6 July, 2011 — Media Lens
The headline of last Sunday’s Observer article on Venezuela set the tone for the slanted and opportunistic piece of political ‘reporting’ that followed:
‘Noam Chomsky denounces old friend Hugo Chávez for “assault” on democracy’.
5 July 2011 — SA Artists Against Apartheid
This afternoon, in a bold ruling defending the right to freedom of expression and political speech, the South African media watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), unequivocally dismissed all complaints relating to a radio advert that calls for the boycott of Israel and compares Israel to Apartheid South Africa.
6 July 2011 — Southbank Centre
Where basic freedoms are denied and democratic remedies blocked off, cultural boycott by world civil society is a viable and effective political strategy; indeed a moral imperative.
Supporting the motion will be:
Omar Barghouti – author of BDS: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights (Haymarket Press).
Seni Seneviratne – British-Sri Lankan poet and performer, author of Wild Cinnamon and Winter Skin (Peepal Tree Press).
Opposing the motion will be:
Carol Gould – ex-patriate American author, film maker, and ‘a vocal critic of what she sees as increasing anti-Americanism and antisemitism in Britain’.
Jonathan Freedland (tbc) columnist for The Guardian and the Jewish Chronicle, a regular contributor to The New York Times and The New York Review of Books, and the presenter of Radio 4’s The Long View.
Chair: Jonathan Heawood, Director of English PEN
Book tickets here:
http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literature-spoken-word/tickets/why-boycott-culture-59398
4 July 2011 — Middle East Monitor
The circumstances surrounding Sheikh Raed Salah’s arrest by the British government are irregular to say the least. He was taken from his hotel bedroom on the night of Jun 28 and is currently being held in prison pending deportation. Sheikh Raed and his legal team were unaware of any ‘travel ban’ against him, as has been claimed by the Home Secretary.
5 July 2011 — Middle East Monitor
With what is appalling timing, given the arrest of Sheikh Raed Salah a week ago on the order of the Home Secretary Theresa May, a certain Maj-Gen (ret) Danny Rothschild spoke in London on Jul 4 at the Royal United Services Institute in Whitehall; he followed this on Jul 5 with a speech in parliament organised by the Henry Jackson Society, the fanatically pro-Israel think tank.
5 July 2011 — Debtocracy
For the first time in Greece a documentary produced by the audience. “Debtocracy” seeks the causes of the debt crisis and proposes solutions, hidden by the government and the dominant media. English subtitles.
The New Dark Age 