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Another death

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:33:56 +0000

read more at the official Heart of the Other site

Mother of Akal Srur

Several days ago (Friday June 5) another Palestinian man, Akal Srur, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the weekly demonstrations in Niilin (we were not there that day). Israeli media is just as manipulative as U.S. media, note the headline of this article, “IDF: Man killed in Naalin was Hamas operative”:

Of course, he may have been a “member” of Hamas, but that’s just like saying he was a Democrat or Republican in the U.S. – the two main political parties are Hamas and Fatah. And to call him an “operative” of course makes it sound like he was following orders from high up, was on a mission, maybe was armed. He wasn’t on a mission, he just lives in Niilin and joins the demonstrations almost every Friday. He was one of 5 Palestinians killed in Niilin in the last year and a half.

We were in Niilin last week for a memorial service for him, will post from that footage soon.

Iran: A nation of bloggers

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:01:19 +0000

Iran: A nation of bloggers from Mr.Aaron on Vimeo.

ARTLUST #8-Dali

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:37:39 +0000

This episode we cover Salvador Dali’s Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate, A Second Before Awakening.

“Holocaust abuse”?

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:02:25 +0000

find our more at the official Heart of the Other site

Almost all of Khaled’s work is controversial to someone. When I first tell Jewish friends about “the Arab man who opened a Holocaust museum,” they say something like “amazing”, and basically think he’s a saint.

Yes, part of what Khaled is doing is courageously confronting Arab/Moslem denial about the Holocaust (he was after all, on the way to the December, 2006, Holocaust Conference in Tehran, when the Iranians denied his visa at the last moment.)

But then later, when they (again the Jewish friends) learn that he sometimes puts photos of the Nakba next to Holocaust photos in his tiny museum, or worse, confronts Israelis (even Israeli soldiers) with Holocaust photos, my Jewish friends change their tune.

I’m re-posting the video clip above (won’t do this often, promise) that some of you may not have seen. One acquantance emailed me when I first put it up, saying Khaled is “simply using the Jewish martyrs of the Holocaust to make a case for himself. There is no connection or even slight similarity between the atrocities carried out by the Nazis and the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

She asked what I thought, so I answered her – yes, the Separation Fence (which cuts through the village in the video, separating them from many dunams of olive trees and thus income) has cut down drastically on suicide bombings. But why is the Fence not built on the Green Line? And why not even near the settlements in the West Bank, but many hundreds of meters east of them, apparently to allow future growth for the settlements?

The woman never wrote back. So yes — Khaled is indeed not a total saint, he wants to help his fellow Palestinians achieve (what he thinks is) justice. I tell friends (the ones still listening) about one of Khaled’s operating principals, Gandhi’s satyagraha, “to convert, not to coerce, the wrong-doer.”

Displaying Holocaust photos is definitely less harmful than throwing stones (as some young Palestinians do at the weekly demos against the Fence). Would the photos shame an Israeli into trying to change its government’s policies? Or would they just offend?

What do you think?

[And by the way, a young Palestinian was killed several weeks ago at the exact spot where we shot this video, when he was hit in the chest with a tear gas cannister, and bled to death.]

Supreme Court says NO to San Diego supes!

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:14:47 +0000

see more on the official Rx website.

After 4 yrs of causing grief to thousands of medical cannabis patients, after appealing decisions by County and State judges, San Diego County Supervisors’ heartless case against California’s medical cannabis law was finally put in the coffin by the US Supreme Court a couple weeks ago.

Craig, one of the heroes of “RxCannabis – a Freedom Tale” wrote me afterwards, “How many years has it been, oh well we will take it from here.” (He has been in chronic pain for over 10 years from an accident that crushed his spine.)

Read a San Diego area article here. And Huffington Post on it here.

Life Inc. Dispatch: Insulation Equation

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:45:01 +0000

from the smartest guy I know, Doug Rushkoff. His new book, Life Inc is available now.

Life Inc. Dispatch 02: Insulation Equation from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

Niilin – the battle of the media

harvey — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:45:12 +0000

Yesterday, the same Israeli paper ran TWO articles on Niilin, the village where Khaled and I have been shooting for the past several months (and where some of its citizens decided to open their own holocaust museum, see posts below…) On the one hand, two Palestinians were injured there yesterday in the demonstrations.

And on the other hand, the Israeli army states that in Niilin and Biilin (a neighboring village, where we have also shot, and where a villager was killed soldiers a month ago), “Gaza was easier.” The saga, and the bloodshed goes on. Of course, the “Gaza was easier” article didn’t mention once WHY the villagers in both places demonstrate weekly (because the Separation Fence cuts them off from a large percent of their olive trees and thus their income).

So how to sum up this mess? That the villagers AND the soldiers (not to mention all the citizens in Palestine and Israel) are victims of government policies that avoid peacemaking?

Holy Freakonomics!

harvey — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:16:32 +0000

OMG – the best-selling authors of “Freakonomics – the Hidden Side of Everything” who now have a regular column/blog in the NYTimes, just wrote an entry called “What Would Happen if Marijuana Were Decriminalized? A Freakonomics Quorum”. 3 of the 5 guest entries are articulate pro-cannabis anti Drug War, 2 are predictably shallow Prohibitionists. And about 90% of the comments are very pro too. The tide is turning, 70+ yrs of cannabis Prohibition is coming down!

“Drug Warrant” blog

harvey — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:48:24 +0000

You gotta check out this blog! The guy’s smart, it’s packed with info and videos, and he (Pete Guither) posts every day.

Only crit is there’s no cool graphics on it, so we had to supply our own above. Left is from a spider on cannabis, the other one is from spider on caffeine…..which is which???

(caffeine on the right)

ArtLust episode #7: Banksy

artlust — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:44:18 +0000

This episode we learn about “bombing Middle England” by Banksy. Leave us a comment if you’d like to request that we cover a specific work of art. Dont forget to visit our sponsor Arts Origin (www.artsorigin.com), where you can order 100,000s of prints online.