4905개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
The "Trinity of Social Progress": Chavez, Nasrallah and Nasser
But where is the rest of all the Saints: Khomeini/Ahmadinejad, Trotsky,
bin Laden, Castro, Mullah Omar, Kim Il-sung/Kim Jong-il, etc..?(^^)
[actually this pic (Beirut/RL) is related to an article by 다함께 (*)]
* ⓒ 맞불(www.counterfire.or.kr)
지난 10일 레바논 수도 베이루트에서 열린 헤즈볼라 주도의 반정부 시위에 레바논 전체 인구의 거의 절반인 무려 2백만 명이 참가했다.
레바논의 정치 위기는 지난 7월 이스라엘의 레바논 침공 뒤 심화한 정치적 양극화 때문이다. 이스라엘의 패퇴 이후 헤즈볼라가 이끄는 반정부 진영은 전쟁 기간에 레바논 친미 정부가 보인 무능력을 비판하며 ‘거국 내각’ 구성을 요구해 왔고, 이것이 거부당하자 지난달 중순부터 정권 퇴진 운동에 돌입했다.
첫 대규모 동원이었던 1일 시위에 1백만 명이 참가했고, 그 뒤 수천 명의 시위대가 베이루트 시내에서 천막 농성에 돌입했다. 10일 시위 전에는 베이루트 도심에서 매일 저녁 5만 명이 참가한 집회가 열렸다. 특히, 도심 천막 농성장들은 운동 내 정치적 논쟁의 장이 되고 있다.
시니오라 정부 지지자들과 서방 지배자들은 반정부 진영이 레바논을 또다시 종파간 내전으로 몰아넣을 것이라고 위협하지만 반정부 운동의 종파적 구성은 오히려 더 다양해지고 있다. 헤즈볼라를 비롯한 시아파 정당들, 공산당, 기독교계 정당인 자유애국동맹 등이 시작한 이 운동은 최근 수니파 정당들과 레바논민주당 같은 드루즈파 정당들로까지 확대됐다. 반면, 친정부 시위대의 규모는 고작 몇 천 명 수준으로 줄었다.
양극화
레바논의 친미 정부가 물러난다면 이는 서방 ― 특히 미국 ― 에 커다란 타격이 될 것이다. 그런 사태는 중동에서 미국의 영향력이 자신의 편에 선 정부조차 보호할 수 없을 만큼 약해졌다는 증거로 여겨질 것이고, 따라서 중동의 다른 친미 정부들의 불안감을 증대시킬 것이다.
지금 사우디아라비아나 요르단의 친미 왕정들은 1979년 이란 혁명 이후 중동에서 벌어진 적이 없는 일, 즉 반제국주의 대중 운동이 친미 정부를 타도하는 일이 재연될까 봐 겁내고 있다.
시니오라 진영과 미국도 반정부 운동의 승리를 막기 위해 필사적이다. 지금 나오는 보도들을 보면, 아랍연맹이 제시한 중재안을 놓고 반정부 진영과 시니오라 총리 사이에 타협이 이뤄질 가능성이 있다. 정확한 내용을 미리 알 수 없지만 시니오라와 미국에게 달갑지만은 않은 것일 가능성이 농후하다.
(기사 입력일 : 2006년 12월 12일)
IT'S JUST THE DAILY CAPITALISM..
Following article was published few days ago in the S.K. ("left-liberal") daily Hankyoreh. Aktually this story is not about a problem, unique just in S.K., it's just a story about the daily life in the capitalism.
For example in Germany you can find thousands of similar stories: according to last week's media reports at least 10,6 million people in Germany are threaten by poverty or are already poor...
"Line of shame: 1779 Berlin families
must stay here for daily food alms"(*)
But the main difference between (for example) the poor in Germany and in S.K.: in Korea many are actively resisting against their daily oppression. Like the poor, street vendors, people who are defending their homes (against demolishing and expulsion) etc. who are fighting daily organized against the existing (capitalist) society.
[Following the article I'll bring some links to examples of S.K. resistance against the system.., just wait for a short while..(**)]
Eun-gyeong, 15, feels the weight of a life of poverty
Seoul's Yangji Village is a hard place for hope
Located on Seoul's northern outskirts, Yangji Village is a typical slum. Once a public cemetery, it was settled from the 1960s by the "refugees" pushed out of downtown Seoul by redevelopment projects. Some 90 percent of the land is the property of the Korea Forest Service, and nine in 10 of the houses there are without permit.
Seoul, Yangji-dong
Of the 2,383 residents living there, 348 citizens belonging to 236 households are welfare recipients, and 546 are disabled. There are 26 households run by single mothers.
I rented a room there in November, staying in Yangji Village for a month, and interviewed a young girl living there.
Eun-gyeong (not her real name), 15, began to cry when talking with me. Yet, despite her grief, she maintained her poise, speaking to me in a level voice and a composed expression. It was as if she had grown inured to the tears streaming down her cheeks.
Eun-gyeong lives with her father in Yangji Village. Her mother passed away just after Eun-gyeong's first birthday. Eun-gyeong has never seen her father work, as he suffers from back pain and barely gets by from monthly welfare payments of 400,000 won (US$420). Eun-gyeong in turn receives a trickle-down monthly allowance of 80,000 won, leaving her no money to buy even stockings, stationery, textbooks, snacks, or tampons. She rides the public bus to school, but walks alone for 30 minutes on the long path home, trying to save money. She is already worried about next year, when she will have to attend a high school even further away.
Another reason Eun-gyeong normally walks home is because she attends an after school private study academy (hagwon in Korean). She attends for free, thanks to the letter of support she received from a welfare organization. Eun-gyeong received this support because she is one of the more diligent students of Yangji Village. Though her math skills need improvement, she does not dare mention the special math classes offered at the academy to her father, for the enrollment fee is 120,000 won.
She is always hungry during her afterschool academy classes around dinnertime. While her classmates at the academy go buy the snacks they want to tide them over until dinner, she is left to buy whatever she can afford, or skip eating snacks altogether.
She has no close friends in which to confide. There are other students in her classroom in dire situations, but they at least have the income of their mothers or grandmothers upon which to rely. When she feels even those friends cannot grasp her plight, she simply keeps her mouth shut.
Eun-gyeong has seen a lot of generosity. Teachers have quietly given her lunch money or paid for her to attend field trips. She has also learned that sometimes it is necessary to parade her poverty to match the expectations of others. Though this is the behavior required to gain gifts, she hates to act in such a manner, so she has decided against doing this anymore. She does not want her classmates to see her in such a light. If her friends invite her to see a movie, she demurs, explaining that the film will be boring, and similarly refuses to accompany her friends.
Eun-gyeong likes to write. She even wrote a novel as a sixth grader. Her dream was to become a novelist, but such a line of work is not known for being lucrative, so she gave it up. She also wanted to become an archaeologist, but gave up on that for the same reason. She does not know what to study anymore. She decided to go to a humanities geared high school, but she still has moments of doubt. Many of the children in her neighborhood go to industrial technology-geared high schools. She has to compete with other hard-working children to enter college, giving her yet another thing to worry about. After all, even the monthly welfare payments of 400,000 won (US$420) her father is given will end upon her graduation from high school, as she will legally become a 'head of household.' Having lived at her aunt's house for a long time, she does not feel much of a bond with her father. Yet she still feels pity for him.
Eun-gyeong's sole wish is "to live without worry." Preoccupied by her thoughts and fears, she finds these days that long distances melt away beneath her feet as she walks and contemplates. Yet, some time ago, she realized that her woes would not be solved, no matter how much she dwelled upon them. Thus, she decided in general just to think less. Of course, she wants to live like other children, who swipe their transit cards and buy clothes without a second thought. She is jealous of those ordinary children, who can rely on their parents.
It was about this time that tears started to trickle down Eun-gyeong's cheeks, not when recounting her mother's passing, but in acknowledging the difficulties that lay before her of finding a source of support in her hard, young life.
I met Eun-gyeong in a study room on the 29th of last month. I would like to express my gratitude to her for granting me such a taxing interview.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/177452.html
* and that's only about one district in Berlin..
** here some examples for the resistance (docu videos by comrade "Hong Gil-dong from the Forest"):
☞ 날마다 전쟁
*****
☞ South Korea, Terror of the Construction Mafia
☞ S. KOREA. Construction Mafia in Action Again
☞ 빈민대회
...etc, etc...
DADAWA
(朱哲琴)
阿姐鼓
我的阿姐從小不會說話 在我記事的那年離開了家
從此我就天天天天的想阿姐啊
一直想到阿姐那樣大 我突然間懂得了她
從此我就天天天天的找阿姐啊
瑪尼堆前坐著一位老人 反反覆覆念著一句話
唔嘛呢叭咪唔嘛呢叭咪 唔嘛呢叭咪唔嘛呢叭咪
我的阿姐從小不會說話 在我記事的那年離開了家
從此我就天天天天的想阿姐啊
一直想到阿姐那樣大 我突然間懂得了她
從此我就天天天天的找阿姐啊
天邊傳來陣陣鼓聲 那是阿姐對我說話
唔嘛呢叭咪唔嘛呢叭咪
唔嘛呢叭咪唔嘛呢叭咪
唔嘛呢叭咪唔嘛呢叭咪
*****
live in beijing
Since yesterday Augusto Pinochet, THE symbol for dictatorship and "modern" fascism, is (re)united with his creator!!
평양 2007年 5月
PYEONGYANG 2007
SEX AND DRUGS
AND ROCK'N'ROLL (*)
Following f.. crazy story I found several days ago [actually about one month ago on the Guardian's/UK web site was a link to a blog.. but I thought it was just a stupid joke (**)]:
Rock Festival in Pyong Yang
If you are a band playing any kind of rock, including heavy metal, then you can participate 'ROCK FOR PEACE' in Pyong Yang, the capital city of North Korea. This is the very first time in history that North Korea allows western musicians in the heart of DPRK territory to play capitalist popular music. There are few restrictions and conditions on participation but any band will be considered even though you are from USA...
For more about this b..sh.. please check out:
Gimme some Pyongyang blues (The First Post/UK, 11.14)
North Korea wants a ‘western, capitalist’ rock festival. Oh yeah?
Whatever you thought you were doing in March 2007, it's time to reschedule. A music festival billed as the rebirth of Woodstock, is set to shake the planet for four days. Only there will be no sex and drugs. Or politics. And it'll be in North Korea.
Although it may sound eerily similar to the fictional plot of Team America, the festival is for real. Billed as "Rock for Peace", the event is an attempt to promote the values and stability of North Korea. "We are not a mad, isolated country. We are part of an ordinary world, just like yourselves," organisers told The First Post.
The decision to invite bands to play "western, capitalist" music was designed to change people's perception of the Hermit Kingdom.
What it will resemble musically is anyone's guess as no bands have yet been confirmed and anyone who accepts the invitation will have to refrain from mentioning war, sex, violence, drugs, imperialism or "anti-socialism". Despite these strictures, the organisers hope to attract rock musicians such as Eric Clapton, U2 and - most surprising, given their redneck credentials - Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Bands that are invited to play will also be given the privilege of being able to explore any part of North Korea the government deems suitable.
If the Rock for Peace festival is a success, there is talk of making it a regular occurrence and even staging the next one in the DMZ (demilitarised zone) between North and South Korea, the most heavily guarded border on earth (***).
Kim Jong-il, North Korea's leader, will not attend the concert for security reasons. Known to harbour a taste for Western music and film, he will surely be watching closely on the state's single TV channel.
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=1097
N. Korea to hold rock festival in March (Yonhap, 11.17)
North Korea, under international censure for trying to arm itself with nuclear weapons, plans to host an international rock music festival next year, the country's main radio station said Friday.
The Voice of Korea said in a report that the "Rock for Peace" festival will be held in Pyongyang, the capital, on March 1, a major national holiday marking an anti-Japanese public uprising in 1919.
The North's radio station carried the same report in its English Web site, with an announcement that Western musicians, including U.S. rockers, are eligible to participate and play a gamut of rock music including heavy metal.
"This is the very first time that North Korea allows Western musicians in the heart of DPRK territory to play capitalist popular music," the English report said...
It's highly unusual that North Korea, a closed communist (****) society, has decided to hold the festival which will expose its hungry people to what it called "decadent" American music.
The North's report said there still will be "few restrictions and conditions" for participants in the festival, insisting that the lyrics should not praise "war, sex, violence, murder, drug, rape, non-governmental society, imperialism, colonialism, racism, anti-DPRK, and anti-socialism."
North Korea is one of the most closed societies in the world. Its entire social system is strictly geared to uphold and praise leader Kim Jong-il and his late father, Kim Il-sung.
The country is under U.N. sanctions over its nuclear weapons test on Oct. 9. It claims that its move to arm itself with nuclear weapons is to thwart Washington's attempt to topple its communist system.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20061117/670000000020061117181423E3.html
For those about to rock, Kim Jong-il salutes you (Guardian, 11.21)
Step aside Glastonbury, move over Lollapalooza - there's a new music festival vying for space on the international tour calendar. Rock For Peace, which takes place next May in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, "will be the 2007 version of Woodstock rock festival in 1969 but in a different location and with different goals".
Though not a place historically associated with free love and hippy wig-outs, all that is about to change, with organisers embracing "capitalist popular music" for the first time. And, in keeping with the laissez-faire spirit of rock festivals, there are few restrictions: "Lyrics should not contain admirations on war, sex, violence, murder, drug, rape, non-governmental society, imperialism, colonialism, racism, anti-DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), and anti-socialism."
That excludes anyone other than Cliff Richard then.
The event, organised by DPRK's Ministry of Culture and National Tourism, has been advertised on a website run by UK-based Voice of Korea (Vok), a mouthpiece for the DPRK. Jean-Baptiste Kim, the organisation's leader, explains: "Vok manages the event in London because it is practically impossible for foreigners to contact the concerned authorities neither by email nor by telephone."
Kim himself is hard to get hold of, declining to be interviewed through any medium other than email, although he stresses that he "will sincerely answer your questionnaire".
Kim's retiring attitude may be due to a lack of confidence in English. Further down the website there is a photograph of some ruddy-faced westerners posing with a football team. The caption reads: "Hey, Americans, you should learn a lot from our Norwegian friends who are having really good time with North Korean young school boys."
The line-up for Rock For Peace is yet to be announced, but the organisers claim interest from 49 acts in 20 countries. Bands are invited from any western country, "even though you are from USA".
http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,1953029,00.html
* Of course there will be (at least) no sex and drugs!! ^^
** Oh no.. it's not a stupid joke!!!!!! It's just a F.. STUPID JOKE!! (aeh~ it must be..!!)
*** It must be one of Kim Jong-il's most funny ideas: to send all rock musicans - especially from S.K. - on the mine fields..
**** Even I repeat myself: NK has nothing to do with "communism", or any kind of progressive society!!
Please check out the home page of the "organisers" very seriously, especially this:
"ALL OF US ARE UNITED IN NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA..
WE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR FATHERLAND UNTIL ALL OF US DIE ON THE BATTLEFIELDS."
YEAH, THAT'S THE REAL ROCK'N'ROLL!!
Despite of the ban of all Anti-FTA demos..
Daehak-no, in the early afternoon: the beginning of all the events
Protestors Hold Anti-FTA Rally (K. Times)
Some 5,000 anti-globalization demonstrators held rallies to protest a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between Korea and the United States at several locations in Seoul Wednesday.
Despite a police ban, the rallies were held by a coalition of civic groups opposing the FTA. They had staged anti-FTA demonstrations on Nov. 22 and 29.
As the previous rallies got violent with demonstrators clashing with police and causing damage and inconvenience to citizens, the police barred the coalition from staging the third demonstration at Seoul Plaza and Chongmyo Park.
Instead, the demonstrators joined another rally organized by the Democratic Labor Party at Maronie Park in Taehangno, central Seoul. The police allowed the rally because the party had originally applied for it to protest against the National Assembly's passage of the bill on non-regular workers.
Half of the car lanes were blocked-off by the participants. After the rally, they moved to several locations in downtown Seoul in groups, sporadically occupying streets at Tongdaemun, Chungmuro and Hoehyon Subway Station distributing leaflets about anti-FTA to citizens.
The police told the demonstrators to disperse by loudspeakers but did not use force.
Euljiro 3-ga in the early evening
They gathered again at Uljiro intersection and marched to Myongdong, causing a severe traffic jam during the evening rush hour.
The coalition's regional branches also held rallies nationwide, and the police mobilized almost 20,000 men at major rally sites. The police also blocked major tollgates on highways to prevent farmers and demonstrators from joining the Seoul rally...
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200612/kt2006120618024611990.htm
Myeong-dong, the final events..
12 are arrested, 20 injured in clash at anti-trade rally (JoongAng Ilbo)
20,000 gather for demonstrations in 10 Korean cities
Scoffing at a police ban, the Korea Alliance Against KorUS FTA held its third anti-trade demonstration of the season at Marronier Park in Daehangno yesterday afternoon. After the 40-minute rally, protesters wandered around the central district until about 8 p.m., snarling traffic during the evening rush hour.
Police said about 20,000 demonstrators were in the streets in 10 cities across the nation.
The park in Daehangno was to have been the site of a Democratic Labor Party demonstration protesting new laws on non-regular employees. But about 5,000 participants at the rally hoisted flags of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the Korean Peasants League and the Korean Street Vendors' Confederation, all members of the anti-trade alliance.
When the party's 90-minute gathering ended at 3:30 p.m., the banner hanging over the stage was quickly changed from "Evil laws on non-regular employees" to "Against the FTA between South Korea and the United States." Without missing a beat, the same participants launched into the new theme. Eleven leaders of the anti-trade group read a statement that said, in part, "It has become clear that the negotiations between South Korea and the United States for the past 10 months have been unfair to South Korea." They also called for an end to legal proceedings against group leaders facing charges stemming from violence-plagued Nov. 22 protests.
"Now you are staging an illegal rally. Please disperse," megaphone-wielding police told the demonstrators, but took no action to disperse them by force. Four of the six lanes of the street in front of the park were jammed with protesters, with the obvious effects on traffic. The protesters set fire to an effigy of an American, mad-cow-disease-infected head of cattle. The rally ended just before 4:30, and demonstrators trekked by subway to Namdaemun, Chungmuro, Dongdaemun and Jongno for smaller demonstrations.
About 5,100 demonstrators at three separate rallies in central Seoul converged on Euljiro and marched to Myeongdong, where police and protesters clashed; 12 protesters were arrested; 20 people, including police and protesters, were reportedly injured.
That rally ended at around 7:30 p.m.
Although more than 10,000 riot policemen were mobilized across the country to suppress the rallies, they avoided confrontations where they could.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200612/07/200612070053443509900090409041.html
Police counter anti-FTA protests (K. Herald)
Anti-FTA Rallies Go On Despite Ban (Dong-A Ilbo)
Reports in Korean, incl. many pics and some videos, you can check out here:
[총궐기 21:10] '연행자 석방' 요구 연좌시위 이어져 (Chamsesang)
"노동자.농민.양심세력 뭉쳤다. 이것이 우리의 희망" (VoP)
한미FTA 저지 범국본
서울 도심 곳곳서 기습시위 (OhmyNews)
Many more pics about y'day's events you can see here:
[生生]3차 한미FTA 저지 범국민총궐기대회- 명동, 촛불집회
[FTA반대 3차 민중총궐기 또 원천봉쇄 속 게릴라 시위로 치뤄
PS:
Yesterday it was definetely not
the Animal Protection Day, not really^^
While the anti-FTA movement, KCTU, DLP and many different civic and (left) political groups since weeks were/are preparing for today's 3rd Struggle Day Against U.S.-ROK FTA the government is "presenting" its own (f.. stupid) "plan" for today:
S. Korean police ban anti-FTA protests (Yonhap)
South Korean police said no anti-FTA protests will be permitted on Wednesday and warned the nation's civic groups to obey the law.
Police refused to approve the protests against free trade agreement talks between South Korea and the United States out of fear they could spiral into violence.
Officers said they will quell any illegal rallies and punish violent agitators.
Anti-FTA rallies organized by the Korean Alliance against the Korea-U.S. FTA turned violent last Wednesday, leaving 63 people injured, including 35 police officers, and caused 670 million won (US$720,250) in property damage, according to police estimates.
Police have filed four suits against the protest leaders, demanding compensation for the property damage, including police buses and buildings.
Farmers and supporters vowed Monday to go ahead with their large-scale street protests this week in defiance of the government's disapproval.
The National Human Rights Commission recommended Tuesday that the National Police Agency (NPA) allow the civic groups to proceed with the planned rallies in expression of their democratic rights.
The commission received appeals from the protest leaders last week calling for the freedom to hold rallies in public places, it said.
"We are going to review the recommendation by the commission," an officer at the NPA said.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20061205/610000000020061205165801E2.html
Anti-FTA rally planned tomorrow, in defiance of ban (JoongAng Ilbo)
Despite a police ban, the Korea Alliance Against KorUs FTA vowed to hold a rally it has planned for tomorrow, the group said at a press conference yesterday. The group opposing the trade deal also said it had submitted a petition to the National Human Rights Commission, arguing that its members' rights were infringed on due to a police crackdown on the rally on Nov. 29 and asking not to stop them from attending the rally.
"The United States is expected to impose strong pressure on South Korea to import its beef at the fifth round of negotiations on the U.S.-South Korean free trade agreement, which starts today," said an official of the group yesterday morning in front of the Central Government Complex building in Gwanghwamun.
"The humiliating negotiations, which have been going on despite the people's concerns, should be stopped," the official urged. The group said that Wednesday's rally would be attended by up to 50,000 people.
Meanwhile, at a forum yesterday, an association of 10 civic groups, including Liberty Union and a group of parents of riot policemen, asked the government to deal harshly with illegal rallies. They demanded an increase in the fines levied on organizeers of such rallies by five to 10 times from the current 3 million won ($3,200). The city council of the Gwangju Metropolitan Government also said yesterday it would try to pass an ordinance to suspend municipal subsidies for any group staging a violent rally.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200612/04/200612042213282409900090409041.html
Anyway, the preparations for today's rallies and demonstrations are still continuing, despite of the planned STATE TERROR!
Here's the (perhaps just provisional) schedule for today's struggle events in Seoul:
14:00 민주노동당 집회 / 대학로 마로니에공원
16:00 한미FTA저지 3차 범국민 총궐기대회 / 종묘->광화문까지 행진
19:00 촛불 문화제 / 종각
Following article The Observer (UK) published last weekend:
Old women step forward as 'martyrs' (*)
A 70-year-old blew herself up in a Hamas attack. She may be just the first of many elderly recruits
In the centre of Beit Hanoun, there is nothing left of the 800-year-old mosque but the minaret. It looks like a lighthouse stranded in a sea of rubble. People whose homes were demolished during the latest Israeli army incursion sit on plastic chairs around bonfires. At night they bunk down with the neighbours. One of them is Watfa Kafarna.
'I saw the Israeli soldiers eye-to-eye,' she said. 'They took my four-year-old grandson, Mahadi, who has Down's syndrome. They shook him and yelled: "Where are the guns?" Now he is traumatised and wets the bed every night.'
Not his own bed - the Kafarna family is homeless, living off the charity of friends. Tears run from Watfa's eyes as she looks at her son, daughter-in-law and grandchild huddled around a brazier. Her husband, Diab, shuffles across the ruins towards his wife. 'Bossa!' he says, 'A kiss!' In a highly unconventional move, Diab kisses his wife on the mouth. 'She is my heart, my eyes, my light. We have lost our house but not each other.'
During the incursion, Israeli soldiers detained all men aged 16-40, including Watfa and Diab's sons and grandsons. The army targeted the mosque, attempting to arrest militants hiding there.
The women put up their own resistance, gathering as human shields around the mosque to help the militants escape. 'I am 72, says Watfa, 'but by doing this I felt 20, young and useful and ready to act.' She pulls off her long veil and holds it high in her right hand. 'I waved my hijab as a white flag and prayed with the other women in front of the holy mosque. But the Israelis continued to destroy it.'
Two women were killed by the Israeli Defence Force that day. Watfa was bruised, as was 70-year-old Fatma Najar, hit by a bulldozer. Three weeks later, Najar blew herself up near Israeli soldiers, wounding two. In Gaza she is seen as a heroine. 'If the Israelis came to my house to gun down my children and I had a belt, I would do the same,' says Watfa. 'The woman is the biggest loser here,' says Khola, a neighbour, standing on the remains of a kitchen where flour is mixed with pulverised masonry. Two hundred homes were destroyed in Beit Hanoun. 'Fatma Najar, an old woman, did what many people don't have the guts to do. If you go back and research Fatma,' says Khola, 'you will see her home was destroyed on top of her head, her sons jailed, her grandson killed.'
'We want to believe in peace, but how can we when the warplanes still fly over our heads every night,' asks Watfa, 'making our grandchildren cry and wet themselves? When there are still tank movements on the border? I can't believe there will be peace.'
Najar's family heard of her attack on the radio. 'We thought it must be another Fatma Najar,' said her son, Jihad, 35. 'It never occurred to us it could have been my mother. Then the crowds started to arrive and we knew it was true. We had mixed feelings, sadness at her irreplaceable loss. But pride too.'
There is a huge shaheed - 'martyr' - poster of Najar on her house. It is shocking to see an old woman carrying an M16. Some of her 70 grandchildren and great-grandchildren play beneath the picture. Israa, six, wears a pink top with 'Happy Childhood' embroidered on it. 'My grandmother's gone to heaven. Because she shot the Israelis,' she says.
The funeral tent is empty now, the three days of official mourning over. On the first evening, men from the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, arrived. Her son Inam said: 'They told us: "Your mother has been asking to do this for two years. We said no. Finally she said, if you don't give me a belt I will go anyway and get killed and my blood will be on your hands. We gave in".'
Other old women now want to become suicide bombers. The family talks of why she did it. Perhaps it was her grandson's death. 'My son, Adil, was 18 when he was killed,' says Fathiya, 52, Najar's eldest daughter. 'He was throwing stones at the Israelis.' Then there was Fathiya's other son, Sha'aban. He attacked an Israeli soldier with a knife. He was shot 72 times, lost a leg and is paralysed. The family show a photo of Fatma, a sweet-faced woman in a white cotton scarf. Neighbours crowd in with stories of her generosity, how she gave sweets to local children, told stories, played.
Najar was a religious woman, involved with mosque committees and close to memorising the Koran. It was only after her death, her family discovered she had been working for Hamas: 'They told us she had carried food, water, ammunition to the resistance at the front line. We had no idea.'
The night before her suicide operation, Najar went to visit all of her children and grandchildren. She brought clothes and sweets. 'But she was always so good to us,' says Inam. 'As she left me for the last time, she looked back in a way that made me wonder, but then she was gone.'
'On the day she acted like it was a normal day. She baked the bread in the clay oven. She took a shower, put on a new dress and went out,' said Jihad.
'I think the final straw was the Beit Hanoun massacre [a family of 17 killed at dawn when Israeli shells hit their house]. Mother went to the family's home and asked the women: "Why leave it to your sons to die? If Allah allows, I will become a martyr." They said: "You think they will take an old lady like you?"'
A fortnight later she was a suicide bomber, injuring two Israelis, decapitating herself. This weekend Hamas held a ceremony in Beit Hanoun, in memory of the 140 Palestinians killed in November. Thousands attended, waving Hamas flags. The mayor, Dr Nazek el-Kafarna, made a speech in honour of Najar: 'This old lady looked at the houses destroyed and the trees uprooted. She looked at how our people had been humiliated. She took her soul in her hand and rushed to her martyrdom.'
Huda Haim, a Hamas PLC member, believes Najar's act begins a new culture. 'We know behind the Israeli leaders there are decision-makers studying the behaviour of the Palestinians. Fatma told them they can't end the Palestinian issue with violence.'
The audience was thronged with women, many elderly, many clinging to photographs of their dead. 'We all want to be like Fatma,' they shouted.
'I am happy about the ceasefire,' says Zaifa. 'But if the Israelis come back, they will see what we will do, we will be like Fatma Najar.'
'I know at least 20 of us who want to put on the belt,' said Fatma Naouk, 65. 'Now is the time of the women. Now the old women have found a use for themselves.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1962704,00.html
And this very interesting - for to learn more about the Israeli/Palestinian(Arab) conflict - article the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth published today (please check out the "talkbacks", i.e. the comments!!):
Israel's Arabs shoot themselves in foot
* 팔레스타인 할머니 이 공습에 손자 잃자 자폭테러 (경향신문)
"ANGER"
Comrade "Hong Gil-dong from the Forest" "(숲속홍길동同志) made following short video about last Friday's clash between the working class (aeh.. just a very, very, very... small part of it..) and the ruling class on Yeouido, next to the National Assembly, the S.K. parliament.(*)
(A short text about the back ground of the fight you can read here: Protesters Clash With Police In South Korea, there you also can watch another video - without any comment^^ - about the "event".)
Meanwhile K. Herald reported in its latest edition (actually tomorrow's printed edition) following:
Striking truckers wreck vehicles
Government warns harsh action against protesting cargo workers
The government yesterday warned of stern action against striking truckers as they blockaded major roads and allegedly destroyed vehicles owned by nonunion drivers.
More than 130 vehicles - including private automobiles - were wrecked and set on fire in South Jeolla and North Gyeongsang provinces, apparently by strikers, police said.
The Korea Cargo Transport Workers' Federation went on strike Friday demanding prompt settlement of labor bills on raising cargo transport fees and guaranteeing labor rights.
Their industrial action disrupted shipment at major ports hitting the export-driven economy.
The hardest hit was Gwangyang Port in the southwest, which handled about 35 percent of its usual cargo volume yesterday afternoon. Other ports in Busan and Pyeongtaek were running at less than half their normal cargo capacity.
Over 16,000 cargo workers gathered in rallies in 43 areas across the country yesterday.
The strike is expected to reach a turning point today as the National Assembly construction committee debates the new set of labor bills.
Even nonmembers of the federation have threatened to join the strike if there is still no resolution on the bills..
The entire article you can read here:
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2006/12/05/200612050006.asp
The KCTU statement about the strike you can read here:
Korean Cargo Transport Workers Goes on Strike
So, as you can see:
THE CLASS WAR ISN'T OVER,
NOT REALLY!^^
* Only one year ago, nearly at exactly the same date, with (perhaps) the same "staff" and at the same place (aeh.. something is different: the cops have new, plastic shields!!!):
민주노총 "총"파업 #3 (영상) (..yaya, alle Jahre wieder..^^)
Harrharr, just check it out!!
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That makes sense to me... Kim Jong Il's 2nd son is trying to get a foot into the game... Read this for example... http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453908.0597222224.htmlWill he turn NK into a Rock'n'Roll state? Let's see... who knows what surprises the Kim family has to offer?
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