SuperMarkets - or, you're doing it right

"The propaganda is strong," Youtuber friendlyjordies tells us in a video extolling the power of switching superannuation to fight climate change. "We've all been sold a big lie."

Unfortunately, he is selling a big lie himself - that market mechanisms can do the job of averting climate change. Or, as he put it later in said video: "the platitude that 'you vote with your wallet' is actually true."

It's not.

friendlyjordies in said video, singing the praises of an Adani-loving government

This post is a follow-up to my 1.5c lifestyle challenge one analysing how much impact switching bank can make - and as I make it clear there, I have personally already switched my super (and bank) to one that invests in renewables (or doesn't invest in coal). I'm not trying to claim that private investment in renewables won't do anything. But, like switching lightbulbs, it's a "solution" that is vastly undermatched to the severity of the crisis we are facing.

Now, in his defense, while he might seem to relish in dunking on climate activists for painting "crap signs" like they are in Year 1 and taking to the streets, friendlyjordies didn't just pull this argument out of nowhere. As I mentioned in the prior post, Australian Ethical markets itself on the promise that their super will help to finance the zero carbon transition. His video is in support of another super fund - Future Super - and it actually draws on a report comissioned by them, alongside climate campaign group 350.org and the UTS Institute for Sustainable Future (ISF).

Sounds great, right? A well-researched plan that doesn't require us to get our lazy arses off the couch? And only 12.4% of Australians have to do it to decarbonise our entire economy - or as few as 7.7% to get us to 100% renewables by 2030? If that's all it'll take, why hasn't it happened already?

Unfortunately, friendlyjordies has fudged the numbers by more than a little. He says less than the 300,000 people who marched in days of action need to switch their super, and they'll make lots of money doing it, when the real number is more like half of all Australians, and returns are definitely not guaranteed. But before we get to that, there are a few big problems with the plan itself.

The biggest warning sign for me was the price tag. According to the report by these research and campaign heavyweights, the cost of transitioning Australia to a zero-carbon grid within ten years is a whopping $788 billion AUD (in 2018). That's several times the amount the federal government recently splashed out to stop our economy going into freefall because of the present pandemic; but more to the point, it's a lot larger than the price given by Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE). Nearly double as much. Their 2010 plan to decarbonise our grid is fully costed, and their initial capital investment is much lower at $370 billion AUD (in 2018 terms, $434 billion AUD). So why the difference?

The reason is, the frame of reference is completely different. The BZE Stationary Energy Plan is, above all, an engineering one; they look at the technical challenge and devise a way to overcome it. The ISF plan, on the other hand, is written from the point of view of an investment firm; they are more preoccupied with the return on investment (ROI), and how technologically sound the solution is doesn't matter as much as if it will generate a 7% ROI.

From the ISF plan

Although they haven't published the technical details the way BZE have, the overall breakdown of energy type in the ISF plan suggests the oversimplification that has led them to arrive at a figure nearly double that of BZE: more than half of power would come from solar photovoltaics (PV).

 

Solar PV and wind power have both been very good investments in recent years, with returns of around 10% on investment. So if that's the metric you're starting with, they seem like a good bet - just keep building them until we have enough, right?

This is the finance world equivalent of everyone in the country just buying 100% renewable energy. As I've talked about in the first post of the 1.5c lifestyle series, our grid doesn't actually work like that - and in fact, we're very close to reaching the limit at which intermittent distributed PV power and wind will start causing problems, unless there are major reforms by the regulators and governments. We are already likely to have days of 75% renewable energy by 2025 - and at that point, the regular will have to switch off power plants to maintain stability. Once that happens, the ROI on those assets will plunge.

The major changes that we need are ones that friendlyjordies and the ISF plan don't talk about - they are ones that market investment can't give us - and they are ones that the BZE plan has modelled and costed. They are grid connections from coast to coast, upgraded transmission lines, large-scale storage, and flattening our evening peaks.

While friendlyjordies does also lampoon the backward-thinking, bucket hat-wearing Dad for asking "what about when the sun doesn't shine?" - the truth is, that's a serious technical challenge. Australians use the most electricity on hot evenings in the summer and shoulder seasons, when they get home and switch on the AC - right as the sun is setting. This isn't an insurmountable challenge; the BZE plan fixes it, by investing in solid upgrades to our transmission infrastructure, linking the two main WA grids to the east coast NEM, and making concentrated solar thermal (CST) with inbuilt molten salt storage the backbone of our grid. That way, when the sun has set on Sydney and Melbourne, our AC units can still be chugging away on daylight in Perth.

The cost of linking the grids like this is significant, and returns on investment are not likely to be 7%. The Australian Energy Regulator recently approved a major interconnector between NSW and SA, which will provide both states with extra stability for distribution in peaks and troughs, as well as reducing the upfront cost of new renewable plants in western NSW. Even this 850km expansion, costing $1.53 billion (in 2020 dollars), is only estimated to return $269 million in likely net benefits - 12.5% overall, but most of these come in indirect consumer savings from dispatchable power and new investment in renewables, not directly from the interconnector's operational income.

The BZE plan puts a price tag of $93 billion AUD on the transmission upgrades required to convert our grid to renewables. This is a cost that will have to be paid, sooner or later - but without a likely ROI from the asset, a responsible super fund manager would never shell out the funds for it.

Then there's the question of energy storage. This is the main answer to Mr. Bucket Hat Dad, and Malcolm Turnbull's Snowy 2.0  is the kind of answer we've been given. There are major problems with that approach - which is why BZE made concentrated solar thermal, with in-built molten salt storage systems, the backbone of their plan. But the up-front costs are higher than solar PV, and despite it being commercially proven overseas, the market will not invest in CST in Australia.

At this point, I can only repeat that the ISF plan hasn't released detailed schematics of their plans. But it would seem that they have arrived at their huge number of $788 billion by picking the most profitable assets, and then massively duplicating them, until enough is built to run the NEM and WA's disconnected grids separately, and there is enough wind and solar power assets to keep on running the grid even when wind doesn't blow or sun doesn't shine.

The kicker is, as they don't seem to have incorporated any kind of storage, that most of these duplicated assets will be sitting idle most of the time. That isn't the case for renewable energy assets today. Bye bye 7% ROI - idle assets that are not selling electricity to the market don't make money.

This plan doesn't hold any water.

Even without all of those details, how has friendlyjordies fudged the numbers? Well, he himself admits 80% of Future Super's money goes into other things than renewable assets, even for their renewable-focused Renewables Plus. The rest sound like good things, don't get me wrong. But in order to reach our 7.7% of super fund assets needed to fund the switch to 100% renewables, then 38.5% of Australians would have to switch to Future Super, or other funds which are putting an equal amount of money into renewables. That's a lot more than the 300,000 who protested over the last summer; it's more than the 4.7 million (33%) who voted Labor in the last election.

So if the 300,000 people protesting in the streets all switched their super (assuming none of them were already ethical investors), we'd get a small portion of the way to 100% renewables. It might tip the stationary energy balance something like 5% towards renewables over the next ten years - not nothing, but a drop in the ocean compared to the task ahead of us.

But surely, friendlyjordies might ask, that 5% is better than achieving nothing, like you and your "crap signs" did in days of climate strikes?

It is true that our government doesn't seem to have budged very far on climate change. But Australians have. In the six months from July 2019 to January 2020, we went from 37% of Australians being "very concerned" about climate change to 47%, and from 43% thinking we are already suffering the impacts to 57%. The number of us "not very concerned" shrank over the same period from 16% to 11%.

Climate protests in that time cannot take sole credit. The summer of bushfires - and the fact that emergency service bureaucrats came out to say they were the product of climate change - no doubt helped shift the conversation. But so did hundreds of thousands of passionate youth. They may not have much in their super balance (and let's be honest, neither do I) - but they know that we cannot leave it up to the markets to solve climate change.

And as someone who attended the climate protests, there's another flaw in friendlyjordies logic; above all, the protests were an expression of anger by a generation of youth, whose future is being trashed - and who don't have much in the way of superannuation balances to switch. In 2017-18, even 25-34 year olds only had an average balance of $33,200 for women and $41,700 for men. Under 25s (the majority of the 300,000) don't even rate a mention. Those aged 45 and up have the decisive amount of the super pool, to invest as they see fit. Definitely not the majority of the protestors.

Voting with your wallet? It means that those with more money get more votes, even though they won't be the ones still around to live with the consequences.

My super is due to mature in 2055. If we haven't ditched our neoliberal obsession with market mechanisms and bloody well built the kind of smart grid that can support 100% renewables within a few years, then the worst-case scenario is collapse of civilization five years before I'm due to claim my lump sum. So I'm not particularly concerned about 7% returns, and I don't want us to fart around with the most profitable solutions when we have the technical know-how to do the job.

Protestors 10 or 15 years my junior, no doubt, care about it even less. They aren't voting with their wallets - they are voting with their feet. And they are doing it right.

We must take action now, regardless of the ROI.

Palestine: Intensified boycott campaign responds to Israel's intensified repression

Originally published by Green Left Weekly, December 4.

 

Israel has detained at least 1200 children since October 1.

As the latest upsurge in mass Palestinian resistance to Israel's occupation entered its third month, the world marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 29.

The date marks the UN's recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer state in 2012, as well as the adoption of the original UN partition plan in 1947, that divided Palestine into two states.

Governments and international bodies around the world took the opportunity to express solidarity with the Palestinian people. Yet there are no signs that the self-styled “international community” — in reality, the Western imperialist countries and their allies — are making the radical shift away from supporting Israel's crimes that true solidarity would entail.

The day before, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) issued a damning statement announcing the number of Palestinians arrested by the occupying forces since October 1 had reached 2400 — half of them children under 18.

The death toll from the recent violence is 104 Palestinians, 21 Israelis, one American and one Eritrean, Al Jazeera reported on November 30.

The death of Palestinians have been obfuscated by Israel's propaganda machine, with victims slandered as "stone throwers" or "knife attackers".

Extrajudicial killings
An example of this was the murder of Ashraqat Taha Ahmad Qatanani, 16 years old, at Huwarra checkpoint on November 22. She was run over by a prominent Israeli settler, Gershon Mesika, whose car ran off the road after striking Qatanani.

He alleged, without any evidence, she was about to attempt a stabbing of Israelis waiting at the checkpoint's bus stop. “I didn't think twice: I stepped on the gas,” he told Arutz Sheva that day. Arutz Sheva dubbed Mesika a "hero civilian" who "thwarted a stabbing".

After Mesika ran her down, nearby soldiers shot the wounded teenager, who died at the scene.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited the US in November, took the opportunity to press Barack Obama's government to recognise the illegal settlements built on Palestinian land in the West Bank, Haaretz reported on November 24.

Internet access
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has finally allowed for West Bank Palestinians to access 3G mobile internet infrastructure, with an agreement signed by Israel's Army Coordinator Yoav Mordachai and Palestine's Minister for Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh on November 19.

Mamoun Mattar, a Palestinian IT and broadcasting expert, told Al Jazeera on November 29: “I am not sure it is that advantageous now to go to 3G while all surrounding countries are using 4G and are preparing for 5G.”

He said Israel had only allowed the concession as they had already upgraded their network to 4G, leaving the frequencies vacant. However, communication will still be restricted — and Gazan Palestinians won't be granted access to 3G at all.

BDS backlash
The strongest international responses to the latest wave of oppression have been through the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). Some important BDS campaigns have come to fruition.

The American Anthropological Association overwhelmingly voted to support boycotting Israeli academic institutions on November 20, joining a number of United States academic bodies which have supported the academic boycott in recent years.

Campaign group Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions declared the victory “a historic day for the Association, affirming the finest anti-colonial, anti-racist traditions within the discipline of anthropology.”

And while it falls far short of full BDS against Israel, the European Union's decision to mandate all Israeli settlement goods be clearly labelled on November 11 poses a real threat to Israel's attempts to annex the West Bank by stealth through ever-expanding settlements.

Hysteria over BDS
The decision has resulted in hysteria in Israel, with Netanyahu responding that the decision “brings back dark memories”, alluding to the boycott of Jewish businesses during the 1930s. Other Israeli government ministers repeated the clichéd denunciations of “disguised anti-Semitism”.

Netanyahu even announced on November 29, International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, that Israel would unilaterally suspend the European Union from peace talks between Israel and Palestine.

Hysteria over BDS has even led Israel's parliament, the Knesset, to pass the initial reading of a law that would “bar anyone who publicly calls to boycott Israel or part of Israel from entering the country.” Lawmaker MK Yinon Magal said, “Anyone who wants to boycott is welcome to do so from Syria.”

The Israeli hysteria over BDS, or even partial measures like the EU's settlement labelling decisions, is an indication that international solidarity with Palestine can be effective.

Israeli military companies have recently begun to feel the impact, with their exports last year falling to just 53% of their 2012 peak, prompting Israel's four biggest arms dealers to write a letter warning Netanyahu of a “major crisis”.

But the Australian subsidiary Israeli arms dealer Elbit, which was targeted by BDS protesters in 2014, hopes to kick-start their faltering exports with a new joint bid with Australian manufacturer Elphinstone Group to build 225 Sentinel II vehicles for the Australian Defence Forces (ADF).

This should be the focus of protests.

Occupied Palestine: Israeli provocations escalate violence

Originally published by Green Left Weekly on November 16.

Israel has introduced dramatic new restrictions on Palestinians living in the city of Hebron in response to recent violence and mass resistance in the occupied West Bank.

Residents of the Tel Rumeida suburb of Hebron's old quarter have been interrogated and registered by Israeli soldiers. Residents must undergo rigorous searches every time they wish to leave or enter their homes, while outside residents have been refused entry altogether, Mondoweiss reported on November 11.

The restrictions, which have been in place since October 29, were described by a resident as being, “Just like in prison. They try to make you a number, you're not a person”.

The Tel Rumeida suburb is the flashpoint for tensions between Palestinians and illegal Israeli settlers and military. It is the location of the settlement of Ramat Yeshai, first established in 1984. The area is known for “price tag attacks” (where any attack on settlers is responded to by indiscriminate violence against Palestinians), and graffiti slogans such as “gas the Arabs”.

Unsurprisingly, the Israeli military defends the settlers in their campaign of terror against residents of Hebron's old city. The New York Times reported on October 30 that the new “precautionary measures” were taken by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) “in order to contain potential attacks in the future and maintain the safety and well being of Israelis”.

Israeli human rights group B'tselem has dubbed the restrictions of movement “a collective punishment”. It said Israeli and international peace monitors have also been barred from entering the area, allowing for further rights violations to go undocumented.

Movement has also been restricted between the entire old quarter of Hebron and the neighbouring suburbs and villages, with key roads being bulldozed shut.

Although they have been justified as “containing potential attacks”, the restrictions are a clear provocation by the Israeli military. The closure of the old quarter also lays the groundwork for further land grabs by settlers in the hotly-contested city.

In another provocation by the occupation forces earlier in October, Israeli soldiers shut down Aida Camp, in Bethlehem, and delivered residents a chilling warning that they would “gas you all until you die”.

The incident occurred late in the night on October 29. It was captured on video by Yazan Ikhlayel, 17, from the local youth centre, and quickly went viral on social media.

The Border Police soldiers, addressing the camp via megaphones on their jeeps, identified themselves as the “Occupation Army” and warned they would kill “the children, the youth, the old people” if they did not stop throwing stones.

“The most important thing I want people to see when they watch this video is to realise what the Israeli 'democracy' really is,” Ikhlayel told Middle East Eye on October 30.

“They have said it for us now, they are an occupation — they said 'we are the occupation army'. It is proof, this is an apartheid country, it is not democratic at all.”

These threats, like the restrictions of movement in Hebron, are a clear example of disproportionate and collective punishment. They are also a provocation that could only be aimed at escalated violence.

The Times of Israel reported the officer responsible for the operation was suspended the day after the incident.

In yet another deliberate provocation, this one directed at both Palestinians and the US government, the Jerusalem municipality signed off on 891 new settlement blocks in the Gilo settlement, the Palestine News Network reported on November 11.

The settlement of Gilo was built on land expropriated from the East Jerusalem suburb of Beit Safafa and the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala. The announcement followed the approval of 2200 apartments in Ma'ale Michmas settlement east of Ramallah on November 10.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the announcements during his tour of the US, insultingly dismissing the size of the built up settlement areas as “just a few percent.”

Yet, as the shutdown of Hebron shows, the goal of settlements is to make life as difficult for neighbouring Palestinians as possible. The ultimate goal is to force Palestinians to give up and leave — a new, large scale ethnic cleansing.

Palestinians have responded with their own call for an escalation — calling for a global intensification of the boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) campaign targetting Israel.

Uniting efforts behind the hashtag #SolidarityWaveBDS, the Palestinian BDS national committee called for activists to take “international solidarity with the Palestinian popular resistance to the next level”.

The push has already borne some fruit, with the European Commission issuing a new guideline on November 11 that all products from Israeli settlements must be labelled as such.

If we want to stop the daily provocations and injustices of the Israeli occupation, then solidarity activists in Australia and around the world should redouble our efforts for BDS against Israel.

What Can You Do For Palestine?

If you're in Australia and looking for a way to make humanitarian donations that you know will reach their destination, then I recommend donating to the APHEDA Gaza appeal. They have supported many different projects in Gaza and the West Bank, including the el-Wafa hospital which was recently bombed by Israel.

Longer term, one of the most useful projects I've been involved with is the Keep Hope Alive olive harvesting program. Travelling to the West Bank and taking part in the harvest was one of the most useful things I feel like I have done; the planting is harder work, but speaking to those who have done it, even more fulfilling.

Keep yourself informed - here in Australia we have a corporate media which, at best, equates the violence of the occupied with that of the occupier, and at worst echoes Tony Abbott's "We Are All Israeli" line. Sites like Electronic Intifada and +972 are great trustworthy sources. This open letter from Gaza is worth reading too.

And then engage in information making, too - share to your networks, whether social media or around your workplace or communities. Update Wikipedia pages so those who are looking for easy answers don't get the wrong ones.

Go beyond your comfort zone. Unfortunately I work weekends and haven't been able to attend many local rallies personally, but if you can, please do. We don't have the strength of institutional bias or resources that defenders of Zionism do, but we have justice on our side, and when we unite in mass action that narrative can win through. The next Sydney rally is on August 3.

Freedom and justice For Gaza: Boycott action against 7 complicit companies | BDSmovement.net

Freedom and justice For Gaza: Boycott action against 7 complicit companies | BDSmovement.net

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel's regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct suppport from governments in North America and Europe but also from corporations that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights violations.



There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every conscientious person and organisation around the world to target the following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

At a time of such horror and such hypocrisy from our leaders here in Australia and elsewhere in the world, the movement for BDS against Israel gives us a way to take the power of solidarity into our own hands and stand up for the Palestinians.

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

regime
of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Alex Bainbridge at March in March

A League fans protests mismanagement, heavy-handed security

Originally published in Green Left Weekly.

In what the Sydney Morning Herald described as the "darkest night" in Sydney Football Club's history, active supporters of the A-League football (soccer) club ― known as "the Cove" ― staged a walkout during the February 8 match against Adelaide United in protest against heavy-handed security tactics.

The Cove displayed banners as the teams entered the pitch stating "We want [Head Coach Frank] Farina gone". A banner in Russian also called for club CEO Tony Pignata and chair of the board Scott Barlow to be sacked by David Traktovenko, Russian banker and sole owner of SFC.

Security staff at Allianz Stadium confiscated the banner shorly afterwards and took the membership of the fan folding it up on the spot. The active support walked out.

Fans gathered at the rear of the stadium, chanting "back the team, sack the board" for the rest of the night. Inside the stadium, another fan threw a beer on Farina, while the team lost 3-0.

Pignata and Barlow blamed the confiscation on "a staff member of Sydney FC who was located at pitch level during the game" and said protocols would be put into place to ensure that "every fan has the right to peacefully and respectfully voice their opinions".

After the incident, the club announced several meetings to engage the fans. However, if the examples from other clubs are any indication, it is unlikely the fans will be given much say in the club's direction.

After a long history of passionate engagement by active fans, Melbourne Victory Football Club announed new standards were being imposed for the start of the 2013-14 A-League season.

New measures introduced by the club included "barcode scanning, perimeter taping and removal of crew banners".

This means the club is removing areas from "general admission", severely restricting freedom of movement in areas set aside for active support, which includes activities such as singing, chanting, dancing and banner waving.

In the letter, the club blamed the A-League's governing body, the Football Federation Australia (FFA), for mandating that all areas, including active areas, have designated seats as part of the conditions of clubs holding a licence.

The leadership group for the North Terrace active support, the North Terrace Collective (NTC), has made general admission in its area during home games and the freedom for fans to move around active bays a "non-negotiable" in their ongoing closed-doors negotiations with the club.

With the club unwilling to budge, the NTC has since boycotted the designated active area in all home games.

The letter detailed several concessions offered by club management in negotiations with the NTC, including trialling ad-hoc admission for those seated in other areas to the active bays and offering members guest passes.

However, after a widely-reported incident, away from the venue, between small numbers of Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers fans before a December 28 match in Melbourne, the FFA had mandated member only active bays as part of the suspended sentence imposed on both clubs on January 2.

These sentences apply to both the north and south terraces for Melbourne Victory fans and the Wanderers' Red and Black Bloc. They were announced without consultation from either group.
A February 12 statement on the North Terrace Facebook page said negotiations with the club were ongoing but "progress has slowed" since the sentence was being applied. It said, "understanding and respect for organised, independent active support in this country — from the governing body down ― is evidently a long way from being achieved."

The security measures come in a context of Australian media racist dog-whistling against A-League fans, espeically active support. Yet all they have delivered is the ongoing boycott of active bays.

During Melbourne Victory's Asian Champions League qualifier against Thai club Muanthong United, fans displayed banners calling for "More Club, Less Franchise" and "Robson out", targeting Melbourne Victory Chief Executive Ian Robson, who has been leading negotiations with the supporters.

Despite such fan protests, the A-league is set for more billionaire antics with the puchase of an 80% stake in perennial under-performer Melbourne Heart by Manchester City ― the English Premier League giant owned by Sheikh Mansour of Dubai's ruling family.

Meanwhile, a consortium publicly headed by Primo Smallgoods owner Paul Lederer is set to buy the Western Sydney Wanderers for $12 million. Singaporean businessperson Jefferson Cheng is the primary financial backer.

But is such corporate ownership the best way to build the league and the world game in Australia?
SFC fans point out the problems with the club are bigger than Farina and stem from a culture of nepotism. Barlow, the board chair, is the son-in-law of owner Traktovenko.

What is the solution? The route taken in establishing the Wanderers in 2012 gives an indication. There was serious community engagement to decide key aspects of the club and strong connections with existing amateur and semi-professional clubs in the region were forged. This has helped establish the club as one of the most loyally and passionately supported within its short existence.

That degree of engagement was necessary for the FFA to win an $8 million grant from the then Gillard Labor government for the development of grassroots football in Western Sydney.

But will the club continue to offer such genuine engagement with fans now it is under corporate ownership?

Or will we see the kind of tokenistic fan engagement as has been offered to Sydney and Melbourne Victory supporters ― at most, winning the right to actively support their clubs on their terms, but never with a say over how the club is governed?

There is another option, which second-tier Queensland-based National Premier League club Northern Fury has opted for as part of its bid to build support for re-entering top-flight football.

The club launched a much-awaited community ownership option this month, in which ordinary supporters hold ownership over the club. This follows the example of Germany's Bundesliga (the nation's top league), where clubs are 51% owned by members.

Club chairperson Rabieh Krayem said members would "actually having a say in the club by voting for the board of directors" ― something a world away from the experiences of Melbourne Victory or Sydney supporters.

Tunisia: Opposition prepares for 'Week of Rage'

Catching up my articles from August. Originally published in Green Left Weekly.

In a move aimed at demobilising and splitting the opposition, the leaders of Tunisia's governing party, Ennahda, reached out to Beji Caid Essebsi, leader of the secular ex-regime party Nidaa Tounes. It was part of a bid to resolve the political crisis that has crippled the north African nation for weeks.

In a meeting in Paris on August 15, Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi offered Essebsi the presidency and four ministries in a new government if his party supported resuming the suspended National Constituent Assembly (NCA), reported Tunisia Live.

“Leaders of Ennahdha are seeking alliances with Nidaa Tounes and are discrediting the Popular Front,” Ammar Amrousia, a leader of the Popular Front coalition of left parties, said in response.

Business News Tunisia said the Popular Front and General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) were potentially being excluded from the deal ― and that Ennahda was under pressure from the European Union and United States to strike such a compromise.

Secular parties
Since the assassination of Popular Front figure Mohammed Brahmi on July 25, some of the non-government secular parties have been united in the streets with the Popular Front and other left groups, demanding the NCA be dissolved and a non-partisan government to oversee immediate elections.

The move by Ennahda, the senior government partner after the NCA elections in October 2011, could weaken the support base of the protests and divide the broader masses who have mobilised in recent weeks against the government.

Nidaa is the largest party in the Union for Tunisia alliance of secular democratic parties, which brings together social democratic party al-Massar, the al-Joumhouri (Republican) Party and ex-regime figures such as Essebsi.

Although Nidaa has not thrown its full weight behind the protests in the Tunis suburb of Bardo, al-Massar and al-Joumhouri have both done so.

Essebsi, who acted as prime minister in the interim government after the overthrow of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, pressure the Union for Tunisia to withdraw from street protests if such a deal is struck.

Mohsen Marzouk, a member of the Nidaa Tounes executive committee, told Al Jazeera that the party would “not accept any one-on-one deal with Ennahdha and that discussions must continue between all parties, including civil society as represented by the UGTT”. However, another high-level meeting between the parties will reportedly take place this week.

Seeking a more direct route to end the crisis, a group of NCA members opposing the body's suspension began circulating a petition of no confidence in the speaker, Mustafa Ben Jafaar, reported Tunisia Live on August 21. Ben Jafaar, from “troika” government partner Ettakatol, suspended the NCA on August 6 in the face of huge protests.

On August 22 Tunisia Live said Ennahda had accepted a UGTT proposal for “national dialogue”. However, Ennahda statements reaffirmed the party wouldn't accept the demand for the NCA's dissolution, and that the Troika government would continue working until “national consensus” was reached.

Bardo sit-in
While these movers were taking place, Prime Minister Ali Larayedh told state news agency TAP that “there will be no hesitation or retreat against those who, by terrorism, anarchy or rebellion, jeopardize the state institutions,” after the opposition declared another week of protests, dubbed the “Week of Rage”, would begin on August 24.

In response, Hamma Hammami, Worker's Party and Popular Front leader, told AFP that “we have not called for violence... just for peaceful sit-ins to get rid of the coalition in power and of officials appointed for their political affiliations and not their competence”.

The ongoing “sit-in of departure” (rahil in Arabic) at the NCA's chambers in Bardo has continued; after the police removed tents from the site at August 9, the camp was rebuilt on August 16. An outdoor cinema was set up at the site on August 21.

Since Brahmi's murder, the Popular Front and Nidaa Tounes have both joined a “National Salvation Front” demanding a technocratic government to oversee fresh elections and both have supported the "rahil" sit-in and major protests against the regime.

But friction between the two groups before the most recent maneuvers by Ennahda has been notable; the Front declared both the Troika and Nidaa Tounes “extreme” and declared it would seek to break their duopoly in the political sphere when it first formed in October last year.

Nonetheless, in June journalist Yosr Dridi accused the Popular Front of “anti-revolutionary conversion” by seeking a closer alliance with Nidaa Tounes against Ennahda.

Debate over law
A key point separating the Popular Front and Nidaa is the draft Law for the Protection of the Revolution, being drawn up by the government to put to the NCA.

The draft law would ban figures from Ben Ali's regime from holding public office for a period of time. But Ennahda quickly signalled it would be willing to compromise on the law once the current crisis began.

“Canceling or delaying it is possible as long as it comes through dialogue with all blocs in the Constituent Assembly, because there are some that back the law,” Ghannouchi told Reuters on August 5.

“Another possibility is to tighten it so that fewer people are included, or so the time period is shorter,” he said.

It is widely believed that Nidaa, which includes many ex-regime figures, is opposed to the law. In response to the negotiations between Ennahda and Nidaa, Ammar Amrousia said: “If Nidaa Tounes is exempted from the law for the protection of the revolution, they will reach an agreement with Ennahdha."

The Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution ― pro-Ennahda militias ― have announced they will turn on the party at election time if the law is not passed. “If Ennahdha decides to cancel the law, we will wage a war against it,” LPR press attache Nasreddine Wazfa told Tunisia Live on August 6.

Although more attention by the government has been focused on Salafists ― the suspect identified in the murder of Brahmi and Chokri Belaid, Aboubaker al-Hakim, belongs to Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia ― the Leagues for Protection of the Revolution also has a track record of using violence.

Many suspect the Leagues killed Belaid. The Leagues also led an assault on the headquarters of the UGTT in December.

Popular Front leader Mongi Rahoui (who succeeded Chokri Belaid as head of the Democratic Patriots' Movement) told Al Jazeera that he and other Front leaders were still being intimidated in a campaign by Ennahda supporters to silence dissent.

“When a party manoeuvres to position itself to control the administration, and to create an atmosphere of violence so that opposition politicians will be afraid, we cannot remain inactive,” he told AJE on August 20.

Both Rahoui and Besma Khalfaoui have reported threatening vehicles frequently approaching their homes, forcing them to relocate daily.

Perhaps aimed at addressing criticism of the security situation, the military has launched an offensive against radical Islamist groups centred on Chaambi Mountain, on the border with Algeria. Eight soldiers were killed at the site just days after Brahmi's assassination, on July 29.

And in the hours before Brahmi's funeral, a bomb was planted beneath a police car in the La Goulette suburb of Tunis. After several hours, police arrested two suspects, reportedly linked to a “radical religious group”.

Worsening economic situation
The assassinations of Belaid and Brahmi, and the climate of political crisis following, have only partly impacted on broader social struggles.

The number of strikes has declined significantly from last year. Ministry of Social Affairs figures indicate 9% of Tunisian workers took part in strikes during the first half of 2013, compared to 41% last year. But the number of days lost rose by 37%, increased by the general strikes called in response to Belaid's murder.

Other strikes have also taken up political issues as well as basic wages and conditions. A week-long strike in the port of Rades by employees of the Tunisian Company for Stevedoring and Handling erupted over comments by the company's CEO that privatisation of the port was on the agenda in early July.

The strike was called off after reassurances from the ministry of transport that was not the case ― as well as the resignation of the CEO.

Recent strikes have also been waged by shopkeepers in the Medina of Tunis against monopolisation. Earlier in the year, taxi drivers struck to protest fuel price rises.

The economic and political issues that drove Tunisians to revolt under Ben Ali's rule remain challenges for the Troika. A recent Gallup poll showing approval of national leadership fell dramatically from 60% in May to 23% by March 2013.

The poll also found that levels of anxiety over economic issues remain high, with 71% reporting it is a bad time to find work and 41% reporting it is difficult to get by on their household income.

So long as Tunisians remain under these economic pressures, then the demands of the January 14 revolution ― work, dignity and freedom ― remain unfulfilled.

Tunisia: Daily Protests as Assembly Crisis Grows

Catching up from August. Originally published in Green Left Weekly.

Daily protests are demanding the dissolution of Tunisia's National Constituent Assembly (NCA) in the wake the assassination of Popular Front leader Mohamed Brahmi.

In the face of the protests, leader of the Ettakatol party and speaker of the NCA Mustafa Ben Jafaar announced the suspension of the body on August 6.

However, the main party of government, Islamist group Ennahda, has refused to concede the dissolution of the NCA, in which it holds the largest number of seats. Ennahda now looks to have negotiated the NCA's resumption.

In response to the weeks of protests, as well as the recent ouster of President Mohamad Morsi in Egypt, thousands of Ennahda supporters rallied on August 2 at Kasbah square. They demanded, "no to coups, yes to elections".

Reuters reported Ennahda party leader Rachid Ghannouchi told the demonstration: "Tunisia is a candle whose revolution lit up the world but now they (the opposition) want to put it out by trying to set off a coup."

Estimates of attendance vary wildly. Ennahda officials said 150,000 attended, while media website Al-Monitor reported 12,000–15,000.

On the other hand, independant analysis by a variety of sources suggests at least 95,000 joined the anti-government demonstration on August 6. the day marked the six-month anniversary of the asssassination of antoher Popular Front leader, Chokri Belaid.

The widows of Belaid and Brahmi, Basma Khalfaoui and Mbarka Brahmi, took part in the march from Bab Saadoun to Bardo, where the NCA building is located. The Popular Front began planning for the anniversary march to demand justice for Belaid before Brahmi was assassinated on July 25.

After the major rally, the "sit-in of dissolution" at Bardo continued, joined by opposition delegates from the NCA who have resigned in protest. The protest has continued nightly since Brahmi's funeral.

On August 9, police removed tents set up at the site, prompting activists involved in the Tunisian "Tamarod" movement taking part in the sit-in to declare a hunger strike on August 10.

A few days later, rival pro- and anti-government rallies marked National Women's Day, commemmorating the passage of landmark laws affirming the rights of women in 1956 under Habib Bourguiba, dictator before Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

And on this occasion, numbers reported at the anti-government protest at Bardo — up to 150,000, according to Al-Monitor — hugely outweighed the few thousand joining the pro-government protest at Avenue Habib Bourguiba.

The opposition rally heard from feminist activists, Popular Front leader Hamma Hammami, and Khalfaoui and Brahmi — who both accused Ennahda of responsibility for their husband's deaths.

Mbarka Brahmi quoted from Sahbi Attig, Ennahda member of parliament, who in early July called for "trampling in the streets those who rebelled against legitimacy".

The suspension of the NCA, which is well overdue to deliver a draft constitution, was announced as a way to sidestep the pressure of the protests — but the mass turn-out on National Women's Day indicates frustration with the Islamists in government has coalesced.

In response to the situation, Ghannounchi told La Presse on August 8: "There are excessive demands at protests for the dissolution of the elected government ... In democratic regimes, protests don't change governments."

Ennahda has described Ben Jaffar's unilateral decision to suspend the NCA as a coup, which has been echoed by the network of pro-Ennahda militias known as the "Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution", who called their members to protest it.

However, after only a week, delegates from the governing "troika" of Ennahda, Ettakatol and the Congress for the Republic (CPR), as well as the Wafa movement, announced they had agreed to resume their work in the NCA from August 19.

Whether or not the National Salvation Front, which brings together the radical Popular Front along with centrist democratic forces and the secular ex-regime party, Nidaa Tounes, will hold together in the face of the resumption of the NCA remains to be seen.

The left is taking risks in uniting with such forces in order to galvanise broad opposition to Ennahda.
Yet the sit-in continues to gain momentum. Blogger Lina Ben Mhenni reported that those taking part began rebuilding tents on August 16 as a new contingent from Sousse joined the demonstration, signalling intent to hold strong in the demands for justice.

Tunisia: Assassination throws government into chaos

Reposted from July. Originally published in Green Left Weekly.

For the second time in six months, Tunisia's government has been thrown into chaos after the killing of a left-wing leader. Mohamed Brahmi, a leader of Tunisia's Popular Front, was assassinated on July 25.

Brahmi was attacked by two men on motorbike outside his home in Ariana, a suburb of Tunis, and was shot 11 times. He was taken to Mahmoud Matri Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

His widow M'barka told radio station Mosaique FM: “He died as a martyr to his opinion and position”, Tunisia Live said. She added that “he was killed by a terrorist gang”.

Brahmi was an activist for many years under Ben Ali's dictatorship. He was born in the impoverished interior town of Sidi Bouzid, where the uprising that overthrew Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 began. After the 2011 uprising, he founded the Popular Movement.

On April 9, the Popular Movement joined with the Popular Front, which is made up of a large variety of radical left groups involved in the trade union and other social movements.

On July 7, Brahmi resigned from the Popular Movement after it rescinded the decision to join the front.

In the aftermath of the killing, interior minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou announced that the same gun used to kill Brahmi had been used to assassinate Chokri Belaid six months earlier.

Belaid, also a Popular Front leader was killed in similar circumstances, gunned down by assailants on motorbikes outside his home on February 6.

Ben Jeddou named a suspect, Islamic fundamnetalist Boubacar Hakim, also wanted on suspicion of smuggling weapons from Libya. He has been connected with the al Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Sharia.

However, the group denied responsibility in a Facebook statement, calling Brahmi's killing "a political assassination, part of attempts to push the country toward chaos".

Brahmi's murder "only profits remnants of the former regime and lackeys of the Zionists and Crusaders", it said.

The response to the killing was swift, with protests breaking out across the country. A general strike on July 26 shut down banks, shops and flights, as thousands rallied in Tunis to join Brahmi's funeral procession.

Demonstrations took place around the country, with a police station and offices of the ruling Ennahda party set on fire in Siliana.

Popular Front activist Mohamed Mofti was killed in the southern mining town of Gafsa after being struck in the head by a tear gas canister. Tear gas was also used to disperse protests demanding the dissolution of the government in Tunis, Sidi Bouzid, Siliana, Montastir and Sfax.

Protesters in Tunis converged on the Bardo square, location of the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) that is overdue to release a new draft constitution. The Islamist Ennahda party, in a "troika" alliance with two secular parties, holds a majority in the NCA, and the interim government.

Protesters converged on the Bardo on July 26 to demand the dissolution of the Ennahda-led government and the NCA.

They were met by a smaller number of government supporters who rallied across the square, chanting "there's no room for Sisi" — comparing the calls to dissolve the government to the recent ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt by the military.

Despite their similar positions as post-dictatorship democracies with Islamist governments, comparisons between the current events to those in Egypt, where large liberal secular protests preceded the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood government by the military, are weak at best.

A "Tunisian Tamarod" movement, demanding a constitution which would represent all Tunisians and not only Islamists, gained 200,000 signatures in June, but was unable to make a big impact or mobilise strong support on the streets.

Beji Caid Essebsi, the leader of the ex-regime Tunisia Call Party, used the opportunity to demand the dissolution of the NCA. He also criticised a proposed law that would extend a ban on ex-regime figures taking office.

This demand has also been raised by the Popular Front. In an interview with International Viewpoint, leader of the socialist Workers' Left League Alhelm Belhadj said: "The government has failed ... it was put in place to manage a transitional period of one year. Eighteen months have gone by and the essential tasks for which it was there, those of the Constitution, have not been fulfilled."

The Popular Front had proposed to launch a big national protest movement for justice for Chokri Belaid on August 6, before Brahmi's murder.

The anti-government sit-in at the Bardo was dispersed on July 27. The police claimed they were intervening to prevent violence between the two camps in the square after a spate of "stone throwing".

Thousands of anti-government protesters resumed their "Sit-in of Departure" on July 28, where they remained until August 2.

Sixty-five members of the NCA have withdrawn from the body in protest; several have been taking part in the sit-in.

Ennahda spokespeople have announced they are willing to discuss forming a government of national unity, but refuse to discuss dissolving the NCA.

Tunisia: Government in crisis as uproar over killing spreads

Putting up some of my writing from Tunisia's February crisis. Originally published by Green Left Weekly.

The assassination of left-wing leader Chokri Belaid has thrown the interim government of Tunisia, led by Islamist party Ennahda (the Renaissance), into a deep crisis. Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali has threatened to resign if his proposed "technocratic" solution can't be implemented.

The death of Belaid, a well-respected leader of the united left group Popular Front, led to widespread protests, including tens of thousands on the streets of Tunis for his memorial on February 8.

Jebali, a member of Ennahda, responded to the crisis by proposing a government of “technocrats”, like the one that ruled after the resignation of PM Mohamed Ghannouchi in February 2011. Such a government would hurry the writing of the new constitution, now in the hands of the Constituent Assembly (CA), and organise new elections.

This move has put him at odds with Ennahda party leaders. Fethi Ayadi, president of Ennahdha party's Shura Council, told Express FM radio on February 11 that the party opposes Jebali's proposition.

Protesters were quick to blame Ennahda for Belaid's assassination. Party headquarters were attacked with stones and Molotov cocktails across the country. As yet, the killers have not been identified by police.

On February 11, journalist Zied El Heni reported "very serious information" concerning the assassination, including the names of government members, to the tribunal into Belaid's death in Tunis, reported Mosaique FM radio.

A February 8 editorial in the British Guardian, however, argued that Ennahda would not benefit from the killing of Belaid. Instead, it identified ex-members of the RCD, dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's party, as being in a position to profit.

On the day Belaid was assassinated, the assembly was due to debate a measure designed to bar former RCD members from office for five years.

However, The Guardian’s defence of Ennahda papers over the party’s inability to reform the security apparatus or effectively deal with political violence. Belaid had told the interior ministry of threats against his life weeks before his death, yet no action was taken, Al Monitor said on February 10.

A new report on Tunisia issued by the International Crisis Group on February 13 identified Ennahda’s inability to rein in political violence as a major issue.

In the absence of an appropriate answer by the authorities and the dominant Islamist party, violence in all its shades "whether tied to social, demographic, urban, political, or religious causes", could well cross a perilous threshold, the report said.

The ICG identified three key areas where action needs to be taken to address violence and discontent: the marginalisation of young, poor Tunisians; the debate between secular and religious forces in the CA; and the movement of jihadi fighers throughout the region.

However, this fails to get to the root of the discontent with the interim government's inability to fulfil the demands of the January 14 revolution.

In a Le Temps piece he authored several weeks before his death, Belaid said: “Two years after the outbreak of the Revolution its... causes are still there. They have deepened, whether at the level of social demands, employment, regional development, social justice or political reality.

"Tunisia is opening a second page in the revolutionary process, against the despotic Ennahda project protecting corruption and consecrating dependency."

A key part of this “second page” has been regional uprisings in interior regions of Sidi Bouzid and Siliana.

Hamma Hammami, spokesperson of the Popular Front, told Express FM Radio on February 13 the Front rejected Jebali's proposal for a technocratic government. It instead proposed a government of “national unity”.

Hammami said the tasks of such a government should include the review of Belaid's case, developing a timeline for the next elections, the establishment of social peace through measures to reduce the high cost of living, job creation, taxing large fortunes, and suspension of foreign debt repayment for two to three years.

Why Boycott Max Brenner

Alternative title: Why Michael Danby thinks I'm a bit of a dill.

The Australian ran an article on May 2 that claimed “the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement has been caught on camera admitting ‘there isn't really any connection’ between Australian Max Brenner chocolate shops and Israel”.

The representative of the movement quoted was yours truly: the quote was from a video made by pro-Israel schoolfriends of an organiser at the November 20 rally in Parramatta, whose questions I tried to answer in such a way that their attacks on our motives would gain no traction. Clearly I failed...

This is my response to the beat up, which had continued in the pages of AJN and the Australian almost daily since then. It was originally published in Green Left Weekly; it was first submitted to the Australian but not published.

***

When I visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in 2011 to take part in environmental volunteer projects, apartheid was plain to see.

West Bank Palestinians were restricted in what roads they could travel on to tend to their fields. Activists were arrested when they tried to highlight this injustice by boarding buses in Israeli settlements, echoing the Freedom Rides fighting segregation in the US.

Every Palestinian house had rainwater tanks because the mains would run dry in summer; the Israeli settlements had irrigated lawns that could rival Sydney's north shore.

So when I came home for Christmas and showed my family the photos I took in the West Bank, they could easily see the comparison. For my family, it's one close to home — my parents met and married in South Africa under apartheid.

However, calling Israel an "apartheid state" means something much more than just a comparison with South Africa before 1994.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which came into force in 2002, defines apartheid as "an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups". This is the crime of which Israel is guilty, with laws of citizenship that discriminate against non Jews, dozens of other examples of institutional racism, and legal distinctions between "Israeli Arabs", West Bank residents and East Jerusalemites — of which 80% live in poverty, according to a recent report.
This is why I campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

The parent company of Max Brenner — a chocolate shop company that has become the focus for the BDS campaign in Australia — is the Strauss Group. It is not merely a financial partner in this apartheid the way many multinationals are. Its support of the Israeli military is as odious as to donate care packages to commandos of the Golani and Givati brigades to "sweeten their special moments".

These brigades are Israel's shock troops. The Givati brigade reached the farthest into Gaza's borders of all units involved in the 2009-10 invasion. The Golani brigade took up station on checkpoints in the Palestinian city of Hebron shortly after I visited the West Bank. Christian Peacemaker Team activists documented a rise in the number of serious human rights violations against the Palestinian people of Hebron at the time.

Max Brenner Australia's relationship to the Strauss group is plain to see, although the company tries to hide it.
 
In an interview in the Australian over Christmas, the general manager of Max Brenner in Australia, Yael Kaminsky, said Max Brenner Australia "never got involved with the Strauss Group ... we only have the franchise rights in Australia and we report to the office of Max Brenner that is based in New York".

Yet the Strauss Group's annual report last year said Max Brenner International in the US is wholly owned by Strauss USA, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Strauss Group Ltd. The report said "the [Strauss] Group operates chocolate bars" in Australia.

Boycotting Max Brenner has nothing to do with the identity of the company's owners, just as the campaign to boycott the French.engineering firm Veolia for its operations in the occupied territories has nothing to do with the religion or race of its bosses.

It is about raising awareness of the Israeli government's crimes in Palestine, and targeting companies involved in those crimes like Strauss (or their local franchises and operations, which also includes two brands of dips, Copperpot and Red Rock Deli).

If the owners of Max Brenner are as truly independent of ties with Israeli apartheid as they claim, they can easily put an end to protests outside their stores by rebranding their store, handing back the franchise rights, and sending a signal that people of all backgrounds condemn Israel's crimes.

Interview: Australian Hazara Youth speak out

Originally published in Green Left Weekly, Sunday, January 27, 2013

 

I spoke to Sahema Saweri, president, and Shoaib Doostizadah, public officer, of the Australian Hazara Students Group, at the January 15 vigil in Melbourne for the victims of the Quetta bomb blasts. ***

Can you tell me what these vigils have been about?
Sahema: The Hazara community has lost about 110 lives in the twin bomb blasts in Quetta, Pakistan, which took place on January 10; these vigils were arranged to stand in solidarity with the people in Quetta. Violence [against Hazaras in Pakistan] started off in 1999 or 2000, with targeted attacks on our leaders, and then it continued to leaders, doctors, teachers, students, and now any Hazara is being targeted. It has worsened in the last two years and this most recent attack on January 10 is the worst that has ever taken place.

What is your feeling in terms of response of the community?
Sahema: We need more people on the street. We've had protests in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, there will be one in Brisbane, as well as the vigil in Melbourne. But we've had quite a big number of our non-Hazara friends stand in solidarity with the victims of the attack in Quetta with us. They have been writing about it, spreading the word amongst their friends.
Shoaib: We've been very pleased to have a lot of people see us, look at our posters, ask us what the vigil is about, [ask] what is the incident, why are we protesting. Overall the reaction of the public has been not only sympathetic, but supportive.
For the Hazara community in Australia, a lot of us have close family or friends who still live in that part of the world. So directly and indirectly, we have been affected by this incident. We have felt the very pain that all the families and relatives of the victims have felt, and indirectly as well. That sense of community and solidarity among us is what has driven us to come here today, to show our sympathy for the Hazaras [in Pakistan], that we are with them, we haven't forgotten them.

How does this issue impact on Australian politics, particularly the issue of asylum seekers?
Sahema: I think it should have a great impact because it basically is a demonstration [of] why people take asylum and come to Australia. Especially the Hazara people. Many of the asylum seekers coming by boat are Hazara people from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Attacks like this are the reason people come to Australia. The government wants to stop people from coming to Australia; the best way to do that is provide them safety back home, so they don't need to take asylum, so people don't put themselves on "leaky boats" and risk their lives to come here.
I think we can do this by putting pressure on the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan to provide protection to their citizens, and give them the most basic right, the right to live. They don't want anything else, they just want to live peacefully. The Australian and European governments have a big role to play in this. They must put pressure on those governments so the Hazara people and all other communities can live in peace.
Shoaib: The Australian government has been quite harsh with the asylum seekers and refugees recently. The government likes to say people are coming "illegally", [but] incidents like the one on January 10 shows why people chose to come by whatever means necessary.
The Hazara community requests the Australian government to reconsider the approach they have taken to asylum seekers. I truly believe the government does know, does understand the misery the Hazara people suffer in Pakistan but the political debate stops them from doing what they should actually be doing, which is considering the rights of all human beings.

Do you think the Australian government is doing enough for the Hazara people?
Sahema: To be honest, no. I think Australia is actually making it worse for the Hazara people. When they come here we put them in detention centres, sometimes for indefinite periods of years. Why do we do this? They have not done anything wrong. According to Australian laws it is legal to take asylum and come to Australia.
The Australian government has done a lot for us, but right now, they need to be putting pressure on the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan to defend our rights, that is the message we want to get across. We don't want all the Hazara people to come to Australia and take asylum, that's not possible and obviously not what we want, to start our lives over from scratch. The best solution is to provide us safety back home.
Shoaib: There are a couple of initiatives the Australian government could take, given these incidents frequently occur in Pakistan. Firstly, our ministers, particularly our foreign minister [Bob Carr] should have a conversation with his Pakistani counterpart and raise this issue.
We also request the government to take this issue to the UN; now we have secured a seat on the Security Council, we need to take the voice of the besieged Hazara community in Pakistan to the UN in order for a lasting solution to this crisis.

Does the Australian government have a particular responsibility on this issue because they have committed troops to the occupation of Afghanistan?
Sahema: Definitely, as an Australian citizen, I don't want any Australian soldiers to die in Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Pakistan. Why should they die for a cause, the "war on terror" that's not even ours?
We want our Australian brothers to be safe. We have to do something but the Australian government, instead of sending soldiers to Afghanistan, could be applying pressure to Pakistan and Afghanistan to defend our basic rights. How long can the US and Australia be in Afghanistan and fight for them? We should put that responsibility on those countries to take action for themselves, to take care of their citizens and provide them with the protection they deserve.

These vigils have been well attended but how have the Australian media responded to these killings?
Sahema: We've never received serious attention from the media. They tend to focus on violence, or big interesting events that they think will be interesting to the Australian people. If the Australian people want the asylum seekers to stop coming here, they need to look deeper than this and stand with us.

Parramatta BDS protest Nov 15

Over 150 people protested at Parramatta Town Hall on November 15, calling for a boycott of Max Brenner chocolate shops and an end to Israel's recent escalation of attacks on Gaza.

The rally was part of the ongoing campaign for Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Max Brenner's parent company, the Israeli Strauss Group, donates care packages of chocolates to Israeli commandos of the Golani and Givati brigades.

Ultimo, Sydney.

Max Brenner stores have come under protests in Sydney and Melbourne. In 2011, 19 protesters were arrested for "besetting" the QV square store in Melbourne and for trespass in a public place. The charges were dismissed on July 23.

The rally heard from Ray Jackson, President of the Indigenous Social Justice assocation; Sylvia Hale, former Greens MLC; As’ad Awashra, a Palestinian student from Ramallah on exchange at the University of Sydney; Haskell Musry, member of Jews Against the Occupation; and Marlene Carrasco, Bankstown campus chair of the UWS student association.

Marching to Max Brenner

The protesters marched from Parramatta Town Hall to the Max Brenner store located in the nearby Westfields shopping centre, where they confronted around 30 counter-demonstrators who bore anti-Islam signs and Australian flags. Two male counter-demonstrators wore niqābs and dresses in an attempt to provoke the pro-Palestine protesters; however, there were no incidents of violence.

Haskell Musry, Jews Against the Occupation

Westfields' board member and co-founder Frank Lowy is a long-time supporter of Israel; he joined the Haganah, the Jewish militia in Palestine, in 1945. He served for 2 years before joining the Golani Brigade and participating in Al-Nakba, where he was wounded during the attack on Sajra. Lowy moved to Australia in 1952.

At the end of the demonstrations, a motion to call for a rally on Saturday 24 November was passed; an ad-hoc organising meeting was held to plan details of the rally, which will take place at Town Hall at 12 noon. For more info visit the Palestine Action Group's Facebook or website. 

We recieved good coverage from Iran's Press TV; I haven't seen or heard the mainstream media coverage, but I've been told it was as atrocious as ever.