Devrim
18th January 2009, 21:20
A very good piece, in my opinion, on the reaction of the left in the UK to the events in Gaza:
“Sometimes we shoot the same way” – the attack on Gaza, internationalism and the Left
A libcom user and Anarchist Federation member analyses the 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict, and the response of the left to events.
Israel’s brutal attack on the Gaza strip has elicited widespread revulsion, and has led to protests across Britain and the world. It is clear that the Israeli state has committed atrocities which anyone with an ounce of humanity would seek an end to. Its savage bombing of one of the most densely populated places on earth has resulted in over a thousand deaths. Nowhere is safe – Mosques, schools and UN sites have been attacked by the IDF. Even by the “civilised” standards of warfare between nation-states, which allow for a reasonable degree of “collateral damage”, several incidents stand out for their brutality. There is mounting evidence (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/17/israel-gaza-phosphorus-civilians) that the IDF is following its senior partner, the US, in using White Phosphorous as an offensive weapon in civilian areas. Banned under international law, White Phosphorous munitions are chemical weapons with a pattern of splash damage similar to cluster bombs, but which spread blazing chunks of Phosphorous and smoke laced with burning particles. The result is either death from suffocation or from severe burns, sometimes down to the bone. The IDF is responsible for herding civilians into a building before shelling it (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/09/zeitoun.gaza.israel/?iref=mpstoryview), killing scores of civilians in attacks on UN schools, shelling aid convoys, and destroying aid stockpiles during an attack on the UN headquarters in Gaza. The attack has displaced over 90,000 people, and combined with the crippling blockade of Gaza which preceded it, utterly destroyed Gaza’s economy and infrastructure.
...http://libcom.org/library/%E2%80%9Csometimes-we-shoot-same-way%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-attack-gaza-internationalism-left
Devrim
“Sometimes we shoot the same way” – the attack on Gaza, internationalism and the Left
A libcom user and Anarchist Federation member analyses the 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict, and the response of the left to events.
Israel’s brutal attack on the Gaza strip has elicited widespread revulsion, and has led to protests across Britain and the world. It is clear that the Israeli state has committed atrocities which anyone with an ounce of humanity would seek an end to. Its savage bombing of one of the most densely populated places on earth has resulted in over a thousand deaths. Nowhere is safe – Mosques, schools and UN sites have been attacked by the IDF. Even by the “civilised” standards of warfare between nation-states, which allow for a reasonable degree of “collateral damage”, several incidents stand out for their brutality. There is mounting evidence (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/17/israel-gaza-phosphorus-civilians) that the IDF is following its senior partner, the US, in using White Phosphorous as an offensive weapon in civilian areas. Banned under international law, White Phosphorous munitions are chemical weapons with a pattern of splash damage similar to cluster bombs, but which spread blazing chunks of Phosphorous and smoke laced with burning particles. The result is either death from suffocation or from severe burns, sometimes down to the bone. The IDF is responsible for herding civilians into a building before shelling it (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/09/zeitoun.gaza.israel/?iref=mpstoryview), killing scores of civilians in attacks on UN schools, shelling aid convoys, and destroying aid stockpiles during an attack on the UN headquarters in Gaza. The attack has displaced over 90,000 people, and combined with the crippling blockade of Gaza which preceded it, utterly destroyed Gaza’s economy and infrastructure.
...http://libcom.org/library/%E2%80%9Csometimes-we-shoot-same-way%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-attack-gaza-internationalism-left
Devrim