THE DEATH PENALTY WORLDWIDE

The Death Penalty Worldwide

According to Amnesty International, 137 countries have abolished the death penalty. Argentina, Chile, and Uzbekistan outlawed the death penalty in 2008. During 2007, 24 countries, 88% in China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States alone, executed 1,252 people compared to 1,591 in 2006. Nearly 3,350 people were sentenced to death in 51 countries. More than 20,000 prisoners are on death row across the world. See also U.S. Figures.

Death Penalty Outlawed (year)1

Albania (2000)
Andorra (1990)
Angola (1992)
Argentina (2008)
Armenia (2003)
Australia (1984)
Austria (1950)
Azerbaijan (1998)
Belgium (1996)
Bhutan (2004)
Bosnia-Herzegovina (1997)
Bulgaria (1998)
Cambodia (1989)
Canada (1976)
Cape Verde (1981)
Chile (2008)
Colombia (1910)
Cook Islands (2007)
Costa Rica (1877)
Côte d'Ivoire (2000)
Croatia (1990)
Cyprus (1983)
Czech Republic (1990)
Denmark (1933)
Djibouti (1995)
Dominican Republic (1966)
East Timor (1999)
Ecuador (1906)
Estonia (1998)
Finland (1949)
France (1981)
Georgia (1997)
Germany (1949)
Greece (1993)
Guinea-Bissau (1993)
Haiti (1987)
Honduras (1956)
Hungary (1990)
Iceland (1928)
Ireland (1990)
Italy (1947)
Kiribati (1979)
Liberia (2005)
Liechtenstein (1987)
Lithuania (1998)
Luxembourg (1979)
Macedonia (1991)
Malta (1971)
Marshall Islands (1986)
Mauritius (1995)
Mexico (2005)
Micronesia (1986)
Moldova (1995)
Monaco (1962)
Montenegro (2002)
Mozambique (1990)
Namibia (1990)
Nepal (1990)
Netherlands (1870)
New Zealand (1961)
Nicaragua (1979)
Niue (n.a.)
Norway (1905)
Palau (n.a.)
Panama (1903)
Paraguay (1992)
Poland (1997)
Portugal (1867)
Philippines (2006)
Romania (1989)
Rwanda (2007)
Samoa (2004)
San Marino (1848)
São Tomé and Príncipe (1990)
Senegal (2004)
Serbia (2002)
Seychelles (1993)
Slovak Republic (1990)
Slovenia (1989)
Solomon Islands (1966)
South Africa (1995)
Spain (1978)
Sweden (1921)
Switzerland (1942)
Turkey (2002)
Turkmenistan (1999)
Tuvalu (1978)
Ukraine (1999)
United Kingdom (1973)
Uruguay (1907)
Uzbekistan (2008)
Vanuatu (1980)
Vatican City (1969)
Venezuela (1863)

Death Penalty Outlawed for Ordinary Crimes2 (year)

Bolivia (1997)
Brazil (1979)
Cook Islands (n.a.)
El Salvador (1983)
Fiji (1979)
Israel (1954)
Kazakhstan (2007)
Kyrgyzstan (2007)
Latvia (1999)
Peru (1979)

De Facto Ban on Death Penalty3 (year)4

Algeria (1993)
Benin (1987)
Brunei Darussalam (1957)
Burkina Faso (1988)
Central African Republic (1981)
Congo (Republic) (1982)
Eritrea (n.a.)
Gabon (n.a.)
Gambia (1981)
Ghana (n.a.)
Grenada (1978)
Kenya (n.a.)
Korea, South (n.a.)
Laos (n.a.)
Liberia (n.a.)
Madagascar (1958)
Malawi (n.a.)
Maldives (1952)
Mali (1980)
Mauritania (1987)
Morocco (1993)
Myanmar (1993)
Nauru (1968)
Niger (1976)
Papua New Guinea (1950)
Russia (1999)
Sri Lanka (1976)
Suriname (1982)
Swaziland (n.a.)
Tajikistan (n.a.)
Tanzania (n.a.)
Togo (n.a.)
Tonga (1982)
Tunisia (1990)
Zambia (n.a.)

Death Penalty Permitted

Afghanistan
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belize
Botswana
Burundi
Cameroon
Chad
China (People's Republic)
Comoros
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Cuba
Dominica
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gabon
Ghana
Guatemala
Guinea
Guyana
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Korea, North
Korea, South
Kuwait
Laos
Lebanon
Lesotho
Libya
Malawi
Malaysia
Mongolia
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian Authority
Qatar
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Somalia
Sudan
Swaziland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United States
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

NOTE: n.a. = date not available. 1. If death penalty was outlawed for ordinary crimes before it was outlawed in all cases, the earlier date is given.
2. Death penalty is permitted only for exceptional crimes, such as crimes committed under military law or in wartime.
3. Death penalty is sanctioned by law but has not been the practice for ten or more years.
4. Year of last execution. Source: Amnesty International.

Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
State Sponsors of Terrorism, the “Axis of Evil,” and “Outposts of Tyranny” Political Statistics The Top 10 Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2006



More on Death Penalty Worldwide from Infoplease:

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Capital Punishment: Here & Abroad - Death Penalty Update Here & Abroad by John Gettings The United States' debate on the ...
The Supreme Court: Is the Death Penalty Cruel and Unusual Punishment? - Supreme Court cases involving death sentences in Virginia of Daryl Renard Atkins in 1996.
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Read more: The Death Penalty Worldwide — Infoplease.com

DENNIS ALTMAN WANTS TO HEDGE HIS BETS ON THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT - BUT HE'S WRONG!

The item below is an article by Dennis Altman in The Age newspaper on 19 September 2011. In the article Altman seems to express the view that Israel ought to support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations as it would be in Israel's interests because of its oft-declared support of a two-state solution.

Surely if Altman had studied the situation ingreater depth he would have come to realise a long time ago that Israel's agenda is not, will not be and has never been in the past, to permit a Palestinian state in its midst.

Israel's intention, from the earliest zionist activist days, has been to occupy the whole of Palestine and turn it into a Jewish state, for Jews only. Kick the Palestinians out by fair means or foul - usually foul, and bit by bit occupy the whole of Palestine so that a separate state is an actual impossibility.

This is already the situation on the ground with so many settlers in the Occupied Territories and the "Berlin apartheid Wall" stealing large portions of an already-shrunk West Bank of Palestinian territory.

Australia will support whatever the United States does in the UN and the UN Security Council. They will both oppose Palestinian statehood.

While the bid for a state of Palestine is fraught with difficulties and problems, it would permit a bargaining position for the Palestinians and force Hamas and Abbas to find a modus vivendi in order to consolidate negotiating positions with Israel.

Ultimately, because it will have no other choice, Israel and Palestine will have to live together, and the ultimate answer for the land of Palestine is for it to become one democratic Israeli-Palestinian state which both sides of the problem refuse to contemplate at the moment.

As fro the other issue in Altman's article, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) worked with the apartheid South African regime, when many international multi-national organisations pulled the plug on their South African operations.

The BDS support is growing internationally daily, and although at this stage the USA still supports Israel unreservedly, some of its long-term At=rab allies are beginning to raise questions.

Whether they will prevail or not in the longer term, Israel has already damaged itself irreparably and the friends it has had will not be there in the indefinite future.

Now read Dennis Altman''s article:

Israel's opposition to recognising Palestine is a puzzle
Dennis Altman
September 19, 2011

The move to recognise Palestinian statehood is led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

The passionate support for Israel in Australia is also hard to explain.

FOR elements of both left and right in Australia, the Palestinian-Israeli dispute has become an issue of the first order, quite unrelated to any realistic assessment of its importance to Australia.

Some members of the Greens and the ALP support boycotts of Israeli products, which has created confrontations in Melbourne and Sydney. The mainstream of both major parties remains deeply committed to Israel, and any criticism of its government is denounced rather than discussed.

Even the suggestion that Australia might abstain from rather than oppose this week's General Assembly vote on recognising Palestinian statehood will bring abuse on the government.

Israel, backed by the United States, insists that admitting a Palestinian state to the United Nations would be a blow to the peace process. ''The road to peace,'' said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ''runs through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not New York.''

It is understandable that the Israeli government does not want to legitimise the General Assembly as a mediator in the conflict. The assembly vote would recognise the pre-1967 borders of Israel, thus eliminating large areas of Israeli settlement over the past 30 years.

Yet the Israeli government's adamant opposition to recognition of a Palestinian state is puzzling. If Israel is committed, as it says, to a two-state solution, would recognition not help in cementing support for the concept? Indeed, as increasing numbers of Palestinians and some Israelis come to argue that a two-state solution is no longer feasible, and as demographic changes threaten the ''Jewishness'' of Israel under its current borders, it is in Israel's long-term interests to build support for the two-state model.

The move to recognise Palestinian statehood is led by the more moderate faction under President Mahmoud Abbas, with whom Israel has consistently claimed it can negotiate. Indeed, some senior Hamas figures have spoken against it: one claimed it would mean ''the Palestinian resistance won't be allowed to fire one single gunshot at the Israeli occupation''. Is this not for Israel a desirable outcome?

Since the 1967 war, Israel has consistently placed short-term tactical victories ahead of longer-term strategic thinking. It has relied on military force and American backing to maintain a status quo. But one consequence of the so-called Arab Spring is that Israel's de facto Arab allies, particularly Egypt, can no longer be relied on to back this status quo.

It is significant that Turkey is moving quickly from being a de facto ally of Israel to a leading proponent of the Palestinian cause. This does not mean that Turkey seeks the abolition of the state of Israel. It is a signal that the most powerful country in the region - and a democracy, despite the claim that Israel is the only such state in the Middle East - recognises that a paradigm shift is required.

This is rarely acknowledged in Australia, where debate, while sometimes intense, rarely goes beyond entrenched set pieces on both sides. The pro-Palestinian lobby is small, and too often engages in acts that are counterproductive. The pro-Israeli lobby is far larger and influential, and has powerful emotional support on both sides of politics. Kevin Rudd once claimed that support for Israel was in his DNA, and Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott seem determined to go one better.

Just why there is such passionate support for Israel is difficult to explain. Neither national interest nor the small Jewish population explain it. I suspect it is born of the formative experiences of political leaders, now in their 40s and 50s; note that Gillard was a student leader when the national movement was destroyed by ferocious debates on Palestine.

Most of our political leaders identify with Israel as part of the mythical ''free world'' that Abbott says President Barack Obama leads, forgetting that this term was a product of the Cold War. They have ended up supporting an American position that is almost certainly more hardline than Obama himself would espouse were he not facing a difficult election in which the pro-Israeli lobby is enormously important.

Twenty years ago negotiating with the PLO was also denounced as against Israel's interests, until it became official government policy. In the same way UN recognition of the reality of a Palestinian state might break a deadlock. Those who are really concerned for the survival of Israel need recognise that a peaceful settlement is not necessarily achieved through support for every Israeli administration.

Dennis Altman is director of the Institute for Human Security at La Trobe University.

THE AGE NEWSPAPER BECOMES THE LATEST ARM OF THE LIBERAL PARTY

The Age newspaper has joined the Murdoch media in Australia by giving voice to the Liberal Party and its present and past cronies, while denying voices to those who oppose current politics and politicians.

Censorship is alive and well in the print newsrooms around the country and it seems as if Murdoch has bought Fairfax without actually having to purchase any shares more than those it may already possess.

Amanda Vanstone, Richard Alston, John Howard, Peter Costello - all held sway and had media attention for their views for a period of about 12 years. They have several media outlets currently available to them for them to spout their venomous views.

For our money, I don't see any reason to buy newspapers as bigoted and one-sided as the Fairfax and other media, and more and more of us are able to obtain our news from online sources other than those blinkered and with tunnel vision who are in control of the media in Australia.

The internet may have certain problems inherent in its international spread, but these are insignificant in relation to the vast advantages obtained with access to opinions and news items which actually provide news without censorship.

JOHN SEARLE REFUSES TO DIVULGE NAMES OF HIS SELF-APPOINTED "GLTH REFERENCE GROUP!"

15 SEPTEMBER 2011

The following is correspondence between the president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, John Searle, and myself in regard to the secretive members of the Searle-appointed gay, lesbian, transgender, HIV (GLTH) reference group:

JEWISH COMMUNITY COUNCIL'S SECRET AND CLOSETED GLTH REFERENCE GROUP!

From Mannie De Saxe:

Many members of the gay, lesbian, transgender, HIV (GLTH) communities have lived in closets for much of their adult lives. In addition, many GLTH people have been murdered, assaulted, vilified, discriminated against, been subjected to electro-shock treatment to attempt to change their homosexuality to heterosexuality, subjected to police attacks and imprisonment because of their sexual orientation. Many were also kicked out of their homes by families who were not prepared to have such children as part of their households. Jewish families guilty of this sort of abuse often went into self-imposed mourning at the loss of a child.

GLTH people in these situations are not prepared to be scrutinized by groups of people who are anonymous.

GLTH activists will not be pushed back into the closet by those who wish to remain in the closet themselves.

If members of the JCCV’s self-appointed members of a GLTH Reference Group wish to remain unidentified then they are in no position to scrutinize any documentation concerning the problems Jewish members of GLTH people are confronted by on a daily basis.

People who have nowhere to turn are often led in desperation to suicide and that is not a prospect we are willing to permit to continue.

It is in the interests of JCCV to ensure that a group of people who are involved in a reference group to widen the debate within the Victorian Jewish communities of the issues confronting Jewish gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV people on a daily basis are people who are not hiding their identities anonymously and ashamedly.

It is estimated that there are 40,000 people in Victoria who identify as Jewish. It should not be beyond the capabilities of a so-called Jewish Community Council of Victoria to find GLTH people willing to be members of a reference group.

If the JCCV organisation continues with this secrecy then the whole sham of the reference group set-up will need to be publicly exposed.

Mannie De Saxe


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 9/14/2011 5:02 PM, John Searle wrote:

Hi Mannie,

Sorry it took a few days to get back to you but things have been rather
hectic.

The GLBT members of the reference group have at this stage requested that
their identities remain undisclosed.

Accordingly, I am not in a position to advise you of their names. I am
sure you appreciate the need to respect their confidentiality.

Regards

John Searle


President

Jewish Community Council of Victoria

306 Hawthorn Road,

South Caulfield, Victoria 3162

Tel: Office - (03) 9225 7753

Tel: Mobile - 0412 251 344

Email: jsearle@vicbar.com.au

On 12/09/11 10:47 PM, "red-jos" wrote:

Mannie De Saxe

PO Box 1675

Preston South

Vic 3072

Please advise the names of the JCCV Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, HIV
(GLTH) Reference Group members.

Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne

---

The President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) Dr Danny Lamm welcomed the announcement today by Attorney-General of Victoria, Robert Clark, of the appointment of Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) President John Searle as the new chairperson of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.


He said: “I am delighted that the President of one of the ECAJ’s major State constituent bodies has been honoured with such an important government appointment. John is admirably suited for this role, having committed years of communal service to human rights in a voluntary leadership position. He exemplifies the best of Jewish and societal values as a leader and a family man, and Victoria can expect from him total dedication to advancing the cause of human rights and equal opportunity.”

Dr Lamm also praised Victorian Attorney-General, Robert Clarke, and Premier Ted Baillieu and his Cabinet for the appointment. “They could not have placed their confidence in a better person”, Dr Lamm said. “John has devoted his communal life and much of his professional career as a barrister for the last 22 years towards combatting discrimination and promoting equal opportunity for all. The Victorian government has made an excellent choice.”

(Editor's note - the italics are mine to emphasise the fact that certain members of the Jewish communities believe that John Searle has "combatted discrimination and promoted equal opportunity for all" except if they happen to be gay, lesbian, transgender, HIV members of the Jewish communities!)

JEWISH COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF VICTORIA AND "GLBT REFERENCE GROUP"!

The following advertisement appeared on page 4 of the Melbourne edition of the Australian Jewish News on Friday 29 July 2011:

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria established a GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender) Reference group to investigate issues surrounding vilification, discrimination and mental health concerns faced by members of Victoria’s Jewish GLBT community.

These are serious issues and to assist the JCCV in formulating its views it is now calling for relevant submissions.

It is expected that members of Victoria’s Jewish GLBT community will predominantly provide submissions. However, submissions from other community members are welcome. Submissions may detail relevant experiences, positive or negative in relation to matters of discrimination, vilification and/or mental health issues within the Jewish community or may raise other points of relevance.

We are particularly concerned about the impact which these issues may have upon suicide rates and submissions concerning this aspect are also sought.

Submissions may be particularised to address the following issues:

• your personal experience of instances of vilification
• your personal experience of episodes of discrimination
• any impact that GLBT issues have had upon your mental health

Submissions will be received on an entirely confidential basis but will only be considered if they are accompanied by the author’s name and contact details.
Submissions should be sent to:

The President
JCCV
306 Hawthorn Road
South Caulfield Victoria 3162
or alternatively via email to president@jccv.org.au

Submissions must be received by close of business on 31 August 2011.

Help is always available from the following:
Lifeline – 131 114
Gay & Lesbian Switchboard – 1800 184 527 / (03) 9663 2939
Jewish Care – 8517 5999 (business hours)

Now here is where things start to become very strange - when the President of the JCCV was approached to provide information about the so-called "GLBT Reference Group", he replied as follows:

"The GLBT members of the reference group have at this stage requested that
their identities remain undisclosed.
Accordingly, I am not in a position to advise you of their names. I am
sure you appreciate the need to respect their confidentiality."

The questions now have to be asked - are there people in this so-called group? Are they activists of any sort? What is their expertise to deal with and respond to submissions such as were asked for in this advertisement?

Is this merely an attempt on the part of the President of the JCCV to appear to be doing something about the problems besetting Jewish people who happen to be gay, lesbian, transgender or people with HIV (GLTH)?

If this is the case, then I suggest the whole exercise is a sham and there will be no outcome to this shoddy little exercise, failing the Jewish GLTH communities yet again!

THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK OF ATHEISM - COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS

"The Australian Book of Atheism", edited by Warren Bonett - also a contributor - was published by Scribe in 2010.

The essays cover a wide spectrum of thoughts and comments about what atheism is in Australia and what its impact is on our societies which are god-driven.

For instance, there is a contribution by Dr Philip Nitschke on atheism and euthanasia, and we all know that the outcome of the Northern Territory's introduction of a euthanasia bill was overturned by the federal parliament with god-lovers such as Kevin Andrews driving the debate and ensuring that euthanasia was not to be allowed for Australians demanding it as their right!

The contents are divided into sections illuminating the different perspectives on what should be a very simple topic:

OVERVIEW
PERSONAL
EDUCATION
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
POLITICS
PHILOSOPHY
RELIGION AND THE BRAIN

The essays are thoughtful and educational and show a wide range of responses to the god-driven world around us. At over 400 pages, most of which are very readable - and entertaining - one is left pondering why, with so many of us atheists, so many of the non-atheists require the support of some mythical, invisible, incomprehensibly cruel and murderous "male" construct, who unleashes wars and famines and cruelty by some few on the many who have no defences and who are left dead and dying by those who also claim to have their god on their side!

I have one serious criticism of the book - there is no index!

For a volume with so much in it, and with information provided by so many with so many references to others, an index is a vital part of such a volume.

I also have one comment which, to my way of thinking, is a serious omission.

At a time when homosexuality has become much more accepted by the heterosexual world and there is ongoing discussion about equal rights for all humans, gay and straight, there is no chapter on homosexuality and religion and atheism.

Many gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV (GLTH) members of the community were brought up in families where religion was the be-all and end-all of their lives - and god said homosexuality was evil because it was written in the bible, and we were all going to rot in hell if we didn't change our ways and our lifestyles. Many were brought up in Catholic households where hell ruled, and many were brought up in other religions where religion was not as rabid but where poofters were the bottom of the food chain!

Why is there no essay about why so many of those GLTH people who were brought up in religious households are now amongst the most avid of atheists, and why is there no assessment of this development in our atheist history?

Other than these comments, the book is a must for those trying to get to grips with what religion has done to them and why they should drop it immediately and develop into happy, productive and normal members of our society.

ZIONISTS AND FASCISTS UNITE AGAINST PALESTINE SUPPORTERS

The following article was published by Socialist Alternative on 29 August 2011:

Zionists and fascists unite against Palestine supporters

By Rebecca Barrigos & Reeshan Yameen

Far-right rallies for Israel on Saturday(L), fascism on Sunday(R). *see note at end of article.

Zionists in Brisbane marched side by side with fascists on Saturday. The two groups have seemingly made an alliance over their support for Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians.

Around 60 pro-Palestine activists took to Brisbane’s popular Southbank café district to protests outside the Israeli-owned Max Brenner chocolate store. Max Brenner has proudly proclaimed its sponsorship of the notoriously brutal Golani and Givati brigades of the Israeli Defence Force, which have carried out massacres of Palestinians.

The first sight we were confronted with as we marched towards the Max Brenner store was a hundred-strong contingent of Zionist counter demonstrators with megaphone-wielding members of the Australian Patriotic Defence Movement (APDM), a fascist organisation, on the front line. This alliance of fascists and Israel supporters then proceeded to spew forth a tirade of abuse.

The next day, these self-same APDM fascists assembled for the second racist rally that they have called in as many weeks in Brisbane’s King George Square. The same people who dared to accuse us of being Nazis and “holocaust supporters” the day before were revealed as actual Nazis at a demonstration where they claimed Muslims are ruining our “Australian way of life” and called for the burqa to be banned, spouting racist filth for hours, whilst proudly displaying the Israeli flag.

Contemptibly, the Zionist counter-rally on Saturday was given the full backing of the state, with the police giving them free rein to assemble. Meanwhile, the cops actively prevented our demonstration, for which they had issued a permit, from approaching the store and corralled us in a tiny space around the back of the venue.

The behaviour of the Brisbane police is entirely consistent with the actions of the Australian state which backs Israel to the hilt. The state has tried to silence the pro-Palestine campaign not only through lies, and accusations of anti-Semitism but also repression, as seen in the recent arrests of 19 activists at a demonstration against Max Brenner in Melbourne.

The rally took place at the end of a week of rabid campaigning by the media, the Labor Party and Liberal Nationals politicians in the Queensland senate. They have attempted to paint Palestine supporters as anti-Jewish and to discredit the campaign against Max Brenner by likening it to blockades of Jewish businesses in Nazi Germany.

On Saturday and Sunday, the real fascists were out on the streets and it was clear whose side they’re on – and who is supporting them.

The confidence the Zionists feel to defend an apartheid state is the confidence of those who know the establishment is on their side. Yet the fact that the Zionists have been compelled to organise a large mobilisation to defend Max Brenner and Israel also demonstrates their fear that the BDS campaign is bringing attention to the plight of Palestinians. They know that the thin veil of respectability that Israel and the companies that support it shield themselves in is being pulled away.

We must take heart from this and redouble our efforts in Brisbane to build a strong pro-Palestine campaign.

* Image note. The same person on the magaphone on the left (at the anti-Palestine rally alongside Zionists) is also pictured the following day at an Australian Patriotic Defence League rally. He was one of a number of APDL members who attended and spoke at both protests. None among the anti-BDS protesters objected to the presence of these fascists in their ranks.

The following was received by email on 31 August 2011:

VICTORIAN TRADES HALL COUNCIL PASSES MOTION DEFENDING BDS PROTESTS AGAINST MAX BRENNER

The Victorian Trades Hall Council (the peak union body in Victoria) Executive passed the following positive motion in support of the BDS campaign as well as condemning the police attacks on protesters.

This is a really welcome step forward and we hope that the campaign can continue to garner more support from unions across the country,

Yours


Vashti Kenway

The motion is written below.:

Palestine, the BDS, the ACCC and Police Behavior at Rallies

That VTHC Executive Council reaffirms its long standing policies relating to the Palestine/Israel conflict namely:

Its support for the BDS Campaign and Palestinian statehood.

Its support for the BDS campaign is aimed at urgent and sincere talks and not the tactics of the past, where while the talks were actually occurring, more settlements were being planned for construction upon Palestinian territory.

Council notes that in recent weeks the Israeli Knesset passed the anti-boycott bill making it illegal for Israelis to call for boycotts in response to the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestinian land, mandated to them by the UN. We note the recent spate of rallies, public meetings and debate organised by Israeli citizens in response to a number of issues including the Knesset's new law, demanding that it be rescinded.

Council notes the potential involvement of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in industrial and political disputes. This would be an aggressive smokescreen aimed at stifling legitimate industrial and political activity by unions and other organisations behind a facade of protecting business interests. Executive Council notes the most recent officials to be threatened with ACCC intervention Kevin Bracken of the MUA and Tim Gooden of Geelong Trades Hall Council, in relation to speeches at a BDS rally. Hence Council directs the Secretary to raise our concerns urgently with the ACTU, and to seek a joint approach to the Federal Government to demand the guarantee that the Trades Practices Act will not be used to interfere in the political discourse.

Council notes with concern an increase, in some police regions and around certain political issues, in harsh and violent responses by sections of Victoria Police, in dealing with what are legitimate industrial and political protests over recent months. Council believes the arrest and prosecution of workers demonstrating at Visy Dandenong, and the arrest and prosecution of protesters at a recent BDS Rally in the CBD, indicate a disproportionate escalation of aggressive action by Victoria Police. Council believes that the be completely inconsistent with the principles of Free Speech and the right to peaceful protest.

Therefore Council directs the Secretary to formally lodge a protest with the State Minister for Police, seek a meeting with Police Industrial to discuss any shortfall in police training around behavior at rallies, and to have informal discussions with the Police Association on whether a new, harsh policy on industrial and political demonstrations has been introduced since the last State elections in Victoria.

MOVED: Len Cooper


SECONDED: Kevin Bracken

LOEWENSTEIN SAYS "ENOUGH WITH THE NAZI SLURS"

This article was published in newmatilda on 25 August 2011:

Enough With The Nazi Slurs

By Antony Loewenstein

Equating the BDS movement with Nazism is both offensive and outrageous. So why aren't members of the Jewish community speaking out on this, asks Antony Loewenstein
Joseph Stalin changed his name and so did New South Wales Federal Greens MP Lee Rhiannon.

Stalin, writes Alan Howe, executive editor and columnist with Rupert Murdoch’s Herald Sun, was "perhaps the 20th century’s greatest murderer"

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Rhiannon backs the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and, argues Howe, people should know about "the 1930s where violent protests against Jewish traders may end. It was a colourful time of brownshirts, blackshirts and yellow Stars of David".

In this fashion, Rhiannon is likened to a supporter of fascism and remains "against the only democracy in the Middle East and the one country in which the region’s Arabs are guaranteed safety".

Welcome to the level of debate in Australia over the Israel/Palestine conflict. The last months have seen a litany of public figures that should know better accusing anybody associated with the BDS movement of embracing Nazism, anti-Semitism and outright Jew-hatred.
It shames the Australian Jewish establishment that no leading voices have challenged this odious and absurd comparison. Instead, they’ve cheered it on, coordinating nationally, with the support of an Israeli government desperate to distract from its own anti-democratic practices.

The Australian Jewish News has editorialised that boycotting Jewish businesses here will remind Jews of similar Nazi tactics in Germany and Austria in the 1930s. How on earth will the paper cover real anti-Semitism when they so casually compare today’s behaviour to Hitler’s Third Reich?

Back in early July, 19 pro-Palestinian activists were arrested and charged for protesting in front of a Max Brenner chocolate shop in Melbourne. Max Brenner was targeted because its parent company Strauss Group supports elements of the IDF accused of war crimes in both the West Bank and Gaza.

This campaign has continued globally for years. For example, a reader of my website in 2009 sent me a copy of a letter they sent to Max Brenner outlining the reasons the company was a legitimate target for boycott.

The Victorian Government recently continued to threaten the activists with further legal punishment, imprisonment and fines.

Max Brenner’s parent company Strauss Group is an openly political business that proudly states on its Hebrew website that "We see a mission and need to continue to provide our soldiers with support, to enhance their quality of life and service conditions, and sweeten their special moments". Some of these soldiers were directly implicated in war crimes allegations during incursions into the West Bank and the invasion of Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.

In late July, The Australian reported the campaign against the BDS movement in Australia with a story called, "Anti-Jew protest condemned". Federal Labor MP Michael Danby, journalist Jana Wendt and union head Paul Howes met for a hot chocolate inside a Max Brenner shop in Melbourne, condemned the "violent" protest against the shop and again talked about Nazi Germany. Former Labor Party president Warren Mundine was quoted by journalist Leo Shanahan as saying BDS was not "not anti-Israel but anti-Jewish".

Howes said the protesters were "mimicking the behaviour of the Nazi thugs" and it was necessary to "nip this in the bud". Howes said most people who voted for the Greens had no idea how "xenophobic" its policies were. Not one journalist asked him whether he truly believed waving placards outside a shop in Melbourne is akin to the Gestapo arresting and murdering millions of Jews in the gas chambers. And no Jewish leaders took him to task for the comparison.

Last weekend’s article by The Australian’s Cameron Stewart allowed this misperception to perpetuate. Like Shanahan, Stewart quoted Wendt as saying that, "As the daughter of refugees whose lives were critically affected by both fascism and communism, I’m grateful for what Australia has to offer".

A week later, the Victorian Government announced that it was investigating "anti-Israel activists" — by asking the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) if the BDS-ers were breaking federal law by "threatening" Israeli stores.

The state’s Consumer Affairs Minister Michael O’Brien raised the spectre of 20th century attacks on Jewish businesses and claimed BDS was a threat to democratic order. Bizarrely, he singled out the Maritime Union Of Australia, Geelong Trades Hall Council, the Green Left Weekly magazine, Australians for Palestine and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. For the record, Australians for Palestine had nothing to do with the BDS protest against Max Brenner, though they do back BDS.

The Australian followed up with a story recently headlined, "Targeted chocolatier ‘a man of peace’". "Max Brenner says he is a man of peace who hates all forms of violence," the article says. Reporter Cameron Stewart doesn’t mention the serious allegations against the IDF soldiers supported by Max Brenner. (And besides, Max Brenner is the name of the business — not of the company owner. Actually, it’s an amalgam of two names.)

One of the activists interviewed by Stewart, Kim Bullimore, spokesperson for Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, told me that little of what she said to the journalist ended up in the article.

The Australian editorialised further on the matter last week by arguing "for any student of 20th-century history there is something deeply offensive about targeting a Jewish-owned business".

And the Jewish establishment said nothing.

BDS is a peaceful, non-violent movement, like that which campaigned against apartheid South Africa. It aims to put pressure on a state that refuses to end its illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

What Australian politicians will not acknowledge is the real face of modern Israel. Calling for BDS inside Israel is now illegal. As an Arab member of parliament recently told the New York Times, a member of the Knesset wanted to sue him for simply calling for a boycott against the illegal settlement of Ariel. This is in "democratic" Israel.

With Israel announcing yet more illegal colonies in the West Bank, the international community has a clear choice: engage in empty rhetoric about "democratic" Israel or find alternative ways to target a state with one of the most unequal class systems in the developed world.

Australian politicians and all public figures should be strongly challenged on comparing BDS to fascist hoodlums, and rejected.

FAIRFAX NEWSPAPERS - REACTIONARY, RIGHT WING, NO CONTRARY OPINIONS ALLOWED??

Imagine the shock and horror when opening The Age's opinion pages on Monday 5 September 2011 to discover that Amanda Vanstone and John Howard were setting the tone of political discussions on the Australian Labor Party's leadership issues and its asylum seeker policies!

Why on earth would anyone other than a dyed-in-the-wool, rusted on reactionary bigot be interested in anything these two has-beens have to say about the politics of 2011??

Just imagine The Age having supporters of the Palestinians and supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaigns writing opinion pieces to be shared with readers - if there are any left after 5 September - and showing that The Age's editor-in-chief and his reporters and journalists were open to views other than those of the zionists who seem to hold disproportionate sway over Fairfax!!

It really is time that the journalists who draw their pay from Fairfax put some pressure on their bosses to make them publish views other than those of the most reactionary members of our societies.

Vanstone and Howard have other avenues to make their repugnant and repellant views public, and the newspapers we read are not those who should give them room for those views. Howard and his government, which included Vanstone, had more than 11 years to push their particularly repulsive barrows, and voices opposing their views were made to grow dimmer in that time due to a very compliant media!

Fortunately there are many alternatives in 2011 where one can make one's voice heard and where one can also obtain information which the media deny us with their own self-censorship, but it is still wrong that Fairfax should give column space to these people who have access to all those media on radio, television and print whose views are the same as theirs.

VICTORIAN TRADES HALL COUNCIL PASSES MOTION DEFENDING BDS PROTESTS AGAINST MAX BRENNER

The Victorian Trades Hall Council (the peak union body in Victoria) Executive passed the following positive motion in support of the BDS campaign as well as condemning the police attacks on protesters.

This is a really welcome step forward and we hope that the campaign can continue to garner more support from unions across the country,

Yours

Vashti Kenway

The motion is written below.

Palestine, the BDS, the ACCC and Police Behavior at Rallies

That VTHC Executive Council reaffirms its long standing policies relating to the Palestine/Israel conflict namely:

Its support for the BDS Campaign and Palestinian statehood.
Its support for the BDS campaign is aimed at urgent and sincere talks and not the tactics of the past, where while the talks were actually occurring, more settlements were being planned for construction upon Palestinian territory.

Council notes that in recent weeks the Israeli Knesset passed the anti-boycott bill making it illegal for Israelis to call for boycotts in response to the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestinian land, mandated to them by the UN. We note the recent spate of rallies, public meetings and debate organised by Israeli citizens in response to a number of issues including the Knesset's new law, demanding that it be rescinded.

Council notes the potential involvement of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in industrial and political disputes. This would be an aggressive smokescreen aimed at stifling legitimate industrial and political activity by unions and other organisations behind a facade of protecting business interests. Executive Council notes the most recent officials to be threatened with ACCC intervention Kevin Bracken of the MUA and Tim Gooden of Geelong Trades Hall Council, in relation to speeches at a BDS rally. Hence Council directs the Secretary to raise our concerns urgently with the ACTU, and to seek a joint approach to the Federal Government to demand the guarantee that the Trades Practices Act will not be used to interfere in the political discourse.

Council notes with concern an increase, in some police regions and around certain political issues, in harsh and violent responses by sections of Victoria Police, in dealing with what are legitimate industrial and political protests over recent months. Council believes the arrest and prosecution of workers demonstrating at Visy Dandenong, and the arrest and prosecution of protesters at a recent BDS Rally in the CBD, indicate a disproportionate escalation of aggressive action by Victoria Police. Council believes that the be completely inconsistent with the principles of Free Speech and the right to peaceful protest.

Therefore Council directs the Secretary to formally lodge a protest with the State Minister for Police, seek a meeting with Police Industrial to discuss any shortfall in police training around behavior at rallies, and to have informal discussions with the Police Association on whether a new, harsh policy on industrial and political demonstrations has been introduced since the last State elections in Victoria.

MOVED: Len Cooper

SECONDED: Kevin Bracken