SOS Rebuilding of L'Aquila

On July 7, 20, 000 citizens of L'Aquila arrived in Rome to protest against the government programme, to break the silence imposed by the media on popular initiatives in the area devastated by the earthquake, and to demand equality and rights.

The Request:

A law that includes:

• Freezing of payments on mortgages and loans, the suspension of taxes for 5 years followed by an interest free period of 10 years.
• Security for the unemployed and those without stable jobs
• Measures to restart the economy
• A reconstruction plan for the city and villages by way of efficient processes
• All the necessary economic resources, possibly requiring a solidarity tax.
  

L'Aquila, in the midst of thousands of difficulties, has been able during the past months to show an iron will to not lie down and die, to resist - giving life to numerous forms of protest and proposals, from the experience of citizens committees to the wheelbarrow movement, from participative planning to the citizens assemblies within the Permanent Protest at Piazza Duomo.

Despite this, a mode of handling the emergency, unheard of in Italy, has excluded the participation of the people from any participation in the definition of their future, imposing choices and cultural models that have redefined the zone, favouring the depopulation and speculation and leaving all the problems unresolved, above all the reconstruction of our city and surrounding villages, that has never been started.

We were among the first to denounce transformation of the Civil Defence, which - in a similar way to the treatment of the garbage issue in Campania - has used a modus operandi made up of large tenders, big events and little or no transparence. Thanks to the network that we have established together with other Italian organisations and movements, we have organised mobilisaions against its transformation into a public limited company.

Article 39 of the finance bill that the government is rushing through is only the latest blow that the Italian establishment has dealt our area.

We are asked to start paying tax and mortgages again, starting on 1st July 2010 and to repay all the contributions that were suspended in a very short time and in a way that has not been made clear.

At present, it is simply impossible for us to comply with this demand, because in our territory there are 16000 who have lost their jobs and ofthese many are now on benefits.

Because nothing has been considered or done by the government or the various commissions to favour the relaunch of the economy, if we exclude the ridiculous contrbution of 800 euro for three months paid to shopkeepers and artisans -which is insufficient to even pay their debts to suppliers.

We are not asking for particular privileges, just for our rights. After the earthquake struck Umbria the affected population were only asked to repay 40% of the suspended taxes 12 years after the earthquake.

We are asking for an integrated law that can set up funds and fixed timelines for reconstruction. In June 2009, when they protested against the Abruyyo decree, the people already knew that the funds that had been set aside were completely insufficient. Now even the local institutions are telling us that even funds for confronting the emergency that hasn't finished have run out (for example, money to pay for hotels where thousands of citizens are still forced to live, and part payments to those who managed to find a place to stay - these have been suspended since January, and the costs of repairing buildings with slight damage).

We want to escape from the continual uncertainty dictated by a system of emergency regullations and last minute postponemnts. We want to rebuild and we believe that this battle concerns others outside our territory.

L’Aquila will not surrender,it will try to resist. More than 20,000 of us marched through the city streets and occupied the motorway for two hours on 16th June. The news was censored by the mainstream media. Unfortunately we are accustomed to information about our territory that favors propaganda and emphasises the shows put on by politicians, systematically ignorign the real conditions in which we are living.

The Response

The demonstration in Rome finally ripped aside the papermache scenary that the Berlusconi government had erected to make Italians believe that that a miracle had been achieved in L'Aquila. We hope that at least this message has been heard.

Returning from Palestine and Israel - Marianita and Giuliana

We took part in the visit to Israel and Palestine with Luisa Morgantini from 19 to 27 April organised by the Association for Peace.

A long time had passed since our last visits (Giuliana in 2005 for the international meeting of the Women in Black, Marianita between il 2000 e 2001 at the start of the second Intifada).

It was a very busy week, during which we were able to take part in important events like the fifth international conference for the non-violent popular resistance in , and meet significant people, groups, and places.

In the document below, you can read a detailed account of our journey. Now we just want to tell you able the things that most impressed us.

Above all, one impression disturbed us: Palestine doesn't exist any more, it's been chewed up, swallowed, devoured by the wall, by roads, by checkpoints but most of all by the colonies that dominate the landscape of the West Bank, where towns and villages - isolated from each other - emerge like islands in a sea of occupation. Jerusalem too - the holy, the city of peac - is strangled in a grip of arrogance made up of cement, the wall, demolished and stolen houses and new settlements.

But if Palestine is disappearing, Palestinian men and women exist and resist: in Bil’in and in the popular committees of the other villages that have chosen the path of unarmed resistance, of the struggle for their rights carried forward with tenacity despite arrests, beatings, the violent reaction of the Israeli army that isn't ashamed to fire on unarmed civilans, wounding and sometimes killing them. In the Jordan valley, surrounded by colonies that steal the land, the water, life itself, they continue to try to farm the little land that still has not been taken from them. In Nablus - in the Balata refugee camp or in the city itself - activities are organised to give hope of a future to the children who still dream of a normal lfe. In Hebron - strangled by settlements that penetrate the heart of the city - they are restoring old houses and trying to bring the old market back to life.

And alongside the Palestinian women and men, those Israeli women and men continue to resist and every Friday, together with the palestinian popular committees, the confront the soldiers of the Tsahal in Bil’in and other villages, or they protest in East Jerusalem, to the rhythm of drums in front of houses stolen by settlers and protected by the police.

We dedicate this account to all of them

to the people of Bil’in, Nil’in and the other villages

to the families of i Sheik Jarrah left homeless and to the young Israelis who support them

to Fathy Khdirawt wh accompanied us along the Jordan valley

to the animators of the Yafa Cultural Center in Balata e and of the Human Supporters Association of Nablus

to Rauda Basir who continues to struggle for and with the women

to the girls and boys of Nablus and its surrounding area who danced and played for us.

to Nurit Peled an Rami Elhanan of Parents Circle who out of the knowledge of pain have drawn the strength to listen to the other and to build together the long and tortuous road of peace

to Nayla Ayesh who came with us to Haifa after 15 years absence

to the activists of the Massawa Center for the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel in Hafa and to the women of Isha Isha and Aswat also in Haifa

to the Combatants for Peace who we met in Jaffa and in particular to Liri who dreams of getting married at a check point

ai responsabili dell’Hebron Rehabilitation Committee che con determinazione cercano di ricostruire il tessuto sociale del vecchio centro di Hebron

to the women who work and who have found refuge at the Mehwar Center in Beit Sahour

to Nidé, Tariq, Sahaladdin and all those whose names we don't remember but whose faces, voices, and message we will not forget.

To Luisa for the passion with which she continues to live all of this despite the pain that it brings and to Cecilia for her kind help.

Viaggio in Palestina

Solidarity with the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in Israel

From the Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP)

In the early hours of the morning on Monday 31 May, we awoke to the horrible news of the Israeli raid against pacificists on board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which killed more than 10 people and wounded dozens.

The flotilla was carrying 10.000 tons of food, medicines and other products to Gaza, which has been under Israeli siege since 2005 (with even harsher restrictions since June 2007). The siege, designed to isolate and weaken Gaza, is a collective punishment of the civilian population of 1.5 million people.

The Coalition of Women for Peace is in solidarity with the Palestinian people and with the heroic members of the Freedom Flotilla. In spite of the attempts by the Israeli media and autorities to present a picture of unanimous support for the illegal assault on international pacifists, thousands of Israelis have demonstrated against it in recent days.

Spontanous demontration were held immediately after the news of the brutal assault on the flotilla - in Haifa, Nazareth, Shefa-'Amr at other cities in Israel. At the same time, 250 Israelis arrived at the port of Ashdod, in an action organised by the Coalition of Women for Peace and other Israeli organisations to demonstrate against the brutal massacre and to express there solidarity with the flotilla and with the Palestinian people. On Monday evening, there were demonstrations in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Um-El-Fahem. Demonstrators called for an international effort to lift the siege of Gaza. Other demonstrations will be held during this week in Palestine and Israel.

We would like to share with you some of the voices of the CWP following the raid:

«Despite this attempt to silence criticism, there are many Israeli citizens who are protesting against this massacre and calling on those responsible to give an account of their actions. The official version from the army and the government is not credible, especially since they imposed an electronic blockade on attempts to provide information about the raid. The international community has done very little to bring to justice those responsible for crimes against the palestinian people. Will other countries make more take it on themselves to intervene now that crimes have been committed against their own citizens?

Inna Michael, CWP Resources and Development Coordinator

The massacre of more than j10 militants is the exclusive responsibilty of the State of Israel, which could certainly have avoided the useless bloodshed. The siege of Gaza and the piratical attack on the flotilla by the Israeli armed forces are real provocations. This atrocity must open the eyes of the international community to the crimes committed by Israel. .
Eilat Maoz, CWP General Coordinator

If this is what Israel is capable of doing to pacifists, defenders of human rights and members of parliament, what more are they capable of doing to civilians under military occupation? The time has arrived to reawaken the international struggal against the siege of Gaza and the occupation.

Areen Hawari, Balad, member of the CWP



From the beginning of the siege, the CWP has publically denounced it and called for its immediate end. The international community cannot continue to do nothing – it must use all diplomatic means to put pressure on Israel to end the siege of Gaza and to punish those responsible for war crimes.

Frida 4 June, the coalition of organisation against the occupation and the Palestinian popular committees took part in a joint action to commemorate 43 years of occupation since June 1967. 43 years of domination, of oppression, of segregation, of construction of settlements, of theft of water and land, of military government, of restriction of movement, of demolition of houses, of political arrests, of torture, of war crimes and colonial expansion.

With this action we want to tell Israel to lift the siege of Gaza, to put an end to the occupation and to end the separation between Palestinians and Israelis and between Palestinians and their lands.

We appeal to our friends in the international community to hold vigils of solidarity throughout the world - demonstrating against the siege of Gaza, the endless occupation of Palestine and the deadly attack against innocent civilians who were trying to break the siege.

Massacre at sea

The high seas shall be reserved for peaceful purposes. No State may validly purport to subject any part of the high seas to its sovereignty. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

In the early hours of this morning, the Israeli navy attacked the Freedom Flotilla. According to the Israeli lawyer of the Free Gaza Movement, 10 passengers have been murdered.

With few exceptions, governments of the world are complicit in these murders and in this act of piracy because of the many occasions when they have turned a blind eye to illegal acts by the Israeli government during the 42 years of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli government believes in its impunity - and our governments have given them every reason to do so.

Today and in the next days, demonstrations and vigils will be held in our country and elsewhere to protest against the illegal attack on the six ships that the Israeli navy carried out in international waters against the six ships of the Freedom Flotilla, which were carrying materials that are urgently needed for the survival of the population of Gaza driven to the brink kby the siege that Israel, with the support of the international community has imposed for more than three years, during which time, operation Cast Lead killed more than 1400 people including 400 children.

The ships that made up the flottilla were completely:

• PEACEFUL
• LEGAL
• HUMANITARIAN

Because the aim was only

• To contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza and to restore normal life in the strip.
  

• To press Israel, Egypt, Italy and the international communtiy to end the embargo.

• To show the people of Gaza that they are not alone.
  

• To call on Israel to respect the norms of International Law and the charter of the Human Rights.
  

We invite all to send letters of protest to foreign minister Frattini and to the under secretary Letta who had been asked to ensure the intervention of the Italian government and who did not do so.

Demonstrations in Italy

31 May

• Rome, 17.00 piazza San Marco.
  
• Milan, 17.30 in piazza San Babila;
  
• Bologna: 17.00 in piazza Maggiore;
  
• Genoa: 18.00 in front of the Prefecture
  
• Turin: 17.00 in front of palazzo Nuovo;
  
• Naples: 17 piazza Plebiscito;
  
• Grosseto: 18 in front of the Prefecture;
  
• Parma: 18 in piazzale della Pace;
  
• Bergamo: 18 in front of the town hall;
  
• Venezia: 17 ponte di Rialto;
  
• Siena: piazza Duomo;
  
• Livorno: 18 piazza Grande;
  
• Firenze: 17 davanti Prefettura;
  
• Padova: ore 17 davanti Prefettura;
  
• Lecce: ore 17.30 piazzetta De Pace;
  
• Pesaro: ore 18.30 davanti al Comune
  
• Treviso: 18.00 davanti alla Prefettura;
  
• Savona: 18:00 piazza Mameli;
  
• Varese: 17 in front of the Prefecture
• Viareggio: 17in front of the town hall
  
• Vicenza: 18.30 in front of the Prefecture
• L'Aquila: 18 in front of the offices of the Guardia di Finanza;
  
• Modena :17 at the Ghirlandina;
  
• Reggio Emilia: 19 piazza Prampolini;
  
• Empoli:18 piazza della Vittoria;
  
• Mantova: 18, in front of the Prefecture in Via Principe Amedeo;
  
• Arezzo : 19 in front of the Prefecture;
  
• Novara: 17.30in front of the Prefecture.
  

1 June

• Catania 18 in front of the Prefecture;
  
• Cagliari 18:00 sit-in at Bastione Saint Remy;
  
• Brindisi, 17.30 in piazza Santa Teresa.
  

We Support the Freedom Flotilla

In these days, a fleet of eight ships is setting sail from ports in Ireland, Turkey and Greece for the port of Gaza City. They are carrying building materials, desalination plant, photovoltaic cells, generators, scholastic materials, and pharmaceuticals for the Palestinian civil society.

It is an action planned and carried out by solidarity organisations and networks and is necessary for the survival of Gaza's population, living under siege for the last three years, deprived of basic necessities and of the materials needed to rebuild a land crushed by the Israeli armed forces' operation Cast Lead, which left more than 1400 dead and more than 5000 injured. Arms that are prohibited by international law were used, including depleted uranium and white phosphorus.


The Israeli government has stated that it will use all necessary means, including force, to prevent the arrival of the ships and the delivery of the cargo. If this happens, the 600 passengers from 40 different nations will be put in danger.

To avoid this happening and to permit the ships to deliver the materials, we ask :

• All political forces, members of parliament and people of culture to take a clear position to prevent yet another action by the Israeli government in contempt for the laws that regulate the civilized life of the peoples sharing this planet.
  
• That Italy should bring political and diplomatic pressure to bear on the Israeli government so that they do not prevent the arrival of the fleet in the Port of Gaza city, repeating, in international waters the actions of piracy already committed in similar circumstances in recent years.
  

The silence in our country that surrounds the suffering inflicted on the population of Gaza and the absence of attention to the humanitarian initiatives of solidarity committees is unacceptable and blameworthy.

Free Market?

In May 2007, Israel was invited to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Supposedly, the OECD rules define certain conditions of membership for states wishing to join - respect for human rights, a commitment to democracy and to the free market.

In the meantime, Israel has been credibly accused of war crimes (in the Goldstone report among others) during the attack on Gaza and of violations of international humanitarian law not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank.

So much for respect for human rights. And democracy? Can a government that controls the lives of millions of people who haven't been able to take part in elections be called "a democracy"? Can militarily governing a civilian population be considered anything other than a dictatorship?

As for the free market, we aren't so convinced about the reality of this concept in our own country or in the other countries that are already members of the OECD - but using the word "free" in a context that includes the occupied Palestinian territories is simply absurd.

Israel is driving an economy of military occupation. The statistics that it presented to the OECD include the West Bank - or rather they include the settler economy. But the calculations of medium income don't include the Palestinians who work in the settlements - for very low wages - and in the account of social services, the exclusion for these services of Palestinian workers who have paid their contributions is not mentioned.

There is no mention at all of the crushed and suffocated economy of the Palestinians under occupation. And the OECD accepts this. The problem of the inclusion in the statistics of illegal settlements is resolved as a technical rather than a political problem, and the Palestinians are once more made invisible. In the words of Israeli economist Shir Hever

"The OECD treats Israel as a country of 7 million citizens, rather than as a state that has 11 million subjects, of whom 4 million are Palestinians who live under occupation. "

There are only a few days left until the 11th May, the date on which the decision of the OECD on Israel's membership is expected. At least if there isn't a strong mobilisation to make them change their minds. !

One vote against is enough to block the entry of a new member state!

It has emerged that the European Union will take a common position, so that the countries that have doubts such as Norway and Turkey are afraid to express their dissent. Belgium and Ireland have shown themselves open to our arguments, but we need to push them to question the bureaucratic EU decision making process.

Let's let them know they are not alone and that they should oppose the membership of Israel without fear. Israel must not be rewarded with the legitimation of war crimes. The OECD would contradict to its own stated principles by accepting Israeli membership. We are asking for coherence!

Sign the letter to the Secretary General of the OECD and to all member states, calling on them to vote against Israeli membership.

Rewarding Israel for human rights violations will not bring peace or justice.

More information on the Economy of the Occupation

Land Day - in defense of the land and of memory

Write down

I am an Arab,

You stole the orchards of my ancestors

And the land which I cultivated

Along with my children.

And you left nothing for us,

Nor for our descendents,

Except for these rocks...

So will the state take them,

As it has been said?

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Mahmoud Darwish: Identity Card
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On 30th March the Palestinian People Remember Land Day

The events commemorated on this day go back to the 30th March 1976, starting with the confiscation of hundreds of hectares of Palestinian land by the Israelis in areas with an Arab-Palestinian majority, particularly Galilee.

Following this act, Arabs in the territories occupied in 1948 called a general strike, challenging the Israeli authorities for the first time since 1948.

The Israeli military response was harsh: the army invaded Palestinian towns killing and wounding several defenseless people.

The protests started on March 29th, with a demonstration in Deir Hanna - repressed by force - followed by another in Arraba, where the Israeli military reaction was even stronger and led to the killing of Khair Yassin and the wounding of dozens of citizens.

News of the killing of Yassin led to increased protests in all the Arab areas. The next day, another five people were killed: : Raja Abu Raia, Khader Khalaylah, Khadija Shawahneh, di Sekhnin; Muhsen Taha di Kufor Kenna, and Rafat al-Zuhairi di Ain Shama.

Since then, things have not improved - on the contrary, the policies of expropriation have been extended to the territories illegally occupied in 1967. Confiscations of land continue, as do the colonial projects: day after day, the apartheid wall steals Palestinian land, dividing orchards, villages, towns, families. New settlements are built and older ones are extended.

Racist attitudes are also on the increase, attempting to strip Palestinians of their legal and political rights and to cancel the historic memory of the Palestinian pople. On February 26, the Israeli parliament approved a law that bans the commemoration of the Nakba, the catastrophe of the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Palestine with the creation of the state of Israel. Penalties will be imposed on anyone who shows "signs of sadness and mourning" on the 15th May within the (undefined) borders of Israel. On that date, Palestinians recall the creation of the refugee crisis.

The Israeli group

Zochrot (Remember) is working against these attitudes, insisting that without awareness of the Nakba as an intrinsic part of the creation of the state of Israel, peace cannot be achieved. They also try to bring the history of Palestinian villages to Israelis and foriegn tourists, as shown in these videos: