Oct 16, 2023 – “And humanity’s heart breaks…”
Alex Neve, Canadian Human Rights Lawyer and activist, on the Mid-East War: “It is about humanity.”
I am not Palestinian, nor Jewish. I have no family in Israel or Gaza, though I have many friends & colleagues who do. These last few days, in Israel & in Gaza, are beyond those two worlds alone. It is about humanity. And humanity’s heart breaks. Mine certainly does.
My heart breaks for those who have lost loved ones in the horrifying attacks unleashed by Hamas, for the 260+ people massacred at the Nova music festival, the hundreds of other Israelis who have been killed, and all those taken hostage.
My heart breaks for the cruel, violent toll of the Gaza blockade, of Israeli apartheid, of imprisoned Palestinian children, illegal settlements and 1000’s of Palestinians who have been killed in years of IDF military barrages, so many now that it is easy to lose count.
My human rights heart is outraged by the brutality of this Hamas attack, and the years of murder, war crimes and crimes against humanity that have ripped apart so many Israeli lives and for which there must be accountability.
My human rights heart is outraged by the news that Israeli authorities are poised to unleash a blatantly unlawful destructive ‘complete siege’ of Gaza, an imprisoned home to 2 million, > ½ of whom are children, who have nowhere to flee.
There are many truths in Gaza, Israel & the West Bank. One truth does not deny another. They are truths that stand alongside each other. They are truths that must be heard & understood equally. These truths are not to be followed by ‘but’, yet they always are.
It is true that the toll of Palestinian suffering over 50+ years has been immeasurably cruel & violent, the means of repression harsh & deliberate, and the insidious apartheid that now governs is an affront to international law.
It is true that Israel, surrounded by enemies & faced with constant threats to the country’s existence & its people’s very survival, deserves true safety & lasting peace & security.
It is true that Palestinians live the cruel sting of dispossession & Islamophobia, and Jews the brunt of centuries of dispossession & vicious anti-Semitism. Truths that should unite, not divide.
It is true that a life is a life, a child is a child, a death is a death, and a people is a people. None matter more than others.
Yet it is true also that everyday Palestinians in Gaza & the West Bank are told their lives matter less. Nothing says that more starkly than the bombs, walls, laws & prisons they have faced for decades. That has too often been reinforced by my own country’s polices.
What absolutely must be true is that this cannot continue. That has always been true, but perhaps never truer. The response to horrifying & illegal Hamas attacks cannot lie in horrifying & illegal bombardment of Gaza, leading to more attacks & more bombardment. That is not where truth has its home.
I am not Palestinian, nor Jewish. But tonight I am Palestinian and Jewish. I am every Palestinian who demands freedom and every Jew who demands safety. And I reject anything that denies those truths. https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=alex%20neve Related article: The Intercept (US) – Alice Speri “Beheaded Babies” Report Spread Wide and Fast — but Israel Military Won’t Confirm It – “It’s been about four days since this incredible and tragic escalation of violence and the level of misinformation — even disinformation — seems near unprecedented.” https://theintercept.com/2023/10/11/israel-hamas-disinformation/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter Related article: Toronto Star – Staff Israel-Hamas war live: Packed Gaza hospitals say thousands could die in ground offensive; Hezbollah attacks northern Israeli posts -Follow this file for the latest news from Israel, Palestine and around the world, on Sunday, Oct. 15. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-live-packed-gaza-hospitals-say-thousands-could-die-in-ground-offensive-hezbollah/article_f151d2b9-50d3-532e-9fc6-c9abba90108f.html
University of British Columbia – Dr. Jiaying Zhao and Dr. Lorne Whitehead
A guaranteed basic income could end poverty, so why isn’t it happening?
The authors, professors at UBC, follow up on an op-ed by Senator Anne Bellemare in the Globe and Mail in April suggesting that a guaranteed annual income for those above age 17 would introduce fairness to all Canadians. The fear most associated with GAI is that it would be a disincentive in the work place but both researched and Canadian experiments would suggest that the GAI is an incentive to employment. Cost benefit analysis would also suggest that the GAI is a more financially sound system than the present welfare programs. The authors conclude: “Poverty touches us all — it is everyone’s tragedy, which is absurd because poverty can be affordably reduced as we have argued above. Hopefully, one day future Canadians will look back to 2022 and ask how a just society could ever have tolerated such needless suffering.” https://beyond.ubc.ca/a-guaranteed-basic-income-could-end-poverty-so-why-isnt-it-happening/
Blogger Russell Webster (UK)
Emergency actions to tackle prison crisis – Justice Secretary announces early release and restrictions on short sentences to tackle prisons crisis
A growing crisis in the prison population is forcing Justice Ministry Alex Chalk to curtail the number of incarcerated due to overcrowding at the prison system by releasing the incarcerated with a short time left on their sentences. The decisions are focused on: “Releasing some “lower level offenders” on licence 18 days before their automatic release date; Legislating for “a presumption that custodial sentences of less than twelve months in prison will be suspended”; Extending the Early Removal Scheme, so that the government has the power to remove foreign criminals up to eighteen months before they are due to be released, up from the current twelve months.” https://www.russellwebster.com/emergency-actions-to-tackle-prison-crisis/
Victoria Times Colonist – Louise Dickson
Writing as therapy: Intensive journaling helps prisoners deal with their traumas – Bill Israel teaches prisoners at William Head and men in recovery from addiction at New Roads Therapeutic Recovery Centre to write about their lives
Bill Israel is an ordained United Methodist minister from Kansas who started this ministry five years ago and who works with the New Roads Therapeutic Centre in Victoria. Israel took up the creative writing after retirement and became certified in Progoff’s intensive journal program in 2014. Israel makes absolute privacy around what is written by the incarcerated as the key to the writing program. “The true benefit of the process is that the men have the opportunity to write in a structured journal about things they are not normally encouraged to think about, including adverse childhood experiences, prolonged family trauma and abuse,” said Israel. https://www.timescolonist.com/islander/writing-as-therapy-intensive-journaling-helps-prisoners-deal-with-their-traumas-7686151 Related Tweet from John Howard Society Writing as therapy: “Intensive journaling helps prisoners deal with their traumas: Kudos Bill Israel and all the prisoners who participated https://t.co/59JypxvTdm via @timescolonist
(https://x.com/JohnHoward_Can/status/1713898414885245236?t=c1eJ3Qh-7h7yO6giKfwRCw&s=03)
National Catholic Reporter (US) – Dwayne David Paul
The crisis of unhoused older Americans is acute. Policy can be the answer.
NCR is noting a change in the demography of the homeless in the US: it is fast becoming people 65 and older. “Older Americans are currently experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness at rates not seen in decades. That people 65 and older are the fastest growing population of unhoused people is the latest sign of the intensifying brutality of economic life in the United States… Today’s economy is such that it forces older adults, especially the poorest and racial and ethnic minorities, to choose each month which of their fundamental needs they will meet, and which they will neglect.” https://www.ncronline.org/news/crisis-unhoused-older-americans-acute-policy-can-be-answer?utm_source=NCR+List&utm_campaign=7930a57b55-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_10_15_11_33&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6981ecb02e-7930a57b55-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D
VERA Institute (US) – Myles Martin
I Lost My Job, Apartment, Vehicle, and Time with My Kids Due to Unjust Pretrial Detention
Martin spent 30 months in pre-trial custody and in that time, without conviction, he lost his apartment, his car, his job and most critically, his family. Imagine being kidnapped and taken away from your family. Imagine losing years with your children. “Imagine losing your godfather and not being able to attend his funeral or console his sister (your mother). Imagine losing your apartment, your job, your vehicle, and a large number of friends. Imagine being told that you are an “inmate,” and that you have no rights.” Martin also found that, though never convicted of the charges against him, he lost jobs when his arrest was known. His story at the link as VERA addresses the cash bail system. https://www.vera.org/news/i-lost-my-job-apartment-vehicle-and-time-with-my-kids-due-to-unjust-pretrial-detention?ms=eng_comm_all_email_BS23_ctr_101223_B&utm_source=email&utm_medium=eng&utm_campaign=all_101223_B&emci=0f5ce849-096a-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&emdi=8a04cdea-236c-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&ceid=82378
NBC News (US) – The Associated Press
Doctors group withdraws paper on ‘excited delirium,’ a term used to justify excessive force – “This means if someone dies while being restrained in custody … people can’t point to excited delirium as the reason.”
The term ‘excited delirium’ is a term that often finds its way into the accountability narrative explaining why someone died in police custody. The term has its origins in a report by a group of doctors who conceded excited delirium was a possible contributing factor in the death of person in custody and in an incident of alleged excessive force by police. “The American College of Emergency Physicians in a statement called the paper outdated and said the term excited delirium should not be used by members who testify in civil or criminal cases. The group’s directors voted on the matter Thursday in Philadelphia.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/doctors-group-withdraws-paper-excited-delirium-term-used-justify-exces-rcna120334