PSNA Newsletter No 54 - August 31, 2021
31 August 2021
Newsletter No 54 – A second lockdown newsletter
Kia ora Palestinian Human Rights Supporter
This is our second newsletter in lockdown and we have included links to two excellent films to watch while we wait at home…
In the meantime, we’d like you to do two things with a few clicks…
Something right now – with just a few clicks…
1. Pressure is being applied to the Aotearoa New Zealand government to withdraw from an important upcoming United Nations meeting to mark twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action against racism. This meeting has been dubbed Durban IV and is to be held on 22 September in New York.
False smears of anti-Semitism have been made against this United Nations declaration and a number of apologists for the racist, apartheid state of Israel (eg the US, UK and Australia) have turned down invitations to attend. It is important New Zealand attend and support this very important international declaration which calls out racism in Israel.
Please send a note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs supporting Durban IV. You can cut and paste this note and adapt it or write your own note.
Kia ora Ms Mahuta,
We are aware of pressure for New Zealand to withdraw from the upcoming one-day meeting in New York on 22 September to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action against racism.
It is very important Aotearoa New Zealand stands up against racism and refuses to be bullied into silence by apologists for the racist apartheid state of Israel.
We urge the government to take part in this important meeting and speak loudly and clearly against racism in all its forms such as anti-Arab racism, anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Semitism.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Ngā mihi.
Na,
(Your name)
Number Two
Join in our on-line solidarity protest with Palestine. Lockdown means the usual monthly solidarity protest in Auckland had had to go on-line.
PSN Tamaki Makaurau in conjunction with Palestinian Youth Aotearoa
Given that Auckland is still in Level 4 lockdown, we have decided to hold our usual “First Saturday of the Month rally in support of Palestinian Human Rights” on-line this month.
All people throughout New Zealand are welcome to join with us.
We have a number of people lined up to speak:
Neil Scott – PSN Tamaki Makaurau
John Minto – Chair PSNA
A number of Members of the Palestinian Youth Aotearoa community
The link to the Zoom meeting will be posted on the PYA website and on the PSNA events Facebook page on Saturday morning.
Check in on Saturday morning here and here to see the Conference number and password for the meeting
Remember to wear your Kufiya, Palestine t-shirt, etc and have your webcams on so we can see them.
Date Saturday 4 August – This Saturday
Time 4.00 pm
Zoom link TBA
Password TBA
40th anniversary tour will be rescheduled
Unfortunately, the entire second half of John Minto’s tour to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1981 Springbok tour protests has been abandoned and will be rescheduled for later this year.
As soon at the pandemic situation has settled we will plan out the remaining meetings.
In the meantime, the planned meeting in Napier last week generated a letter from Pastor Nigel Woodley from the Flaxmere Christian Fellowship and a response from PSNA National Chair John Minto.
Covid across historic Palestine – challenging racist lies
Last weekend Fran O’Sullivan wrote a column for the Herald (paywalled) which praised Israel’s response to Covid 19 while ignoring the appalling racism in Israel’s vaccination rollout. PSNA Chair John Minto wrote this response which was printed on Monday.
Two inspiring movies for lockdown
Try to make time to watch these two superb, inspiring movies – we have mentioned them before in previous newsletters and lockdown might give you time to watch them:
1. Palestine Action – a year of direct action against Elbit Systems Limited
Voices of Palestinians – “The 40 Rules of Engagement”
When this poem by Palestinian writer Marzouq al-Halabi was first published in May this year some wondered if it could hold the key to ending Israeli racism and apartheid and opening a dialogue for peace.
The 40 Rules of Engagement
By Marzouq al-Halabi (English Translation by Raphael Cohen).
From the first round
the roll call of your dead
and of cities whose inhabitants were lost in exile
lay before them.
Say: I am not seeking revenge
I’d like us to agree on the beginning
instead.
Ask them
if they know how many oranges
Jaffa sold to strangers?
How many newspapers
voyagers read on the quayside?
How many language schools there were?
How many halls were packed with fans of Umm Kulthoum?
Ask them, and give them space to think
as they remember the face of the Bride of the Sea.
If they tell you:
Forget about the past
the arrow once fired never returns,
and the owner of space and time is master,
say softly:
their master owns meaning.
If you enter their language,
take your language with you
and your memory
and a third language that blocks interpretation.
If you enter their time,
negotiate
as if time did not exist
Say: I don’t work for anyone
I’m a gazelle who loves to run free
who loves the melodies of shepherds
and the light of the moon.
If you speak
share all your pain with them
show them every scar in your soul.
Nobody dies from opening their heart.
If they ask you: v Do you hate us?
say: I do not love my enemy
but hate that question.
If they ask you about violence,
say: Did you leave us an inch of land
to plant roses for our women to shower on your soldiers
did you leave us a stream
to provide water equally
or so we might take walks by the estuary
and share our food
like a pair of hikers?
Whenever the scales tip in your favour,
they will remind you that they are the victims.
Believe them
and go along with them
but say with affection: And we are the victims of the victims.
Do not interrupt them
when they remember their dead in the cemeteries
of Berlin,
and recite the prayer for the missing dead.
Be decent if they weep
and say kind words about their hurt.
If they pray
have high hopes for the moment they encounter God
for you too need moments
of hope.
Say: we will be fair
we will agree with you
over everything that happened overseas
and the Question it posed
but we will disagree with you to the core
over your history with us
and hold you to account.
Don’t drive your interlocutors into a corner
as if they were cats.
Let them contemplate the impact of their language v in this space
and their image reflected in a well.
Speak
tenderly
as if you were a poet
fundamentally human
not divinely inspired
nor on the verge of nihilism.
Don’t believe in missiles, should they be launched,
but say: Would they were water pipes.
Don’t believe in the trigger happy
and bullets sprayed for show
that intercept a star in the sky.
Whenever they ask for time to think
be generous, as if time were not an issue.
Slowly smoke
a cigarette or two,
and why not squeeze
lemonade for you and them too.
Don’t make the same mistake as they do
by saying you’re better.
You’re just like the rest of God’s people v no worse and no better.
Whenever you near a conclusion
they whip up a minor war.
Add it to their record
and keep forgiving.
Tell them that generals,
however far they overstep,
die alone,
a foreign nurse in their funeral procession.
While you negotiate
a plane will pass over your dream.
Just smile to the pilot
and tell the negotiators:
they are in fact killing children
sheltering in seashells
or busy at arithmetic class.
If they bring up stories of the prophets,
don’t be happy and don’t take the bait.
Say: We are allergic to mythology
for it spilled our blood at your hands.
Prophets no longer have a place in the annals of humanity.
Their fear
is theirs
even if without cause.
It comes in cycles from past to present to past,
so break the vicious circle every morning
let them hear you reset your heart.
Those sleeping on a bed of spears
fear the moment to come.
Those guarding stolen time
jump when a bird makes its nest.
Those roaming another’s land
fear
like those settled in outposts of identity.
If they open maps
to adjust borders
and refigure places
and populations
and safe corridors,
tell them:
Fold up your maps.
Our idea has room for all.
What’s to stop the country having
two languages
two names
two colours
and two plaits?
But sign up to one law for all.
Envisioning a future
offers protection from a cruel past
from pessimism
and stops you from falling into a pit v with your enemy.
Maybe you can’t get back an orange grove
paved in concrete.
but bargain with them over the books
they confiscated,
so that life can continue.
The broader the vision
the more ways out of the confines
of the moment.
History
must remain free
to include a third narrative.
Anti-Semitism in the Agriculture Action Group
PSNA has made a formal complaint to the Race Relations Conciliator concerning racist anti-semitic comments made by Robert Wilson of the Agriculture Action Group at a public meeting held in Riversdale on 23 November last year. In an earlier blogpost PSNA Chair John Minto incorrectly said the comments were made at a Groundswell meeting but this was incorrect and John Issued an apology.
The original article is here https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/08/22/open-letter-to-groundswell-stop-giving-platforms-to-vile-and-repugnant-racism-and-anti-semitism/ and the apology is here https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/08/25/apology-to-groundswell-a-claim-in-my-blogpost-was-wrong/
The offending comments made by Robert Wilson are in these notes taken at the meeting.
Stories from the Web
1. Racist Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett vows to “even the score”
2. Manchester University – statement on "ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians reinstated after complaint led to it being removed. Reported here also.
3. The politics of power outages in Gaza
4. Book – “A Shared Struggle”
Congratulations to all our supporters – we are now up to $14,000 in the appeal for the Gaza Centre for Human Rights which was targeted and destroyed by Israel in its recent attack on Gaza
The money has been warmly welcomed and has been received in Gaza. The Centre is getting itself back on its feet again in its role of collecting evidence for war crimes prosecutions from the latest Israeli outrages. The money sent from Aotearoa New Zealand is being used to refurbish and get the essentials in place so the work of documenting Israeli war crimes continues. So far more than 2,000 complaints have gone to the International Criminal Court which has opened an investigation into
Before: (a direct hit on the Gaza Centre for Human Rights from an Israeli missile)
After: (in new premises furnished and equipped with your donations)
More equipment is still needed so donations are still welcome.
Account name: PALESTINE SOLIDARITY NETWORK
Account number: 38-9015-0849542-02 (Please put GCHR in the reference)
Close the Israeli Embassy
Remember our campaign to close the Israeli embassy in Wellington.
1) Sign the petition to close the Israeli embassy. The petition is on-line here and is in English and Arabic or use the QR code here.
2) Share the petition on social media – the FB event link is here.
Solidarity with Palestine by Artists, Cultural Workers and Scholars of Aotearoa New Zealand
Remember to please help circulate this statement of solidarity with Palestine. It is aimed particularly at Artists, Cultural Workers and Scholars.
They can read and sign on to the statement at this link.
This has been organised by Dr Rand T Hazou, Senior Lecturer in Theatre, School of Humanities, Media and Creative Communication, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University
Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign?
We will need some serious money to make our campaign as effective as possible. For example, we will need somewhere in the vicinity of $25,000 to bring speakers to New Zealand over the next year and organise large public meetings to help spread the message.
You can help. Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign? In other words, can you afford to make an automatic payment of $5 per month to support the Palestinian struggle? (If you can afford more that would be great!)
Our account details are:
Account name: Palestine Solidarity Network
Account number: 38-9015-0849542-00
We are happy to provide a receipt upon request (however, we are not a registered charity so this is not tax-deductible)
In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter – an invitation to subscribe from Leslie Bravery
Because of mainstream news media complicity, daily headlines and commentary only occasionally ever mention the relentless Israeli violence in Palestine, not even the frequent air strikes!
However, daily news and statistics regarding the violence Palestinians are forced to live under are regularly reported on in the “In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter”, sourced and compiled for easy reading and correlation chiefly from the Palestinian Monitoring Group's daily situation reports.
The In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter continues to be circulated, by email, worldwide to subscribers only, as it has been over the last two decades.
Please contact lesliebravery@icloud.com if you also wish to become a subscriber.
Merchandise for sale
We have Merchandise you can buy including T-shirts from our website.
Go here - https://www.psna.nz/shop
More ways you can get involved
Forward this Newsletter – If you know people who may be interested in this movement, please forward this Newsletter to them.
Join in local activities in your area monthly Rallies - In Auckland at 2.00 pm on the first Saturday of every month. Please consider doing the same in your community. Contact Secretary@PSNA.nz if you would like to know where and how to get Flags and Banners
Help set up a Students for Justice in Palestine groups on your campus
Tell Your MP your opinions on Divestment and Sanctions of Israel.
Write Letters to Newspapers – Call Talkback Radio
Keep in touch with the campaign on social media
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network website: https://www.PSNA.nz
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/671376706283605/
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network email: Secretary@PSNA.nz
The Palestine Human Rights Campaign produces the In Occupied Palestine newsletter. It is a regular daily newsletter on the daily situation in Palestine, compiled by Leslie Bravery and emailed to subscribers. If you would also like to become a subscriber, please contact Leslie at “lesliebravery @ icloud .com” (remove the spaces to use as an email address) for further information.
Keep Updated on our Facebook pages and websites (listed below)
Human rights for Uyghur refugees - In line with our support for human rights for the people of Palestine we have added our name to the petition in support of human rights for Uyghur refugees so they can be included in the government’s refugee quota. PSNA members who wish to also sign this petition can do so here - https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/open-letter-let-s-show-compassion-to-the-uyghur-community
PSNA Groups
PSNA National Committee
Website: www.PSNA.nz
Chair - John Minto: Chair@PSNA.nz
Secretary - Neil Scott: Secretary@PSNA.nz
Regional Groups
Bay of Islands PSNA Bay of Islands (Email)
Whangarei PSNA Whangarei (Facebook)
Auckland PSNA Auckland – Tamaki Makaurau (Website)
Hamilton Palestine Human Rights Campaign Waikato (Facebook)
Tauranga Tauranga Moana 4 Palestine (Facebook)
Napier/Hastings Aotearoa Standing with Palestine (Facebook)
Palmerston North PSNA Palmerston North (Email)
New Plymouth PSNA New Plymouth (Email)
Wellington PSNA Wellington (Email)
Nelson Te Tau Ihu (Nelson) Palestine (Facebook)
Christchurch PSNA Christchurch (Facebook)
Dunedin Dunedin for Justice in Palestine (Facebook)
Invercargill PSNA Invercargill (Email)