CPUSA Denounces Israeli Attack on Unarmed Humanitarian Convoy

The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) denounces the cowardly and illegal attack by Israeli commandos on a flotilla of six ships bearing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, who have been suffering under a multi-year Israeli blockade.

Though the Israeli government claims they were attacked first, eyewitness accounts contradict this. At least nine and perhaps many more of the unarmed civilian volunteers, from several countries, were killed in the unprovoked attack, which took place in international waters on ships flying the Turkish and U.S. flags.

The CPUSA joins with nations, parties, organizations and people of goodwill everywhere in denouncing the attack and demanding an end to the inhumane blockade of Gaza, which has caused incalculable suffering to innocent men, women and children.

Further, the CPUSA congratulates the brave individuals, who include a Holocaust survivor, an Irish Nobel laureate and several retired U.S. civil and military officials as well as citizens of as many as 50 nations, who put their own lives on the line by accompanying the humanitarian flotilla.

The CPUSA expresses our sympathy and solidarity with the families of the people who were killed in the illegal Israeli action.

The CPUSA further demands:

* An accounting by the Israeli government for this violation of international law, with punishment for those who ordered and perpetrated it, no matter how high their position.

* The release of all persons detained in the illegal action, and authorization for the humanitarian aid to continue in safety to its destination in Gaza.

* An end to the illegal and inhumane blockade of Gaza.

* An end to the expansion of Israeli settlements in areas designated for a future Palestinian state, and to the “apartheid wall”.

* An end to the oppression of the Palestinian people in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

* Firm action by the Obama administration to pressure the Israeli regime to engage in honest negotiations toward the creation of a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank. The Obama administration has the leverage to do this and should use it forcefully

The CPUSA urges its members and friends to initiate and join public protests against the Israeli action, and to contact the White House, the State Department and their congressional representatives to demand that our government condemn the attack on the aid ships and pressure the Israeli government to end the blockade of Gaza immediately.

Communist Party International Department

Israeli human rights group calls for "independent" investigation of attack on ships

31 May '10: Open an immediate investigation into the action to gain control of the flotilla to Gaza

B’Tselem demands that an immediate, independent and effective investigation be made into the circumstances of the military action taken to gain control of the ships, which led to the death and injury of dozens of activists. The investigation must be conducted by non-military officials.

Among the issues to be investigated are whether the army used proportionate force, whether the forces were trained to cope with this type of event, were they equipped with the correct means, what open-fire regulations were given to the soldiers, and whether alternative options were considered.

The IDF Spokesperson claims that extreme violence was used against the soldiers by activists on the boat. This information is based solely on statements of soldiers. However, before reaching conclusions, the investigation must consider the testimonies of all eyewitnesses to the events, including persons who participated in the flotilla who are currently in custody in Israel.

Support Human Rights in Israel

This story has really touched me. Just when I thought the Israeli government couldn't surprise me any more, it turns out they're locking up teenagers who refuse to serve in the military and participate in the oppression of the Palestenian people. Some of these kids are only 17 years old, and yet they are taking a stand and serving jail time in a show of solidarity with the Palestenians. They are demonstrating that they believe in a world of peace and cooperation, and are willing to make the necessary sacrifices. I shudder to think of myself, or the people I know, in their shoes. It is an outrage.

I encourage you to sign the letter calling for their release to be delivered to the Israeli Minister of Defense.


PEACE and LOVE,

Gregory

John McCain and Colombia

By Joel Wendland

John McCain is campaigning in Colombia. He is there advocating free trade deals without preconditions – that is worker and environmental protections.

Free trade deals have cost US workers hundreds of thousands of jobs and a race to the bottom in wages, benefits, and workers rights. (See here for example.)

John McCain's enthusiasm for just such an arrangement with Colombia, the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, prompted AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to say:

The business leaders McCain will talk to on this visit have done very well under these deals, not surprisingly. However, working people in Canada, Mexico, and Colombia have borne the brunt of these failed corporate trade policies – just like workers here in the United States.

The issue goes beyond trade agreements. We need a global economic framework that works for ordinary people. Working people around the world are clamoring for real change, not agreements that benefit the corporate elite at the expense of working families.

Sweeney also discussed the Colombia government's poor human rights record when it comes to unions.

A recent statement by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs adds:

Colombia, touted by many, including the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, as a bastion of conservative democratic ideals in a region quickly succumbing to the democratic left, is currently experiencing a major crisis which exposes the flimsy nature of the country’s institutions. With fully one-fifth of the country’s legislators accused of connections to illegal armed groups and the legitimacy of Uribe’s current presidential term being called into question by a recent Supreme Court decision, McCain’s unquestioning support of the current administration is just one more example of his ill-advised and ill-informed makeshift regional policy. Moreover, the Arizona senator’s offerings on Latin America, merely a repetition of the Bush administration’s policies that vacillate between neglect of the region and unwarranted villainization of leftist governments, is scheduled to offer nothing new to the US regional foreign policy dialogue.

Nothing new. Just a third Bush term.

Human Rights Groups Call for Rumsfeld's Detention in France

Filing a complaint in a French court which alleges the former US Secretary of Defense authorized torture at U.S.-run detention centers in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, several US-based and international human rights groups called on French authorities today to detain Donald Rumsfeld during his visit to that country.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) along with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), and the French League for Human Rights (LDH) filed the complaint with the Paris prosecutor's office before the “Court of First Instance.”

According to the press release of the FIDH:

“The filing of this French case against Rumsfeld demonstrates that we will not rest until those U.S. officials involved in the torture program are brought to justice. Rumsfeld must understand that he has no place to hide. A torturer is an enemy of all humankind,” said CCR President Michael Ratner.

“France is under the obligation to investigate and prosecute Rumsfeld’s accountability for crimes of torture in Guantanamo and Iraq. France has no choice but to open an investigation if an alleged torturer is on its territory. I hope that the fight against impunity will not be sacrificed in the name of politics. We call on France to refuse to be a safe haven for criminals.” said FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen.

“We want to combat impunity and therefore demand a judicial investigation and a criminal prosecution wherever there is jurisdiction over the torture incidents,” said ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck.

"The impunity of a criminal government is always intolerable. That the US is the hyperpower of the moment and especially that it is a democracy makes the impunity of Donald Rumsfield even more unbearable than that of an Hissène Habré or a Radovan Karadzic" announced Jean-Pierre Dubois, LDH President.

"We know that we can't get him into prison right now, but it would be great to make sure that he couldn't safely leave the U.S. anymore," Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, told the media.

The CCR and FIDH have already filed suits in Germany in 2004 and 2006 in a bid to have Rumsfeld tried for rights abuses.