A Multimedia Journey Through the 34-Day War in Lebanon & Its Aftermath
An evening featuring an interactive multimedia presentation on the recent war on Lebanon and its aftermath, with award-winning independent reporter Ana Nogueira of Democracy Now! & photojournalist Andrew Stern….
THURSDAY, November 30th, 7pm
Atwater Library
1200 Atwater.
corner St. Catherine
[Atwater metro]
Suggested Donation, 5-10$
Translation into En. Fr. & Arabic Available, * Childcare Provided
Film Screening with filmmaker David Martinez visiting from San Francisco.
SATURDAY, November, 18th, 7pm
School of Community & Public Affairs
2149 MacKay [above de Maisonneuve]
Metro Guy-Concordia
Suggested Donations 5$.
Join filmmaker David Martinez for an intimate screening of 500 Miles to Babylon a one-hour documentary film currently in post-production about Iraq under U.S. occupation. Narrated by the filmmaker, using footage shot in Iraq during the past years threaded with graphically animated archival sequences to provide historic context, the film will address the current war not simply is a conflict over petroleum profits or a scheme to fill a company’s coffers, but as part of a larger American imperial project.
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Lens On Lebanon is an international grassroots documentary initiative formed during the Israeli bombardment of 2006. The documentary material, photo narratives, and video diaries of daily life gathered here have been conceived, produced, and contributed by residents of Lebanon from all walks of life.
The UN troops claim they are in Lebanon toprotect the Shia. The Shia think they’re there to protect Israel from Hizbollah. Is this because the peacekeepers are really a Nato army in disguise?
The blue and white UN flag looks good in the morning over these soft, pale hills. For all of 28 years, it has flown beside Irish battalions, Nepalese battalions, Senegalese battalions, Finnish battalions, all kinds of battalions, from every worthy neutral nation you can imagine. But now the flag snaps over French battalions, Spanish battalions, Italian battalions, German naval units, over the offices of four Nato generals, two French, one Spanish and one Italian. (more…)
Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported on 14 November that the high failure rate of these cluster munitions was because “Israel opted for cheaper, unsafe cluster bombs”.
Haaretz – During the second Lebanon war, Israel made use of American-made cluster bombs that left behind thousands of unexploded bomblets, even though Israel Military Industries produces cluster bombs that leave nearly no unexploded munitions. The main reason for the use of the U.S.-made weapons: Israel uses military aid funds to purchase cluster bombs from the U.S., and in order to buy IMI-made bombs, the Israel Defense Forces would have to dip into its own budget.
“The consideration is budgetary,” a defense related source said. This, despite the fact that each cluster bomblet costs a mere $10.
Following the recent massacre in Beit Hanoun, a group of citizens, united by sense of outrage at the silence of western and Arab governments, will be engaging in a four day hunger strike, outside of the UNIFIL office in Tyre in solidarity with the besieged people of Gaza. (more…)
MONTREAL: As Israeli continues its brutal assault on the Gaza Strip, Montrealers took the streets to voice solidarity with the Palestinian people. Hundreds of demonstrators marched through the heart of Montreal reflecting growing international outrage toward the latest attack on Gaza.
“Intifada! Intifada! Long Live the Intifada!” shouted demonstrators marching under rainy skies, in contrast to the silence of Canadian politicians in response to Israeli war crimes committed in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
Move hailed as step on path to WTO
Daily Star – BEIRUT: The United States expects to finalize a new trade agreement with Lebanon by the end of November, marking progress in Beirut’s stalled bid for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Viewed as a prelude to a bilateral free-trade agreement between the two countries, the new Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) should eventually lead to Lebanon’s ascension to the WTO, US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman said in a speech at a dinner hosted by the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
“What that means is economic opportunities for Lebanon,” Feltman said of the country’s anticipated inclusion in the world body.
Lebanon, which gained WTO observer status in 1999, has missed several target dates for ascension due to the governments’ failure to adopt the required legislation on a range of trade issues, including piracy, anti-dumping, customs duties and food safety standards.
Jamal Juma, Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, November 3rd, 2006
Jerusalem, November 3, 2006: In this dreadful Autumn of death and destruction, the Palestinian and Mexican people are united more than ever in a common history, mourning and struggle.
In Palestine in the last 48 hours a new massacre has been perpetrated. 20 martyrs from the refugee camp of Beit Hanoun have been added to the hundreds of victims that have been killed since June, when the Occupation forces launched another ruthless offensive in the Gaza Strip.
In the same way, since June the Mexican government has started to use all the destructive force of its military against the 70,000 educational workers in Oaxaca who struggle for their rights. The same government that followed the demands of the US government to send its soldiers to invade and massacre the Iraqi people today turns these weapons against its own people in defense of imperialist interests.
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CONFERENCE REPORT
Almost 30 Montrealers travelled to Toronto to participate in this conference. The movement to boycott Israeli Apartheid is growing in Montreal: contact Tadamon or the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (www.cjpp.org) to find out how you can get involved.
The landmark conference held in Toronto from 6-8th October 2006 “The Struggle Continues: Boycotting Israeli Apartheid“, was an inspiring and significant event. Over 600 people attended the conference sessions, one of the largest Palestinian solidarity conferences ever held on this continent.
Although the conference was primarily designed for Palestine solidarity activists in Ontario, a significant number of participants came from across Canada including Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver as well as the US. International guests included Jamal Jumaa from the Stop the Wall Campaign in Palestine, Salim Vally from the Palestine Solidarity Committee in South Africa, Betty Hunter from the Palestine Solidarity Committee in the UK, and Jonathan Rosenhead, Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics and member of the British Committee for Universities in Palestine. Robert Lovelace, Co-Chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, closed the conference with a powerful comparison of the experience of colonialism in Canada and Palestine.
