My First Petition on Change.org

If you look at Change.org the Petition Site you should find a new petition there with one signature so far. If you agree with it please add yours.

It is for President Barack Obama and reads as follows:

OUTLAW ALL WAR STARTING BY OUTLAWING BOMBING MISSIONS


All war is evil. Countless millions have died and are still dying because of it. Add to that the injured in body and mind, the forced carers of the injured, the bereaved, the families and friends of the bereaved, the warped indoctrinated minds and personalities of its soldiers - and above all the children.

Young people at the age of idealism are coaxed into armies where they are taught to hate and kill fellow human beings.

You are the President of the United States of America which has by far the highest military expenditure in the world

In its short two and a half centuries of existence, the United States has engaged in over 100 wars or military interventions in other countries.

This far exceeds the wars or interventions participated in by other countries
As the chief war-maker, the United States has a responsibility to try to end war globally.

Yours is the only country to have used a nuclear bomb.. The use of any kind of bomb is horrendous, barbaric and outrageous, when you think of the frightened civilians, children and adults who are powerless against this mass murder from the sky.

I am requesting you, as President of a very powerful country, to start to undo the damage of war. You can refuse to declare or participate in any other war. You can withdraw from the arenas of war around the globe.

Right away you can suspend all bombing operations in Afghanistan and never again send pilots to unthinkingly or intentionally murder people indiscriminately from the sky.

YES YOU CAN

Protest at the US Embassy re Guantanamo

Yesterday, my friend Colm Roddy and I went to the US  Embassy with our placards to protest against Guantanamo.

That obnoxious prison is still open in spite of Barack Obama's election promise to close it.
In the picture, Colm is in the orange suit. His sign reads:

CLOSE GUANTANAMO   END 10 YEARS ILLEGAL DETENTION & KILLING of SUSPECTS & INNOCENTS
Colm was on his knees for one hour of our 90 minute protest.

He had seen the Ambassador going to a restaurant across the road with two minders.  Later, they returned and, as they did, I stood where  he might see my sign. He peered at it as he came closer. It reads

10 YEARS OF ABUSE AND TORTURE    INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE STILL IN GUANTANAMO        SHAME ON YOU!      SHUT DOWN THIS HELL HOLE

Ambassador Dan Rooney stood before me and I said "Mr Rooney, I have a letter here for you", as I took it out of my pocket.  He turned his head away while one of his minders reacted slightly.  "Will you accept a letter from me?" I asked.  Again, he turned away and pointed to a minder saying "Give it to him" , which I did.

The letter and the envelope were handwritten by me on my way to the Embassy.
The letter read:

"We are protesting at the US Embassy today on the tenth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo prison.  President Obama gave a solemn undertaking to close it - why is it still open?
The shame of the Bush era clings to your President and will take many years or decades to undo.
With best personal wishes  Justin Morahan"

Malaysian Tribunal finds Bush and Blair guilty of war Crimes

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after two years of investigation by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC), a tribunal  consisting of five judges with judicial and academic backgrounds found George W Bush and Tony Blair guilty of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and genocide as a result of their roles in the Iraq War.  The decision was unanimous. (Aljazeera)

The judges gave their verdict after four days of hearing, on 22 November 2011.  Both defendants were absent during the proceedings as they had declined an offer to present a defence or send a representative. The court appointed a defence counsel for them in their absence.

Although the verdict was not enforceable in a normal manner associated with a criminal court operating within a sovereign state or as constituted by international agreement, the tribunal nevertheless hopes that its recommendations will have a legal weight expected to extend beyond a moral condemnation of the defendants.

The tribunal added two Orders to its verdict in accordance with the  KLWCC Charter that controlled its operating framework:

1) Report the findings of guilt of Bush and Blair to the International Criminal Court in The Hague;

2) Enter the names of George W Bush and Tony Blair in the Register of War Criminals maintained by the KLWCC.

The tribunal and its verdict brings into the public domain once again the idea of "universal jurisdiction" whereby states claim criminal jurisdiction over persons whose alleged crimes were committed outside the boundaries of the prosecuting state.

In the celebrated Filártiga v Pena-Irala case, a US court awarded over $10million to the Filártiga family because of the horrific torture of their son Joelito by Inspector General Americó Pena-Irala in Paraguay.  In this case however both the Filártiga plaintiffs and Pena-Irala happened to be in the US jurisdiction at the time the family sued the torturer.

As Bush and Blair were absent from Kuala Lumpur, they may escape punishment but the Tribunal could be a precedent for other such tribunals. At least it's a start.

A few of the bravest and best Palestinians board an Israeli bus

FREEDOM RIDERS TRY TO END ISRAELI APARTHEID

History is right now being made in Palestine. A small number (5) of brave Palestinians have boarded a public bus from which they are barred in Israel.

Avaaz reports: "Lacking their own state, Palestinians are forbidden to use buses and roads reserved for non-Arabs - part of a host of race-based rules that US President Jimmy Carter has called "apartheid"." 50 years ago, blacks in the US challenged these rules by simply and non-violently refusing to follow them."

The Palestinians have just now taken the same approach, and their actions are seen livE at the link below (see comment 1)
As Gandhi did in India and Rose Parks did in the US, these non-violent freedom riders are simply on the bus, quietly making their powerful point to the world.

At last viewing one protestor had ben forcibly removed, the bus had stopped, a soldier and settler got off. The Israeli passengers are having to put up with the delay that Palestinians suffer daily. Soldiers are shouting and bullying people telling them to get off.

They are being forcibly removed

(Unpublished) Letter to Times, Independent and Examiner

ALAN SHATTER on JUDGES

Putting aside the question as to the veracity of the Moriarty report in its every detail and eschewing entirely the controversy it has engendered, I refer to the statement of Minister for Justice Alan Shatter (http://www.justice.ie/) and the more generalised remarks he makes about the criticism of judges.

The Minister said that "Our judiciary play a crucial role in upholding the constitutional rights of individuals, rich or poor, without fear of or favour to any one individual or the State itself."

As a human rights activist, attending court over the past eight years, my experience has been entirely different. Put the State in court against any litigant and it will require all the might of the legal profession to defeat the State - even when the law of the land is patently against the State's position.

So, in the case of the State versus Clancy and Others (2006), three separate judges attempted to prevent the lawful defence of the five defendants being admitted for the consideration of the jury. Two of these judges had to resign from the case and the third had to re-consider, under powerful pressure from three Barristers, and eventually allow the lawful defence. The jury unanimously acquitted all five defendants.

Put the State against a lay litigant in a similar scenario.. There are now no powerful Barristers around, no independent press, and ninety nine times out of a hundred, the judiciary will not "uphold the constitutional rights of the individual without fear or favour to the State". The situation is even more draconian when a lay litigant takes a case against a judge or vice versa.

The "public confidence in our judiciary and in our courts", that Mr Shatter refers to, must be earned. If that confidence is ever restored, if ever we see a full and open transparency about the workings of the courts, the judiciary and the Courts Service, if a Judicial Council, independent of judges, is ever allowed to come into being in order to monitor judges' activities within their courts, or if arrogance on the bench is replaced with a modicum of humility, it will truly mark a new beginning.

Otherwise, Minister Shatter's vision of the Irish judiciary will remain a pleasant fantasy.

Is Mise