Published in Ha’aretz

NOTE: Ha’aretz made a translation error in a previous version of this article. This is a corrected version [correction in bold].

Ramallah’s intellectual elite, foreigners and curious spectators gathered last Saturday at the Friends School in Ramallah to hear writer and political activist Naomi Klein lecture to a packed auditorium.

Following a musical interlude by a string quintet, one of whose members is blind, Klein took the stage. She chose to speak in Ramallah about her Jewish roots.

“There is a debate among Jews - I’m a Jew by the way,” she said. The debate boils down to the question: “Never again to everyone, or never again to us?… [Some Jews] even think we get one get-away-with-genocide-free card…There is another strain in the Jewish tradition that say, ‘Never again to anyone.’”

read more

Click here for original article

BILIN , West Bank (AFP) — Bestselling author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters.

“It’s a boycott of Israeli institutions, it’s a boycott of the Israeli economy,” the Canadian writer told journalists as she joined a weekly demonstration against Israel’s controversial separation wall.

“Boycott is a tactic … we’re trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa,” said Klein, the author of “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.”

“It’s an extraordinarily important part of Israel’s identity to be able to have the illusion of Western normalcy,” the Canadian writer and activist said.

“When that is threatened, when the rock concerts don’t come, when the symphonies don’t come, when a film you really want to see doesn’t play at the Jerusalem film festival… then it starts to threaten the very idea of what the Israeli state is.”

read more

Click here for original article

On the plus side, our web site has been visited by literally millions of people curious about this story, who have then been able to see what our real campaigns are about. Yesterday, a blogger on Politics Daily summed it up this way: “As ridiculous
as much of it might sound, in a way it’s brilliant from a public relations point of view. It might not inspire us to trash our fly swatter, run out and purchase a humane bug catcher, or change our
driving habits , but it certainly created some conversation. I’m writing about it — you’re reading about it. Some people might have jumped online and researched the organization and the less laughable causes it stands for. Heck, some might have joined or made a donation. All of it over a fly.”

Please let me know if you have any questions, and thanks as always!

Dan Mathews

Curator Barbara J. Bloemink and photographer Luca Pizzaroni will speak about Luca’s current exhibition, KRADA. The Labels Project, Avenue of Americas Series, and The Landlords series will be discussed, as well as Luca’s earlier series and publications.

The talk will start around 6:45PM. Light refreshments will be served.

Barbara J. Bloemink is curating “Dress Codes: Clothing as Metaphor” at the Katonah Museum of Art from July 12 - October 4, 2009. Luca Pizzaroni’s “Labels Project” will be part of this exhibition.

Some of my friends here in the US have asked me why I am going to Montenegro – or even sometimes where and exactly what Montenegro is.
Six months ago I myself might not have known the answers to those questions – but now I certainly do.
When my business partners from United Arab Emirates first told me about Montenegro and Atlas Group it almost sounded too good to be true. A country of exceptional beauty and with a fascinating history. A country already well versed in (and thoroughly committed to) the ecological principles so important to me. At the very heart of Europe (and already using the Euro) and with an almost wild and virtually undeveloped potential to grow on the right principles in the right way. A country where local and organic farming already exists by default rather than by design.
As I combine my career in the entertainment world with that of a business woman and entrepreneur (not to mention mother!) I am always on the lookout for interesting business opportunities which can include and incorporate my desire to adhere to certain progressive principles;everything I heard about Montenegro fascinated me, and that is way I accepted invitation from Mr. Knezevic, president of Atlas Group to come to Montenegro end explore opportunity for investment and promotion with Atlas Group and their partners in new business projects Atlas Capital Center and Meljine Health and spa center. In particular I have been looking for a while for the right location and the right partners to create my dream project – a spa/hotel operating on the all various principles I hold dear – good health, good food (which to me means both organic and vegetarian as much as possible) and sound ecological planning – but also keeping in mind the importance of great art, great music, great design and great fun! They are all vital to our wellbeing.
I asked my manager, Peter Asher, to go to Montenegro as soon as he could and he came back to me with glowing reports of the place, the people and the potential. So we are looking forward so much to coming back together to explore making these dreams a reality. We are opening bank accounts in your country and preparing optimistically to enter into business relationships with Atlas Group and its partners which can work for us all. I am very excited.

Some more info about the film:

Meat the Truth is the very first documentary to address the relationship between livestock farming and climate change. The film is presented by Marianne Thieme, Member of Parliament for the Party for the Animals in the Netherlands. Meat the Truth is based on authoritative and influential scientific sources, which demonstrate that livestock farming is one of the most important causes of global warming.

According to a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the livestock farming industry generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all other transport worldwide, in other words, all other cars, trucks, trains, ships and planes added together! The livestock sector is also a major source of land and water degradation.

Meat the Truth features celebrities such as Pamela Anderson, Bill Maher, James Cromwell, Emily Deschanel, Tony Denison, Esai Morales, Megan Blake and many more. The Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation hopes that this film will make a valuable contribution to the societal discussion about the transition to a more plant-based diet and thus also a more humane society.

Date: May 17th 2009
Screening times: 5pm and 7 pm
Location: New York Film Academy
Address: 100 E 17th Street, New York, NY
Admission: FREE!
RSVP: newyork@meatthetruth.com

www.meatthetruth.com

Ottawa reacts to Europe’s ban on seal imports

VANCOUVER — Clubbing seals on ice floes is not a Winter Olympics sport, but Canadian parliamentarians have nonetheless voted to spit in the eye of their European counterparts by asking for seal products from the controversial annual hunt to be included on the uniforms of this country’s athletes at the 2010 Games here.

A motion to use the Games to promote seal products passed unanimously in the House of Commons yesterday, as MPs responded to this week’s lopsided vote by the European Parliament to ban the import of seal products.

In particular, the motion put forward by Bloc Québécois member Raynald Blais, who represents the Magdalen Islands where many residents participate in the hunt, calls for seal skin to be part of the official uniforms worn by Canada’s Olympians.

The proposal was quickly shot down by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), which reminded MPs that the Olympics are not to be used as a platform for special causes. Besides, Canada’s official uniforms for the Olympics have already been designed, approved by the International Olympic Committee and are currently in production, their look and style a closely guarded secret.

But one of the hunt’s most implacable foes, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), welcomed the MPs’ motion with open arms.

“We feel it’s perfect because it shows how completely out of touch the Canadian government is with the rest of the world,” said PETA spokeswoman Kristie Phelps. “It would be extremely appropriate for Canada’s Olympic uniform to wear the country’s heartlessness right on its sleeve.”

PETA, meanwhile, is planning its own use of the Winter Games as a staging ground, vowing to protest the bloody harvest of seals at every stop along the cross-country Olympic torch relay.

“All eyes are on Canada as they prepare to host the Olympics, and we hope to use this extra attention to put an end to the slaughter,” Ms. Phelps said.

“Canada is not popular around the world because of it, and we are going to make the country and the Olympics a target.”

COC boss Chris Rudge said he wasn’t surprised by the House of Commons motion to promote seal products at the 2010 Olympics.

Trying to co-opt the Games for social and political purposes has a long history, he said, but the Olympic Charter prohibits national committees from speaking out on such issues during the Olympics.

“If we agreed [to the motion], we would be in violation of that rule, and we won’t be doing that,” he said. “We will not be putting skin or other seal products on our uniforms.”

Canada’s seal hunt has long been unpopular in Europe. Photos and videos of young seals being clubbed and skinned on the blood-spattered ice are a staple of the ongoing campaign there to end the annual harvest, the largest of its kind in the world. Russia recently halted its killing of harp seals, after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the hunt a “bloody industry.”

The EU ban, if approved as expected by member countries, would apply to all seal products and processed goods, including skins for fur coats, meat, oil blubber, organs and Omega 3 pills.

Canada has strongly condemned the move, arguing that the seal hunt is humane and poses no danger to the seal population. The federal government says it intends to challenge the restriction at the World Trade Organization.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said she liked the idea of adding seal to Canada’s Olympic outfits. “I think it would be a good statement for the Canadian sealing industry, and Canada’s support of it.”

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said Canada has not been aggressive enough in fighting the public-relations war in Europe, and using the Olympics might help.

When a reporter suggested athletes might not like being forced to wear animal pelts to make a political statement, Mr. Duceppe pointed to his shoes.

“They’re not made out of plastic,” he said. “They’re not made out of straw. They come from an animal.”

With a report from The Canadian Press