcrowded cell, where some 125 people were held with barely enough room to sleep or move, a boy told Amnesty International how he had responded to calls by al-Gaddafi’s government for volunteers to fight the opposition.
He said that he was driven to a military camp in Az-Zawiya, where he was handed a Kalashnikov rifle that he did not know how to use.
He told Amnesty International: “When NATO bombed the camp around 14 August, those who survived fled. I threw my weapon on the ground, and asked for refuge in a home nearby. I told the owners what happened, and I think they called the revolutionaries [thuuwar], because they came shortly after.
"They shouted for me to surrender. I put my hands up in the air. They made me kneel on the ground and put my hands behind by head. Then one told me to get up. When I did, he shot me in the knee at close range. I fell on the ground, and they continued beating me with the back of their rifles all over my body and face.
"I had to get three stitches behind by left ear as a result. In detention, sometimes they still beat us and insult us, calling us killers."
A member of the al-Gaddafi security forces, told Amnesty International how he was apprehended by a group of armed men near Az-Zawiya around 19 August as he was bringing supplies to pro-Gaddafi forces.
He said that he was beaten all over his body and face with the backs of rifles, punched and kicked. He bore visible marks consistent with his testimony. He told Amnesty International that in detention, beatings are less frequent and severe, but take place intermittently depending on the guards on duty.
___Against migrant workers
Detention officials in Az-Zawiya said that about a third of all those detained are "foreign mercenaries" including nationals from Chad, Niger and Sudan.
When Amnesty International delegates spoke to several of the detainees however, they said that they were migrant workers. They said that they had been taken at gunpoint from their homes, work-places and the street on account of their skin colour.
None wore military uniforms. Several told Amnesty International that they feared for their lives as they had been threatened by their captors and several guards and told them that they would be "eliminated or else sentenced to death".
Five relatives from Chad, including a minor, told Amnesty International that on 19 August they were driving to a farm outside of Az-Zawiya to collect some produce when they were stopped by a group of armed men, some in military fatigues.
The armed men assumed that the five were mercenaries and handed them over to detention officials despite assurances by their Libyan driver that they were migrant workers.
A 24 year-old man from Niger who has been living and working in Libya for the past five years, told Amnesty International that he was taken from home by three armed men on 20 August.
He said that he was handcuffed, beaten, and put in the boot of the car. He said: "I am not at all involved in this conflict. All I wanted was to make a living. But because of my skin colour, I find myself here, in detention. Who knows what will happen to me now?"
TESTIMONIES OF ABUSE COMMITTED BY PRO-GADDAFI FORCES:
Amnesty International's delegation uncovered evidence of rape being committed against inmates of Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim Prison.
Former detainees said they witnessed young men being taken from their cells at night – returning several hours later visibly distressed.
Two boys told cellmates that they had been raped by a guard. According to one former detainee: "One of the boys was in particularly bad shape after being brought back to his cell. His clothes were torn and he was almost naked. He told us that he had been raped. This happened to these two boys several times."
Thousands of men, including unarmed civilians, "disappeared" during the conflict, taken by pro-Gaddafi forces. Their relatives lived through months of anguish not knowing their fate.
Those recently freed brought back with them stories of torture and other ill-treatment in al-Gaddafi detention facilities in Sirte and Tripoli. They told Amnesty International how they had been beaten with metal wires, sticks and batons and electrocuted
Amnesty International delegates also met several men who said they had been shot by pro-Gaddafi forces after they had been caught, and clearly no longer posed a threat.
One man taken near the eastern frontline close to Ajdabiya on 21 March told us that his captors had inserted the barrel of a rifle into his anus, while he was blindfolded.
Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups must refrain from indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks harming civilians, Amnesty International said today, following several attacks in southern Israel and a series of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian armed groups reportedly fired at least 10 indiscriminate rockets into southern Israel today, injuring at least six people - one seriously - in the Israeli town of Ashdod.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued air strikes on multiple locations in Gaza, following a series of strikes on Thursday and overnight that killed at least seven people, including two children and four members of the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees.
"The civilian deaths and injuries over the last two days in Israel and Gaza are deeply alarming and the escalating attacks underline the need for both sides to the conflict to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties," said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.
At least 20 Palestinians had been injured by 2pm local time on Friday. The ambulance and emergency services in Gaza reported that the majority of those injured were women and children.
Six Israeli civilians, one soldier and one policeman were killed in attacks yesterday on two buses, a private car and a military vehicle in southern Israel. More than 30 Israelis were injured, including civilians and military personnel. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks but the Israeli government has blamed the Popular Resistance Committees.
"Palestinian armed groups must immediately cease firing indiscriminate rockets into Israel," said Malcolm Smart. "For their part, Israeli forces must comply with the same rules of international humanitarian law, which prohibit attacks on civilians and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. All parties must distinguish between civilians and military targets.”
