From Dialogues Against Militarism, "On Saturday, November 7, About 25 of us trudged towards military prison 400, just outside of Tel Aviv, coils of razor wire and lookout towers looming above us, fields of mud and dry grass to our right. we began setting up the sound system and preparing for the day’s goal of reaching earshot of Or Ben-David, a young Israeli being held in prison for refusing the army draft.

"Our gathering consisted predominantly of young Israelis who had themselves been conscientious objectors, some of whom had been held in that same prison quite recently, some of whom had just refused and were scheduled to report to prison in a few months. The crowd also included some older radicals, a smattering of internationals, and of course us – U.S. War resisters, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and anti-militarist organizers, here to lend our support to Israeli and Palestinian movements against occupation.

"Israeli youth find themselves situated in the middle of one of the world’s most contested occupations. With mandatory conscription for all graduating high school seniors, their bodies are used to enforce Israeli occupation and war: 18 and 19 year-olds become the arms of an apartheid state. In the United States, young people, often from low income or marginalized communities, are sent off to die in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan, with sharper distinctions maintained between military and civilian life. Here, the war is in your face, with every city, town, bus station, and beach crawling with teenagers with machine guns slung over their shoulders."

Read More | Photos

Dialogues Against Militarism | Dialogues Against Militarism writings from Palestine

Israeli Youth and Allies Demonstrate in Support of The Shministim

On Sunday, October 25th, Zoya, a member of the radical underground organization Rawa, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, will speak at the SF Friends Meeting House, 65 9th Street. Zoya talk is part of national tour in the U.S. against the ongoing U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and the threat of fundamentalism posed by the Taliban. In a message to Obama and Congress she says: “liberation can only come from within – end the US occupation.”

Zoya was a child during the Soviet invasion of her country. As a teenager, the mujahideen or warlords killed her activist parents. She fled with her grandmother to a refugee camp in neighboring Pakistan but later returned to her country to document life under the Taliban rule. She has been an outspoken critic of the US and NATO invasion of Afghanistan.

For more than thirty years RAWA has organized inside Afghanistan and in the refugee camps of Pakistan for a nation free of war and fundamentalism, that respects women’s rights and human rights. As President Obama prepares to widen the war and commit more troops, it is important to hear from those most affected.

Read More | UPDATE: Audio from 10/25

Voices from Afghanistan: Afghan Women's Activist Zoya Speaks Out on Eight Years of Occupation | RAWA.org: Afghan Activist Calls for End to US Occupation Interview with Zoya, member of RAWA

Health care was just one of many topics on the minds of Bay Area residents when President Obama came to San Francisco to attend a fundraiser for the Democratic National Convention on October 15th. CodePink hand delivered a petition with signatures directly to the president at the event, urging him to keep his promises for peace.

Outside of the St. Francis Hotel where Obama spoke, a demonstration of thousands included a large contingent of single-payer health care plan proponents; they overwhelmingly outnumbered the few with placards calling for a public option. Other demonstrators called upon the administration to get serious about global warming.

People with views representing diametrically opposite positions rubbed shoulders as the crowd lined Powell Street many layers deep bordering Union Square. Ultra right wing Tea Party members waved American flags and chanted "No new taxes" next to satirical street theater activists Billionaires for Wealthcare who shouted back, "Thank you teabaggers for shooting yourselves in the foot to keep the rich wealthy!"

The demonstration was scheduled to last for two hours, but many protesters arrived early and stayed long after the 6:30pm permitted time. Activist musical group Brass Liberation Orchestra kept up a beat for peace and health care throughout the afternoon.

Read more | Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 Videos: 1 | 2

On Thursday, October 22nd, Ehud Olmert, a war criminal and Israel's former prime minister, will be speaking at the The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco for the World Affairs Council. During his last weeks as Prime Minister of Israel, Olmert unleashed a horrific war on the people of Gaza, that left over one thousand dead, a majority of them unarmed civilians, and hundreds of them children. It destroyed thousands of homes, leaving tens of thousands homeless. A demonstration organized by Stop AIPAC, calling for Olmert's prosecution for war crimes will be held at Union Square at 5:30 PM.

During Israel's offensive on Gaza many hospitals, schools and homes of civilian people were devastated. Israeli forces used explosives containing white phosphorus which are forbidden by international law in civilian fields.

During his presidency Olmert have also approved the 2006 Israeli invasion into Lebanon, after two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by the Hizbulla. Olmert refused to negotiate an exchange of POW, and instead pushed for a full attack on Lebanon where more then 1,200 people were killed. Currently, Olmert is facing charges in Israel for corruption and bribery. Read more

Citizens arrest and mass disruption of former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert in San Francisco | 22 Bay Area residents arrested for disrupting former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's

EI exclusive video: Protesters shout down Ehud Olmert in Chicago

Gaza "ceasefire" reveals more dead and more than 50,000 left homeless | Gaza: Over 600 Palestinians Killed. Humanitarian Crisis Faces 1.6 Million | Israel ’s Prime Minister Announces Resignation After Two Investigation For corruption

On Thursday, October 15, hundreds came to Civic Center, to protest president Obama's appearance at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in a fundraiser for the Democratic National Convention. Earlier in the day another demonstration took place at SF City Hall to oppose the continuous cuts in education funding.

At the SF City Hall, unions, teachers, politicians and students gathered in hopes of rallying people to mobilize and take action over the continuous cuts in education funding. People also expressed their frustration over the lack of leadership in the City and State governments when it comes to education.

Among those holding signs and protesting at Union Square were physicians supporting single payer health care, Code Pink submitting petitions that call on the government to withdrew from Afghanistan, 9/1-Truth activists demanding for new investigation of 9/11, and Green Peace raising attention about global warming.

Photos from the Union Square protest: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

On Saturday, October 17th there was an anti-war march and rally in San Francisco starting at 11am in U.N. Plaza.

Protesters demanded that U.S. troops get out of of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and that the U.S. government spend money on jobs, pensions, health care, and education rather than wars and corporate bailouts. Organizers also called for an end to U.S. Support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine, an end to the siege of Gaza, self-determination for all oppressed nations and peoples, an end to war crimes including torture, and the prosecution of war criminals.

Audio and Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Read more | AntiAuthoritarian Bloc against all U.S. Wars

On October 7th, over 250 people came out to the New Federal Building in San Francisco on the 8th anniversary of the war and occupation of Afghanistan. While the Obama Administration, the Pentagon Generals and Congress argue over the degree to expand the war they are losing, this protest called to end the war now.

The demonstration was called by the ANSWER Coalition and supported by many Bay Area progressive organizations. Among the speakers at the rally was San Francisco 8 defendant Francisco Torres.

Photos

Dahr Jamail, an independent unembedded reporter in wartime Iraq, will discusses his latest book The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 14th at 7pm at the Vets Hall in Santa Cruz.

Two conscientious objectors, Ryan Souza and Matt Edwards, are joining Dahr to describe their personal journeys from the military rank and file to members of veterans' anti-war organizations. This event is a fundraiser for the Santa Cruz G.I. Rights Network affiliate and Dialogues Against Militarism (DAM). Read more

Dahr Jamail | GI Rights Hotline | Farmer-Veteran Coalition | D.A.M.

On September 17th, three CODEPINK activists confronted Condoleezza Rice at a speech inside the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA, calling her a war criminal, responsible for torture and lying the U.S. into a war of occupation in Iraq. They waited until her speech was finished before standing up with "bloody hands" to confront her loudly in front of about 1,000 audience members.

Cynthia Papermaster writes, "We sat in the third row center, right in front of Condi, who gave quite a good speech and had great rapport with the audience. She assumed that her audience supported the USA's dominance of the world economy, and was bold in her descriptions of other countries' flaws. I was most struck by her derisive characterization of the huge influence of corporations in Russia as "Russia, Inc." I think she missed the irony in her comparison of them with the US.

"The three of us had pinned fuschia signs saying "INDICT RICE" to our backs, under our jackets. We sat quietly through her speech, and toward the end, rubbed red paint on our hands. We stood up with the audience for the standing ovation, but didn't sit down. Instead, we took off our jackets so our signs showed, continued standing, and held up our bloody hands...we told Rice she was a war criminal, having enabled torture, lied the U.S. into an illegal war of occupation, etc. She said, "These people came here to hear me, not you," and some other stuff we didn't catch because she was talking at us while we were talking loudly to her. She definitely heard us, loud and clear."

Read more

Jay Bybee Confronted in Pasadena Court on July 6th by Torture Accountability Activists | Former Secretary of State Rice Assailed by Students, Faculty, Former Students at Stanford

On Friday, September 18, about 300 protesters -- Israeli, Palestinian and international -- attended the weekly demo against the apartheid wall in Ni‘lin. In a joint collective action the protesters succeeded in moving one of the wall blocks (weighing a few tons), causing substantial damage to the wall, and opening a gap in which a person can pass.

In the past month the army constructed the cement wall (similar to one in the Kalkilia area) that separates between the villages‘ agricultural lands, in which weekly demonstrations have taken place, and the electronic wall that is situated in the heart of the area.

Earlier, protesters placed rubber tires in the Palestinian side of the wall and set them on fire. The impressive fumes reached the Israeli side (and probably the ozone layer as well). Soldiers fired gas grenades on the protesters, using a multi-barrel gas grenade launcher capable of firing 32 gas grenades simultaneously. One Palestinian protester was lightly injured from the gas grenades. The protesters threw stones at the soldiers.

(Hebrew translation): כ-300 מפגינים ישראלים פלסטינים ובינלאומיים השתתפו ביום שישי בהפגנה נגד חומת האפרטהייד בנעלין. בסוף ההפגנה, הצליחו המפגינים - בפעולה קולקטיבית מרשימה ומאומצת - להזיז את אחת מאבני הבטון של החומה (משקלה כמה טונות!). בכך גרמו נזק משמעותי לחומה והצליחו לפעור בה חור שמאפשר מעבר אדם. הצבא בנה בחודש האחרון את חומת הבטון (בדומה למבנה החומה באזור קלקיליה) שהמפגינים הזיזו. החומה החדשה חוצצת בין השטחים החקלאיים של הכפר, בהן מתקיימות ההפגנות, לבין הגדר האלקטרונית שהוקמה בלב האדמות ומנתקת אותן מבעליהן. המפגינים הניחו צמיגים בצד הפלסטיני של הגדר והבעירו אותם. תמרות העשן השחור הגיעו לצד הישראלי (וככל הנראה גם הלאה משם לשכבת האוזון). החיילים ירו רימוני גז לעבר המפגינים, בין היתר באמצעות ”המדוכה“ שמשגרת 32 רימונים במטח ירי אחד. מפגין פלסטיני אחד נפצע קל מהרימונים. המפגינים ידו אבנים לעבר הצבא הישראלי. Read more

Nil'in anti-wall protest damages wall, marchers pass into stolen land

Anarchists Against The Wall

Former Coverage: Yousef Akil Srour, Fifth Ni’lin Residents to be Murdered by the Israeli Army in Ni’lin

On Wednesday, September 16, Maya Wind and Netta Mishly from the refusenik group "Shministim" spoke at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Building at UC Berkeley. Maya Wind and Netta Mishly both signed the 2008 Shministim Letter: a declaration by Israeli high school students that they would not enlist in the IDF to occupy Palestinian territories and rule over Palestinian life. Since military service is mandatory for Israeli Jews upon completing high school, Maya, Netta, and many of the dozens of teenagers who signed the letter have been sentenced to military prison, sometimes for multiple terms.

The Shministim (Hebrew for “twelfth-graders”) are an informal group of young Israelis who openly declare their refusal to join the Israeli military. Every year, the Shministim sign a different letter, a tradition harkening back to the 1970s when the first Shministim class expressed their dissent in a letter to Prime Minister Golda Meir. The 2008 letter, signed by both Maya and Netta, declares, “We cannot be moral and serve the occupation.”

Read more | Why We Refuse | Sahar Vardi, a Refusenik, Sentenced to Seven Days in Jail

Ayman T. Quader, writes: "every time, she tries to understand what happened to her, she asks herself: what was my fault?, what’s going to happen to me in my tent? Ilham, a 30 years old mother of 6, lives in Al-atatra district , in the northern part of the Gaza strip. The Israeli war (in 2008) had a huge impact on her, it destroyed her house, her parent’s house and killed her brother."

"Ilham and her family spent 25 days in one of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s schools (UNRWA), to take shelter from phosphorous missiles of death that were chasing the population of the strip. She says: 'Israeli armed forces bombarded our house with many missiles, destroyed its walls, set fire in its rooms, and spread darkness all around us (she meant the missiles fumes), to a point that we couldn’t breathe anymore… and after hours, during which we were facing death, the ambulance transported us to the hospital.'

"we used to walk many miles each week or every other week, as a group of women, just for bathing, I had a feeling of humiliation and despair, especially when we were forced to leave the hospital, because of the high numbers of martyrs and victims, their bodies took over the whole place, moreover, the hospital is not a place for taking baths…In the war, my house was destroyed, all I own now is a tent that does not exceeds a few meters, my children and I sleep on the sand. My nights became like my days, everything has changed in my life after the 27th of December 2008. All I have now are memories on which I live me and my children, till this day, I feel deeply oppressed . What was my fault? And why do I live in this humiliation? Who could bear what we are all facing? Read more

voice from Gaza, to bring the Palestinian suffering to the whole world

Gaza Solidarity Day on the 42nd Anniversary of Israel's Seizure of Gaza | Free Gaza Activists, Donna and Darlene Wallach, Welcomed Home to San Jose | Gaza "ceasefire" reveals more dead and more than 50,000 left homeless | Activists Lockdown at Israeli Consulate in San Francisco as Gaza Massacre Intensifies | January 10th Gaza Protest In San Francisco | Gaza: Over 600 Palestinians Killed. Humanitarian Crisis Faces 1.6 Million

On August 18th, the Israeli Ministry of Defense informed American activist Tristan Anderson’s family and legal counsel that it considers his shooting during a nonviolent protest in the West Bank village of Nil’in, which left him critically injured, an “act of war,” absolving the soldiers responsible from any liability under Israeli law. Anderson was shot directly in the forehead with a high-velocity tear gas canister by Israeli forces on March 13th, 2009, suffering several condensed fractures and necessitating several life-saving surgeries. To date, he remains unconscious at Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv; his prospects for recovery are as of now unclear.

According to Michael Sfard, "If a process by which unarmed civilian demonstration is classified by Israel as an ‘act of war,’ then clearly Israel admits that it is at war with civilians. International law identifies the incident as a clear case of human rights abuse. As such, Tristan and his family are undoubtedly entitled to justice and compensation. We will pursue this matter and take the government of Israel to court. In addition to filing a criminal complaint against the State of Israel for the shooting of their son, the Andersons have submitted a notice of intent to file a civil suit."

Leah Tsemel, the civil suit attorney, stated, "This is another occasion where the Israeli government is alluding responsibility. The demonstrations that take place in Ni’lin and Bil’in are not acts of war. We will pursue, in Israeli courts and international courts if necessary, justice for the Anderson family." Several eyewitnesses have given testimony that Tristan was shot when he could not have been perceived as any threat to the forces in the area. He was shot from around 60 meters while standing with a few internationals and Palestinians, hours after the demonstration had dispersed from the construction site of the Wall. Read more

Israeli Authorities Declare Shooting of Tristan Anderson an “Act of War” | Smearing Tristan Anderson | Shooting Tristan Anderson

Solidarity with Tristan Anderson

As Tristan Anderson Fights for His Life, Protests in Ni'ilin Continue | Solidarity with Tristan and Palestine Events Around the World | Tristan Anderson Critically Injured After Demonstration Against Israeli Wall

Cynthia Papermaster and Susan Harman write: "Ninth Circuit Judge Jay Bybee was confronted by three torture accountability activists in a Pasadena courtroom who called out to him to resign for giving legal approval to interrogation techniques amounting to torture. He was so surprised that he stopped and listened to the three women, Cynthia Papermaster, Susan Harman, and Dianne Wright while they told him he is unfit to be a judge and should resign. No cameras or video were allowed inside the courtroom."

"It's a problem that Jay Bybee is a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. How can he serve as a judge when he seriously violated the laws against inhumane treatment of detainees and gave legal approval to interrogation techniques that amount to torture. We agree with Patrick Leahy, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that if Bybee's a decent human being, he'll resign. We agree with MoveOn and People for the American Way, who've submitted 140,000 petition signatures to John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, asking him to impeach Bybee. And we agree with the New York Times, which called for his impeachment twice in April."

"As part of the June 25 national Torture Accountability Day, Cynthia wrote and filed a formal judicial misconduct complaint against him. The Court Executive let her know that Bybee has a copy of her complaint. Last Wednesday, July 1, Cynthia discovered that Bybee would be hearing a case in Pasadena on Monday, July 6. We quickly organized Code Pink, Progressive Democrats of America, and World Can't Wait to do an inside-outside action: protesters outside the court starting at 8:30 to greet him on his arrival, and incognito protesters inside the hearing room at 11:00 to stand up and speak out at the right moment. Caught up in the moment, we both decided we had to be there. We flew to Los Angeles from San Francisco at 7:00 a.m. (ugh!), were picked up at Union Station in LA by Tobi Dragert, and arrived at the Ninth Circuit Courthouse in Pasadena at 10:00." Read More with Video

Protests at 9th Circuit Court in SF Demand Judge Bybee Be Disbarred and Prosecuted

Berkeley Pedestrian Bridge becomes an awareness activist action against torture/censorship | Impeach Bybee

Over the July 4th traffic on Interstate 80, “torture victims and detainees” staged a banner display on the University Avenue overpass connecting Aquatic Park with the Berkeley Marina. World Can’t Wait has demonstrated on this overpass action every 4th of July since 2006. This year the focus was on the torture state forged under Bush – and now being continued and refined by Obama – as witnessed by the thousands who passed the display. The act of civil disobedience slowed northbound traffic along I-80.

The Obama administration's torture policy can be interpreted as very similar to the Bush administration's in that U.S. policy currently severely limits freedoms such as habeas corpus to suspected terrorists and prisoners of war. The Obama administration has not publicly shown interest in investigating and holding accountable anyone responsible for the state torture policies established by John Yoo and the Bush administration. The Obama administration did not release the photos exposing the widespread torture program of the Bush administration. Obama was quoted as simply stating, "I do not see what purpose that would serve."

Read More with Photos: 1 | 2

Shortly before midnight on Sunday, June 28th, a demonstration will begin at Vandenberg Air Force Base to protest the U.S. launch of a Minuteman III nuclear missile. The target of the rocket is the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, South Pacific.

The protest will be held at the front gate of Vandenberg AFB, located at the intersection of Highway 1 and Casamila-Lompoc Road, which is six miles north of Lompoc on Highway 1 in Santa Barbara County, CA. The protest is sponsored by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. Andrew Lichterman of the Western States Legal Foundation will speak at the front gate rally.

Tony de Brum, a Member of the Kwajalein Parliament, writes, "Kwajalein has not gotten the attention it needs to straighten out the mess created by the Military programs it hosts. The displacement of the population and its living conditions on Ebeye continue to plague a society whose only crime against the powers that be was to be living in an atoll the US found attractive for first, nuclear testing, and now, the testing of the vehicles to carry those nuclear weapons around the world."

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, notes, "We must become 'dehypnotized' so we can see things as they are. The US uses the fear of other nuclear pipsqueak nations to get our own citizens to support massive US military buildups that are all about dominating the world. If the US was genuine in wanting other nations to stop the development of their nuclear capability then we'd lead by example, as is required by the United Nations Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and we'd get rid of our own evil WMD." Read more

In the face of the Obama administration's refusal to release a reported 2,000 more photographs of detainee abuse — in spite of being ordered by a federal court to do so — torture opponents in fifteen U.S. cities held protests to demand that the government make the photos public. These protests also called for prosecution of those who ordered, legally justified, and carried out torture in US detention and secret prisons during the Bush years.

On May 28th in San Francisco, protesters rallied outside the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals court house to call for the prosecution, impeachment, and disbarment of "Torture Judge" Jay Bybee. Bybee's 2003 lifetime appointment to the federal bench was his reward from George Bush for his work as head of the Office of Legal Counsel. There, Bybee issued the 2002 torture memo which authorized torture including waterboarding, walling, sleep deprivation and other torture techniques.

Read More | Video | Photos: 1 | 2

Also See: May 31st John Yoo Home Demo: Shame on Yoo