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By Prof. Richard Falk

25 May 2025 – SHAPE is an international network of persons sensitive to the imperatives of human unity and the guardianship of the natural habitat in accordance with ecological wisdom that illuminates paths of resilience and adaptation. In this era of predatory capitalism, imperial geopolitics and surging fascism, we as a lead species, need to think, feel, and act differently to avoid catastrophe, and do so in a spirit of urgency. Please distribute this statement and contact us if you wish to endorse and join our efforts.

In the name of humanity, the barbarism in Gaza must stop

Over the last eighteen months the world has witnessed undiluted militarised cruelty targeting the entire population and the supportive natural habitat of Gaza – with not so much as an ounce of mercy or compassion, let alone justice, or sensitivity to issues of ecological viability.

No one has been spared in this onslaught: not civilians, not children, women or the elderly, not humanitarian workers or UN personnel overseeing the distribution of aid, not homes, schools, places of worship, or hospitals.

No logic can begin to explain or justify this genocidal policy of indiscriminate maiming and killing, or the calculated and systematic starvation of the already traumatized Palestinian population. These and other unspeakable atrocities leave us with just two words to describe the conduct of the cabal presently ruling the State of Israel: pure evil

Faced with such vicious behaviour, humanity has but one option: to call out the evil and take appropriate action to put an end to such outrageous conduct.

In the name of humanity we therefore call on all peoples and governments to:

1. Terminate all transactions with the State of Israel that relate to military capabilities until a just and lasting peace settlement has been reached, which gives effect to the inalienable right of Palestinian self-determination. This embargo should include:
2. A ban on the export of all weapons and dual-use equipment as well as ammunition, whether supplied directly or through a third party
3. A ban on the import of all Israeli weapons and military technology
4. A cessation of all other forms of military cooperation, including joint operations/exercises/logistics and communications initiatives, intelligence cooperation and sharing, and expert exchanges and visits
5. A ban on all financing arrangements designed to facilitate the above activities.
6. Break diplomatic relations with the State of Israel until a complete and durable ceasefire has been established across all the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
7. Seek the exclusion of Israeli participation in international cultural and sporting events and call for national boycotts of foreign and domestic cultural and sporting happenings until a complete and durable ceasefire has been established across all the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
8. Apply maximum pressure on those governments that have been Israel’s primary backers, notably the United States, Britain and Germany, to cease forthwith any support of Israel’s inhuman conduct in Gaza and Palestine as a whole.
9. Support and financially contribute to the Arab plan for Gaza’s reconstruction formally adopted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in March 2025, and to this end call for an immediate UN-sponsored international summit, open to all supportive governments, relevant regional organisations and sympathetically disposed civil society, philanthropic and business organisations. The reconstruction process in Gaza and the proposed international summit should be mindful of Palestinian rights, especially the right of self-determination as applicable to all developments pertaining to Israeli Occupied Palestine.
10. Encourage nonviolent solidarity initiatives by civil society, both individual and collective action of the sort that proved helpful in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. A mobilized people can change history, and bring political evil to an abrupt end, especially where, as is the case in Gaza, a severe humanitarian emergency exists.

Such measures on the part of states need to be complemented and reinforced by resolute, collective action at the UN General Assembly. A special session of the General Assembly should be urgently called to denounce the heinous crimes being committed in Gaza and the West Bank and the constant threats to cleanse Palestine of its people by measures of forced displacement.

The General Assembly should consider and adopt a series of resolutions which demand:

1. An immediate ceasefire in all parts of Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and adjacent areas
2. The establishment of  a UN peacekeeping contingent of sufficient strength to monitor and supervise the ceasefire and deter in timely fashion actions that would lead to a renewal of violence
3. The unimpeded flow of water, food, fuel and medicines to Gaza
4. Strong measures designed to protect humanitarian aid workers, health and medical personnel, and agencies and institutions engaged in the running of hospitals, clinics, kitchens and other essential services
5. Decisive measures to enable journalists and media personnel to carry out their duties in safe and secure environments.

We also request the world’s religious organisations to issue a call addressing from a spiritual and ethical perspective the evil of genocide as it continues to unfold in Gaza. They are uniquely placed to set forth the ethical criteria that should govern an agreement on the cessation of all military hostilities in the Occupied Territories and the creation of just and durable peace in Palestine.

Since October 2023, millions have exposed and protested against Israel’s conduct in Gaza. They have succeeded in raising the level of global public awareness even though their cries for humanity and justice have thus far gone unheeded. The complicity of the rich and the powerful have stood in the way.

People of good will everywhere must now redouble their efforts in solidarity with the Palestinian people. They must peacefully and resolutely unite their voices and work closely together for as long as it takes.

A powerful global dialogue for a just peace in Palestine that brings together people of diverse social, cultural and religious background is a primary ethical imperative of our time. So is accountability, which means punitive action against leaders of the State of Israel and the complicit enabler governments, including imposing obligations to pay reparations to the victimised population of Gaza and contributions to the funding of reconstruction.

Issued on behalf of SHAPE and its Coordinating Committee by SHAPE Co-Conveners:

Professor Emeritus Richard Falk,
Dr Chandra Muzaffar
Professor Emeritus Joseph Camilleri

22 May 2025

Email: savinghumanityandplanetearth@gmail.com

Website www.theshapeproject.com/

______________________________________________________

Prof. Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network, Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, at Queen Mary University London, Research Associate the Orfalea Center of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Fellow of the Tellus Institute.

2 Jun 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Kathy Kelly

Since 22 May 2025, several peace activists have been fasting–for 40 days–in front of the United States Mission to the UN. They demand an end to US support of Israel’s military and urge the US government to pressure Israel to open the Gazan borders to humanitarian aid.

For this BCR series I will meet with a participant, Kathy Kelly, periodically, to share her thoughts and concerns.

[https://shows.acast.com/5ca4a75d29388cc466cf4481/682fa3f6a795fd3aef796095]

Share your thoughts about this action at barcrawlradio@gmail.com or mike@veteransforpeace.org

Alan Winson — BCR Producer and Co-Host

___________________________________________________

Kathy Kelly is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment, an American peace activist, pacifist and author, one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and currently a co-coordinator Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Three times since 2000, she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

2 Jun 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Paul Craig Roberts

Elon Musk expressed his disappointment in the Trump administrations bill, passed by the House, that avoided an automatic tax increase that would have occurred at the conclusion of 2025 by making permeant the 2017 tax reductions and which increased spending on defense and US border security. Musk mistakenly thinks that this bill undermines his and DOGE’s effort to reduce the federal deficit.

Musk should see his and DOGE’s success not in terms of deficit reduction, but in terms of eliminating waste, fraud, and grift from the federal budget. According to reports, Musk and DOGE have stopped the theft of $175 billion from American taxpayers who have desperate needs for their own money. Instead, the money has gone to fake companies set up by Democrats to enrich themselves and their political allies via government contracts at the expense of the American people.

Reducing the grift by $175 billion is no small achievement. It could be much larger, but corrupt Democrat judges and media are at work blocking DOGE and shutting down Elon Musk.

What Musk should emphasize is the contrast between Trump being the peace president and Trump’s increase in military spending.

America has dangerous internal enemies, but its foreign ones are manufactured by the CIA, which needs enemies for its budget and power, by the Israel Lobby, which hopes to continue using the US against Arabs and to convince Washington to attack Iran, and by the Zionist neoconservative closely allied with Netanyahu who assert US hegemony as defined by the Wolfowitz Doctrine.

I am now going to make a statement that Musk, financial journalists, American conservatives, and Republicans will dismiss as nonsense:

The US deficit is not a problem as long as the US dollar is the world reserve currency.

The national debt of the country that is the world reserve currency comprises the reserves of the central banks of the world.  As long as the US dollar is the means of settling international balances, an increase in the issue of US Treasuries means an increase in the reserves of the central banks in the world.  The foreign central banks and their governments are happy.  With more reserves (US debt held in US Treasuries), central banks can expand their country’s money supply and the country can grow.

The world would be unhappy if the US debt ceased to grow as it would mean the central bank reserves of all other countries would stagnate, thus limiting growth.

Those who worry that the US cannot pay off the bonds representing its national debt do not understand that the US debt is denominated in US dollars and can be easily paid by the Federal Reserve creating dollars to redeem the bonds.

It seems forever that I have been trying to teach economists, the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the financial journalists, the Republicans, and conservatives that as long as the dollar is the reserve currency America’s national debt will be held in the form of US Treasuries as reserves in the world’s central banks. As US debt rises, so does the reserves of the world’s central  banks, and everyone is happy.

The danger to US national debt is not its size. The danger is the weaponization of the dollar which threatens the continued acceptance of the dollar as reserve currency. Sanctions on countries and the seizure of the Russian central bank’s dollar reserves introduce real risk into holding reserves in US dollars.

What is threatening America’s ability to finance its debt are the US sanctions that have caused the rise of BRICS and the search for alternative payment methods to the US dollar.

Why this simple fact is too complicated for economists, financial journalists, politicians, conservatives, and Elon Musk to understand is beyond me. The US dollar has been the reserve currency for about 80 years.  For most of this time conservatives and David Stockman have predicted America’s imminent death by debt.

Losing the role of world currency is deadly.  When Great Britain lost the role to the US after World War II, the British transitioned from riches to rags.

*

Paul Craig Roberts is a renowned author and academic, chairman of The Institute for Political Economy where this article was originally published. Dr. Roberts was previously associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

29 May 2025

Source: globalresearch.ca

Muslim civil rights and advocacy group asks President Trump “how many more children have to die” before he stops Netanyahu

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/26/2025) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the Israeli government’s “barbaric” assassination of two Red Cross workers and a separate bombing of a school shelter that killed at least 36 displaced people, including 18 children.

Washington, D.C., based CAIR’s condemnations come as Israelis marched through Muslim neighborhoods of Jerusalem’s Old City shouting “death to Arabs” and Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he now believes his country’s actions in Gaza are “war crimes.” He admitted, “What we are doing in Gaza is a war of extermination: indiscriminate, unrestrained, brutal, and criminal killing of civilians.” A leaked recording also revealed racist, anti-Arab remarks made by the newly-appointed head of Israel’s internal security agency.

Israel has slaughtered almost 54,000 people in Gaza – mostly women and children – including more than 200 journalists and more than 2,220 families.

In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:

“How many more children, women, the elderly, journalists, health care workers, and first responders must Benjamin Netanyahu slaughter with American weapons before President Trump forces him to accept a permanent ceasefire deal that ends the genocide for good and frees all captives? Every hour that Israel’s genocidal crimes continue with impunity – and with our government’s complicity – adds more dishonor to a shameful period in the history of our nation and the world.”

Yesterday, CAIR reiterated its call for U.S. and world media professionals to defend their colleagues in Gaza after Israel murdered another Palestinian journalist.

CAIR also condemned the Israeli government’s bombing of a Gaza doctor’s home, burning nine of her 10 children to death while she worked at a hospital, as “pure evil.”

On Friday, CAIR condemned the Israeli government’s mass slaughter of civilians in the bombing of a residential building in Gaza.

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

26 May 2025

Source: cair.com

By Robert Inlakesh

20 May 2025– With over half a million people in Gaza on the brink of starvation and aid groups warning of an “imminent famine,” Israel has agreed to allow a token number of relief trucks into the besieged enclave. But what’s entering Gaza now isn’t humanitarian aid, it’s a Trojan horse.

A new, U.S.-backed private aid scheme staffed by former CIA operatives, ex-Marines, and mercenaries tied to Israeli intelligence and Wall Street elites has been deployed in Gaza under the guise of relief. The project is led by a shady NGO registered in Switzerland just months ago, and human rights groups are calling it what it is: a hostile corporate takeover of the aid sector, designed to militarize relief, displace civilians, and profit from Gaza’s agony.

At the heart of this scheme is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a nonprofit created in February and backed by Israeli authorities. Despite Gaza requiring a minimum of 500 aid trucks per day to meet basic survival needs, the Israeli military allowed just 1% of that to enter this week.

GHF, which now controls the operation, was launched by individuals with no background in humanitarian work—David Papazian, formerly with the Armenian National Interests Fund; Samuel Marcel Henderson; and David Kohler, CEO of Kohler Co. They are corporate executives, not aid workers.

According to a leaked internal proposal circulated in May, GHF plans to establish four “secure distribution sites” in Gaza capable of feeding just a fraction of the population (300,000 people), while giving the Israeli military and its contractors full operational oversight.

This privatized model was fast-tracked with Israeli cabinet approval and immediately condemned by Amnesty International’s Swiss branch, which called it an attempt to “militarize the distribution of humanitarian aid” and warned that the planned distribution sites resembled Israel’s “safe zone” blueprint for ethnic cleansing.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said GHF threatened the UN with expulsion if it refused to cooperate. “They’re coming to take over, weaponizing aid,” Laerke told reporters in Geneva.

A U.S. government source speaking to France 24 called the project “very much an Israeli idea,” adding that it was “less secure” and “deadlier” than the Biden administration’s failed floating aid pier, a costly boondoggle ultimately used to support an Israeli military operation that slaughtered nearly 300 Palestinian civilians.

GHF’s newly appointed executive director is Jake Wood, a former U.S. Marine sniper turned disaster entrepreneur. After tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Wood founded Team Rubicon, an NGO that made its name in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.

But Team Rubicon is no ordinary aid group. It is closely partnered with Palantir Technologies—a CIA-backed data surveillance firm that equips the Israeli military with advanced targeting capabilities. Its board includes former CIA Director David Petraeus and financial backers from Goldman Sachs. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have publicly endorsed its work.

The GHF proposal reveals plans to work with both Truist Bank and JPMorgan Chase, and suggests Goldman Sachs is facilitating the organization’s financial infrastructure.

As for security, GHF is outsourcing protection of its aid zones to U.S.-based private military firms, some of which have direct ties to Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. Two firms are already confirmed.

One, Safe Reach Solutions, is run by Philip F. Reilly, a former CIA paramilitary chief who also worked for Constellis, the rebranded face of Blackwater. While Erik Prince, Blackwater’s notorious founder, has not been directly linked to GHF, his newer mercenary firm, Reflex Responses, was previously proposed to secure Gaza’s Rafah crossing.

The second firm, UG Solutions, hired approximately 100 former special forces soldiers earlier this year to perform vehicle inspections in Gaza. They were reportedly paid $1,000 per day with a $10,000 upfront bonus. UG Solutions is headed by Jameson Govoni, a former special ops operative and co-founder of the Sentinel Foundation.

These contractors were also reportedly involved in staffing the Netzarim corridor, a road that bisects Gaza, during a recent ceasefire. Their presence on the ground—and the opacity around their funding—marks a new phase in the U.S. and Israeli campaign to dominate Gaza not just by bombs, but through control of the most basic elements of life: food, water, and movement.

Even Israel’s closest regional ally, the United Arab Emirates, has refused to participate in the project, likely due to the plan’s political toxicity.

This scheme doesn’t exist in a vacuum. For years, the U.S. and Israel have worked to undermine UNRWA, the UN’s primary aid agency in Palestine. The Biden administration froze its funding, while Israel moved to outlaw the agency entirely. In the vacuum, GHF and its army of private contractors have emerged—not to serve Palestinians, but to manage their displacement more efficiently.

With American taxpayer dollars flowing into the hands of former intelligence agents, globalist financiers, and mercenaries, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation represents the convergence of Silicon Valley surveillance, Wall Street speculation, and Zionist military objectives.

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker based in London.

26 May 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Richard Falk

25 May 2025 –  The Gaza Tribunal will hold its first public session, starting today, 26 May, 10:00 AM GMT; it presents extensive reports on various dimensions of the Gaza Ordeal endured for more than 19 months by the population of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 50,000, wounding more than 100,000, and traumatizing the entire population estimated at 2.3 million on October 7, 2023. As this meeting gets underway the surviving Palestinian population is being subjected to tactics of deliberate denial of food and medical supplies, and Israel leaders and public opinion are calling for extermination tactics as supplemented by forced exclusion–ethnic cleansing–not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank. The Gaza Tribunal was formed as a civil society initiative after it became clear that neither the UN nor its member states possessed the political will or operational capabilities to stop the killing and devastation. Its intention is lend legitimacy to nonviolent civil society solidarity initiatives in support of the Palestinian struggle for basic rights. Links are available to access the streaming of the Sarajevo proceedings. <youtube.com/@gazatribunal>]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbMNpSECxQ0]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbMNpSECxQ0]

GAZA TRIBUNAL

Sarajevo Meetings – May 26-29, 2025

International University of Sarajevo

_______________________________________________________

09:00 – 09:30
Welcome Speeches

_______________________________________________________

CHAMBER 1: INTERNATIONAL LAW

MONDAY, MAY 26

09:30 – 10:00
Chamber 1 Co-Chairs Introduce Proceedings
Michael Lynk, Susan Akram

10:00 – 12:00
Panel 1: Nakba and Colonial Genocide

• Genocide – Nimer Sultany
• Apartheid and Self-Determination – Victor Kattan
• Pre-recorded witness testimony – Al Haq field researcher
• Pre-recorded witness testimony – Ahmed Abu Artema
• Written witness testimony – Badil / read (3 testimonies)
• Q&A and Discussion

12:00 – 13:00
Lunch

13:00 – 14:45
Panel 2: Patterns of Genocide

• Political Prisoners – Lisa Hajjar
• Right to Food – Farah Imad
• Reproductive Systems – Heidi Matthews
• Pre-recorded prisoner witness testimonies – Addameer
• Pre-recorded testimony – Focal point engineer from Gaza (Arab Group for the Protection of Nature)

14:45 – 15:00
Coffee Break

15:00 – 16:30
Panel 3: Specific Acts

• Protection of Civilians – Maryam Jamshidi
• Attacks on Healthcare Infrastructure – Wesam Ahmad on behalf of Al Haq
• Witness testimony: Volunteer Physician in Gaza – Dr. Thaer Ahmad
• Witness testimony: Volunteer Physician in Gaza – Dr. Mimi Syed
• Q&A and Discussion

16:45 – 17:30
Expert Talk
Raji Sourani

______________________________________________________

CHAMBER 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS & WORLD ORDER

TUESDAY, MAY 27

09:00 – 09:30
Chamber 2 Co-Chairs Introduce Proceedings
Richard Falk, Craig Mokhiber

09:30 – 10:00
Panel 1: Political Realism and Contemporary Geopolitics

• Political Realism Revisited and the Law of Peoples
• Past Global Response to Genocide: A Record of Failure – Richard Falk, Paulina Chan

10:00 – 11:15
Panel 2: Political Economy of Genocide and Obliteration of Gaza
Moderator: Wesam Ahmad

• Nakba, Liberation, and Decolonization Through a Political Economic Lens: from 1948 to the Gaza Genocide – Lara Eborno
• Enforcement and the Accountability Gap: The Crime of Starvation – Hilal Elver
• Ecocidal Violence in Gaza: Is it Part of Genocide or a Separate International Crime? – David Whyte
• Pursuing Physically Disabling Combat Tactics – Penny Green

11:15 – 11:30
Coffee Break

11:30 – 12:30
Expert Testimonies
Mazin Qumsiyeh, Sami Al Arian, Azzam Tamimi, Noura Erakat

12:30 – 14:00
Lunch

14:00 – 15:00
Panel 3: Deficiencies of the Formal International Normative Order
Moderator: Lisa Hajjar

• The International System in the Age of Genocide – Craig Mokhiber
• Looking Ahead to Enforcement – Phyllis Bennis
• Working with and Beyond International Courts – Michelle Burgis-Kasthala

15:00 – 15:45
Panel 4: GTP Conception of an Alternative Jurisprudential Legal Paradigm
Moderator: Penny Green

• Peoples’ Tribunals as Alternative Justice Sites: Assessing the Role of Civil Society – Michelle Burgis-Kasthala
• Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal – Gianni Tognoni

15:45 – 16:00
Coffee Break

16:00 – 17:15
Panel 5: Activism of Civil Society and Social Movements
Moderator: Wesam Ahmad

• Sumud and Self-Determination: The Enduring Legacy Against Erasure – Ramzy Baroud
• Jewish Voices for Peace and the Ceasefire Campaign – Phyllis Bennis
• Learning from South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Struggle – Haidar Eid
• Criminalization of Student Protests – Asmer Safi

17:15 – 18:00
Discussion

_____________________________________________________

CHAMBER 3: HISTORY, SOCIOLOGY, ETHICS & PHILOSOPHY

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28

09:00 – 09:30
Chamber 3 Co-Chairs introduce proceedings
Penny Green, Cemil Aydin

09:30 – 10:30
Panel 1: Understanding Genocide
Moderator: Lara Elborno

• Genocide as State Crime: Understanding It as a Process – Penny Green
• Ethical Implications of the Genocide in Gaza – Ayhan Citil
• History of Ethnic Cleansing/Genocide – Illan Pappe

10:30 – 11:30
Panel 2: Exposing Dehumanization
Moderator: Cemil Aydin

• Challenging the Matrix of Control/House Demolitions – Jeff Halper
• An Ontological Abortion of the Enfleshed Genocidal State: The Ongoing Genocidal Nakba in Gaza – Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
• The Unmaking of the Palestinian Home – Henrietta Zeffert

11:30 – 11:45
Coffee Break

11:45 – 13:00
Panel 3: Resisting Genocide
Moderator: Thomas MacManus

• The GT Archive – Andy Simmons, Michelle Burgis-Kasthala
• Palestinian Resistance – Abed Takriti
• Archaeology and the Erasure of Palestine – Akram Lilja
• Expert testimony: The BDS Campaign – Omar Bargouti

13:00 – 14:00
Lunch

14:00 – 15:00
Panel 4: Civilization and Weaponizing the Holocaust and Anti-Semitism
Moderator: Sami Al Arian

• Holocaust Exceptionalism and Israel’s Genocide – Raz Segal
• Ethnic Cleansing Through Civilisational Narratives – Cemil Aydin
• The Role of the Israeli Academy in Genocide Production – Maya Wind

15:00 – 16:15
Media Roundtable
Moderator: Mehmet Karlı
Ezgi Basaran, Victoria Brittain, Lauren Booth, Lubna Masarwa, Kenize Mourad, Peter Oborne, Assal Rad

16:15 – 16:30
Coffee Break

16:30 – 17:15
Panel 5: Cultures of Erasure
Moderator: Wesam Ahmad

• Politics of Palestine Exception – Ussama Makdisi
• Zionist Culture and Genocide Denial – Saree Makdisi

17:15 – 17:30
Summary of Chamber 3 Report
Penny Green, Cemil Aydın

17:30 – 18:00
Final Discussion of the Sarajevo Declaration

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DAY 4

THURSDAY, MAY 29

09:00 – 10:00
Srebrenica/Gaza Special Panel
Moderator: Ahmet Köroğlu
Panelists: Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura, Harun Halilović, Mustafa Cerić

10:00 – 10:45
Expert Talk
Taha Abdurrahman

10:45 – 11:00
Break

11:00 – 12:00
Presentation of the Sarajevo Declaration of the Gaza Tribunal + Press Conference

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PUBLIC ASSEMBLY

May 26-29, 2025

JOIN US LIVE ON YOUTUBE

youtube.com/@gazatribunal

______________________________________________________

Prof. Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network, Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, at Queen Mary University London, Research Associate the Orfalea Center of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Fellow of the Tellus Institute.

26 May 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Caitlin Johnstone

They have opted for their slow-motion strangulation approach because that’s what’s necessary to maintain essential western support and avoid war crimes tribunals.

20 May 2025 – One of the talking points Israel apologists like to regurgitate is that Israel can’t possibly be acting with genocidal intent in Gaza, because if they had wanted to exterminate the Palestinians they could have easily done so in a matter of days.

As luck would have it, leaders from the Israeli government have just helpfully come out and debunked that talking point with a few shockingly frank public admissions.

Explaining the decision to allow a minuscule amount of aid into Gaza after months of deliberate starvation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel is now allowing “minimal humanitarian aid” on the insistence of western officials so that they will support Israel’s murderous operation to conquer the enclave.

Jeremy Scahill reports the following for Drop Site News:

“We’re going to take control of all the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu vowed Monday in a video released by his office announcing that Israel would begin delivering “minimal humanitarian aid: food and medicine only.” Netanyahu claimed that international pressure, including from pro-Israel Republican senators and the White House, required the appearance of humanitarian intervention. “Our best friends in the world — senators I know as strong supporters of Israel — have warned that they cannot support us if images of mass starvation emerge,” he said. “They come to me and say, ‘We’ll give you all the help you need to win the war… but we can’t be receiving pictures of famine,’” Netanyahu added. To continue the war of annihilation, he asserted, “We need to do it in a way that they won’t stop us.”

[https://twitter.com/muhammadshehad2/status/1924585645940379823]

26 May 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Sisonke Msimang

Untangling the “white genocide” narrative from propaganda to punchline, as South Africa’s president meets with Trump in the White House.

21 May 2025 – A group of white descendants of Dutch settlers to South Africa landed at Washington Dulles International Airport last week, part of a new Trump administration program aimed at “Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.” The group, Trump officials claimed, were fleeing “white genocide.”

By Roy Eidelson

This statement was approved by the Executive Committee of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence on 20 May 2025. It does not represent the position of the American Psychological Association or any of its other Divisions or sub-units. 

********************************

Recognizing that the concerns expressed here are not unique to peace psychologists alone, our Society welcomes support and endorsement of this statement from other American Psychological Association divisions and allied groups.

25 May 2025 marks five years since George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That public act of violence — a white police officer’s knee on the neck of a handcuffed Black man lying face down in the street for nine long minutes — stunned and mobilized advocates for racial justice and for law enforcement accountability across the United States. The video images broadcast that day on national television will remain forever etched in the minds of many Americans.

But, as psychologists, we know that it was not solely one racist police officer or one racism-stained police department that cost Mr. Floyd his life.[1] Responsibility also lies with the centuries-old inequitable blueprint of this country, one that too often continues to harm, re-traumatize, disrespect, and disregard Black life.[2] As a recent American Psychological Association (APA) resolution documents, these widespread inequities “result from laws, systems, policies, practices, and cultural narratives that reflect racial bias and White supremacist ideology.”[3]

Despite the mass protests and the countless pledges of change from our national leaders that characterized the spring and summer of 2020, policing and the courts in this country have continued to function in ways that target Black communities. In the fall of 2023, a United Nations committee focused on racial justice in the context of law enforcement issued a damning report after an official country visit to the United States. Among their disturbing findings were these: Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to be killed by police, to be incarcerated, and to receive the death penalty; only 1% of the officers involved in police killings are charged with wrongdoing; U.S. use-of-force regulations do not meet international standards; and many prisoners are subjected to forced labor, a contemporary form of slavery.[4]

Even more concerning, we have witnessed a distressing escalation during the first months of the new presidential administration in Washington, further threatening the life prospects of Black Americans and other vulnerable communities. Executive orders have been issued to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs;[5] to gut the Department of Education;[6] to diminish voting rights protections and civil rights enforcement;[7] to indemnify law enforcement personnel from prosecution;[8] to mandate changes to official annals of U.S. institutions in order to erase the country’s ugly history of racism;[9] to reverse efforts to combat climate change that disproportionately affects Black communities;[10] and to facilitate the greater use of capital punishment.[11]

As psychologists, we recognize that manifestations and consequences of racism extend far beyond the all too frequent newsworthy instances of ruthless brutality.[12] They also include chronic stress, daily fear and insecurity, racialized myths and toxic internalized messages, disenfranchised grief, and a growing distrust of our institutions. These are real psychological harms that carry across generations. Indeed, the APA has emphasized that racism, in all its forms, has “destructive psychological, social, educational, and economic effects on human rights and human welfare throughout the lifespan.”[13]

Remembering George Floyd must mean more than hashtags. It should mean staying vigilant, staying honest, and staying involved — especially when the stakes are high and even when the possibility of backlash is strong. Driven by science and by conscience, psychologists must be part of a renewed vanguard, consistent with the APA’s call for members of our profession “to support and advocate for populations at risk of human rights violations, including marginalized populations both domestically and globally.”[14]

Toward these ends, we should openly acknowledge and actively campaign against the painful realities of white supremacy, of state violence, and of structural racism, including the trauma it causes and the healing it impedes. Let us heed the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. from decades ago: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”

References:

[1] United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney’s Office District of Minnesota Civil Division. (2023). Investigation of the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department. https://www.justice.gov/d9/press-releases/attachments/2023/06/16/minneapolis_findings_report_2023.06.15_0.pdf

[2] See, for example, American Psychological Association. (2021). Role of Psychology and the American Psychological Association in Dismantling Systemic Racism Against People of Color in the United States. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/resolution-dismantling-racism.pdf; Buchanan, N. T., Perez, M., Prinstein, M. J., & Thurston, I. B. (2021). Upending racism in psychological science: Strategies to change how science is conducted, reported, reviewed, and disseminated. American Psychologist, 76(7), 1097–1112. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000905

[3] American Psychological Association. (2021). Apology to People of Color for APA’s Role in Promoting, Perpetuating, and Failing to Challenge Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Human Hierarchy in U.S. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/resolution-racism-apology.pdf; see also Alvarez, A. N., Liang, C. T. H., & Neville, H. A. (Eds.). (2016). The Cost of Racism for People of Color: Contextualizing Experiences of Discrimination. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14852-000

[4] United Nations. (2023). A/HRC/54/CRP.7: International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement — Visit to the United States of America. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc54crp7-international-independent-expert-mechanism-advance-racial; see also National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2023). Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice: Science, Practice, and Policy. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26705

[5] Donald Trump. (January 20, 2025). Executive Order: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/

[6] Donald Trump. (March 20, 2025). Executive Order: Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/

[7] Donald Trump. (March 25, 2025). Executive Order: Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/preserving-and-protecting-the-integrity-of-american-elections/; Donald Trump. (April 23, 2025). Executive Order: Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy/

[8] Donald Trump. (April 28, 2025). Executive Order: Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/strengthening-and-unleashing-americas-law-enforcement-to-pursue-criminals-and-protect-innocent-citizens/

[9] Donald Trump. (March 27, 2025). Executive Order: Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/restoring-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history/

[10] Donald Trump. (January 20, 2025). Executive Order: Declaring A National Energy Emergency. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declaring-a-national-energy-emergency/

[11] Donald Trump. (January 20, 2025). Executive Order: Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-the-death-penalty-and-protecting-public-safety/

[12] See, for example, American Psychological Association. (2021). APA Resolution on Harnessing Psychology to Combat Racism: Adopting a Uniform Definition and Understanding. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/resolution-combat-racism.pdf

[13] American Psychological Association. (2021). Apology to People of Color for APA’s Role in Promoting, Perpetuating, and Failing to Challenge Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Human Hierarchy in U.S. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/resolution-racism-apology.pdf

[14] American Psychological Association. (2021). APA Resolution on APA, Psychology, and Human Rights. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/resolution-psychology-human-rights.pdf

Roy Eidelson is a member of the TRANSCEND Network and was a member of the American Psychological Association for over 25 years, prior to his resignation.

26 May 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Ann Garrison

A recurring social media trope casts Rwandan President Paul Kagame as a defiant African hero, like Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré, resisting the West’s dictates, but nothing could be further from the truth.

21 May 2025 – Anti-imperialists, socialists, and peace and justice communities across Africa and the world are inspired by the newly federated Alliance of Sahel States and by its leaders, especially Burkina Faso’s charismatic Ibrahim Traoré. Seeing this groundswell of support, Paul Kagame’s propagandists have rushed to liken him to Traoré. Others may sincerely imagine a likeness that doesn’t in fact exist.

Kagame has ruled Rwanda for 30 years, since seizing power at the end of his four-year war to re-establish Tutsi dominance in July 1994. Traoré has been in power for less than three years, since seizing power in a popular coup in September 2022. So, if one were to emulate the other’s example, wouldn’t Traoré be emulating Kagame, not the other way around?

Kagame doesn’t reject faux Western “democracy”

The most common argument for likening Kagame to Traoré is that they are both authoritarians who reject the faux democracy imposed by the US/EU/NATO Axis of Domination so as to prioritize development. Instead, like Thomas Sankara, this argument goes, they inspire and mobilize popular will to achieve development goals and foil counterrevolutionary attacks. Traoré has famously said , “No country has developed under democracy,” and, “we are not in a democracy, we are in a popular, progressive revolution.”

However, Kagame has never rejected Western-style electoral process. He instead mimics it, staging elections, not allowing any other credible candidates to run, even imprisoning them, and then declaring outlandish victories. He was first elected by Rwanda’s Transitional National Assembly in 2000, then in a general election in 2003, which he claimed to win in a highly unlikely 94.3% landslide. ‘”It’s a big democratic step that has been taken by our country,” he reportedly said. ”It’s a huge stride.”

He has staged more Western-style presidential elections every seven years since, winning with 93% in 2010 , 98.78% in 2017 , and 99% in 2024 . In 2015, he claimed to have won with 98% a referendum that will allow him to rule until 2034.

Once again, Kagame isn’t rejecting Western electoral democracy. He’s mimicking it, letting the West know he’ll go through the motions while serving their interests.

And what has come of his 30 years of de facto authoritarianism? According to the 2024 report on the state of global food security and nutrition, the number of undernourished people in Rwanda has increased from 3.3 million in 2004–2006 to 4.3 million in 2021–2023. Although the prevalence of undernourishment in the total population has decreased from 36.9 per cent in 2004–2006 to 31.4 per cent in 2021–2023, it remains above that of eastern Africa (29 per cent), sub-Saharan Africa (22.7 per cent) and Africa overall (19.9 per cent). It is also above that of low-income countries (29.7 per cent) and least developed countries (22.1 per cent).

Kagame does not live on a captain’s salary

Ibrahim Traoré famously said, “Being the president of a country is an honor, not a business opportunity.” Upon assuming office, he announced that he would continue to live on his military captain’s salary.

Kagame has famously enriched himself via Crystal Ventures , which owns businesses and properties in Rwanda and the West. He constantly travels the world in a private $65 million Gulfstream G6 jet, while his son Ivan lives in a $6.9 million Beverley Hills mansion .

While at the UN General Assembly gathering in New York City in 2011, he rented the $16,000-per-night presidential suite at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, raising eyebrows in the UK, which was then giving £80 million a year in aid to Rwanda.

Kagame Has Long Been a Darling of the West

It would be difficult to find an African president who has enjoyed more photo ops with Western presidents, prime ministers, and billionaires. He is a special favorite of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton , who presented him with a Global Citizen Award in 2009, and of Emmanuel Macron . Evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren presented him with his International Medal of Peace .

Kagame is especially beloved in Davos , playground for the global elite, where he appears with the likes of Bill Gates , Antony Blinken , Klaus Schwab , and Donald Trump , and he can’t do enough to serve the Davos Agenda . He has also been a favorite with Israel and all of its leaders since they formed a victim’s pact in 1995.

Ibrahim Traoré has never been invited to Davos or Israel, and neither have the other revolutionary AES presidents, Niger’s Abdourahamane Tchiani and Mali’s Assimi Goïta, for obvious reasons.

When it suits Kagame, most of all when he’s called out, sanctioned, or cut off from Western aid for his crimes in Congo, he lashes out, claiming to be a defiant African. The most recent example was at this year’s genocide memorial in Kigali, where he told his Western critics to “go to hell.”

Traoré resists the US/EU/NATO Axis while Kagame serves its needs in Africa

Traoré and the other AES presidents have been resisting coups and assassination attempts ever since coming to power. US Africa Command Commander Michael Langley recently threatened Traoré in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, but Kagame’s Rwanda is a longstanding AFRICOM collaborator .

Kagame has put his troops in service to Western economic interests, most recently in Mozambique where they defend French TotalEnergies’ $20 billion Liquified National Gas (LNG) project. In November 2024, even as the Rwandan army waged war in DRC, as documented by the UN Group of Experts, the European Union awarded it another €20 million in military aid.

Now, after 30 years of Rwanda’s US/EU/NATO-backed war and plunder in DRC, Trump is apportioning Kagame’s reward. According to Reuters , Trump said on X that the US had provided the first draft of a deal to both sides, Rwanda and DRC, though its contents have not yet been disclosed.

You won’t see Traoré or Assimi Goïta or Abdourahamane Tchiani cutting any such deals in their part of the world, just as you won’t see them in Davos or Israel.

Ann Garrison is an independent journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

26 May 2025

Source: transcend.org