The Price of Silence with Introduction by Laurence Fishburne

Speak out for sing out for peace, human rights and an end to torture, war and exploitation.

Sidebar for this video:

AmnestyUSA
December 19, 2008

http://pth.amnestyusa.org/

A music video that brings together 16 of the worlds top musicians—some of whom have fled oppressive regimes—in a rousing musical plea to guarantee human rights for all. ...
http://pth.amnestyusa.org/

A music video that brings together 16 of the worlds top musicians—some of whom have fled oppressive regimes—in a rousing musical plea to guarantee human rights for all.

The track, donated by Aterciopelados and arranged by fusion music guru Andres Levin, combines the voices of Hugh Masekela, Julieta Venegas, Stephen Marley, Angelique Kidjo, Yungchen Lhamo, Aterciopelados, Yerba Buena, Natacha Atlas, Rachid Taha, Kiran Ahluwalia, Chiwoniso and Emmanual Jal with those of U.S. artists Natalie Merchant, and Chali 2Na of Jurassic 5. Introduction by Laurence Fishburne.

Video produced by: Link TV: Television Without Borders for Amnesty International
Directed by: Joshua Atesh Litle
Music produced by: Andres Levin for Music Has No Enemies
Nacional Records
Photos courtesy of Magnum Photos

More of Rabbi Lerner on Gaza: How to Get Out of This Mess

This is an excerpt from RDPulpit: Israel in Gaza: Right but not Smart
By Rabbi Michael Lerner
Posted on January 2, 2009, Printed on January 2, 2009

For the full article, go to http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/rdpulpit/919/

Israel’s attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but dumb.

No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from neighboring territory day after day. If Mexico had a group of anti-imperialist South Americans bombing Texas, imagine how long it would take for the US to mobilize a counter-attack. Israel has every right to respond.

But the kind of response matters.

Massive bombings of the sort that have thus far killed over 400 Palestinians and wounded 1,000 other civilians is a classic example of a disproportionate response.

Before Israel’s massive bombing, the Hamas bombings that began when the previous ceasefire ran out had not (thank God) killed any one. The reason is obvious: Hamas has no airplanes, no tanks, nothing more than the weapons of the powerless—limited range mortars with limited accuracy. Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel. And just as Hamas’ indiscriminate bombing of population centers is a crime against humanity, so is Israel’s massive attack against civilians (in addition to those killed thus far in Gaza, there are the thousands killed by Israel in the years of the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza).

Hamas had respected the previously negotiated ceasefire except when Israel used the ceasefire as cover to make assassination raids against Hamas and other Palestinian leaders. Arguing that these raids were hardly a manifestation of ceasefire, Hamas would, as symbolic protest, allow the release of rocket fire (usually hitting no targets). But when the issue of continuing the ceasefire came up, Hamas wanted a guarantee that these assassination raids would stop. And it asked for more. With hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing acute malnutrition bordering on starvation, Hamas insisted that the borders be opened to counter Israeli attempts to starve the Gazans into submission. And in return for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, it asks for the release of a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Hamas has made it clear that it would accept the terms of the Saudi Arabian peace agreement, though it would never formally recognize Israel. It would live peacefully in a two state arrangement, but it would never acknowledge Israel’s “right to exist.” This position is unnecessarily provocative, and represents deep self-destructiveness on the part of Palestinians who believe that this failure to acknowledge Israel’s rights is the only symbolic weapon they have left. To many Israelis, trapped in their own history as survivors of genocide and oppression, Hamas’ refusal to give official recognition is a way of saying, “We’ll wait till we have adequate military power, and then we’ll break any de facto truce and ceasefire and use that power to wipe out Israel, so just give us time.”

How do we get out of these dynamics that lead to the current situation in which a small number of Israelis and a huge number of Palestinians are killed or maimed?

To read the Rabbi's answers, check out the entire article by clicking here.

End This War

We need more Public Service Announcements--PSA--like this on television.....

Majority of Israeli people prefer diplomatic solution

The majority of the Israeli people believe a diplomatic solution is the key to peace in the middle east. 67% of Israelis want their government to negotiate a peace agreement with the Palestinian unity government. A majority--57%--believe the negotiations should include Hamas. A sixable minority--43%--oppose negotiations with Hamas.

The majority of Palestinians--59%--support negotiations. 38% of the Palestinians oppose negotiations.

I find our MSM continues to fail us with un biased news coverage when they fail to inform us of polls in middle eastern countries. What the people directly involved prefer is an important factor to take into account when decideing what our foreign policy should be.

For more information chlck here