Tag: peace

Mo Chara is free

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Mo Chara of Kneecap was cleared of terror charges today as naval ships from Italy and Spain join the humanitarian Global Sumud Flotilla (recovering from more chemical and explosive drone strikes) now off the coast of Koufonisi, south of Crete.

Also on this day, most of the 150 delegates at the 80th United Nations General Assembly walked out on Prime Minister Netanyahu, who then spoke to a nearly empty assembly hall. Colombian President Gustavo Petro stood on a street in New York City (with Roger Waters of the former Pink Floyd) and called for an army larger than that of the United States to be comprised of soldiers from all willing nations to enforce the orders of international justice starting with the liberation of Palestine. He said, “Here humanity has been challenged and humanity must respond.”

On Thursday, United States President Donald Trump said he “will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.”

Of the 193 United Nations member states, 157 recognize an independent state of Palestine. People around the world continue to protest crimes against Palestinians while the estimated number of deaths in Gaza exceeds 160,000 people of which more than 20,000 were children.

Guarding or owning animals, parenting children, teaching students, treating patients, employing workers, these all involve some autonomy and independence, but within the law and protections of human rights. A nation’s self defense must be proportional and no state has any right to target and starve, torture, psychologically harm or kill innocent people.

Humanity must respond, but how does the average person intervene in genocide? I don’t know. I emailed the Turkish Embassy and urged President Recep Tayip Erdoğan to mobilize partnerships in the region and call on National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler to assist in safe passage for the Global Sumud Flotilla. I emailed President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt, President Donald Trump, and President Gustavo Petro to respectfully request the same, assistance for the safe passage of the flotilla crew and survival aid to Gaza.

On board the humanitarian flotilla, Tadgh Hickey titled one of his videos, “Do something before we’re murdered.” I read that to mean all of us.

Mo chara is “my friend” in Irish, and I think it would be a beautiful thing to live in a world where we could say about all innocent people everywhere, mo chara is free, my friend is free.

A Letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

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February 5, 2009

Your Excellency:

I hope this letter finds you well and looking forward to the election.

Last week I read with great interest an article of the BBC World News, which reported that you would consider negotiations with President Barack Obama if the United States would acknowledge its actions in Iran and apologize for them.

Since reading that article, the days have passed by predictably for me, yet the ordinary rhythm of work and errands, household chores and making dinner is now quickened and complicated by the remarkable possibility of your words.

You and I are fellow citizens in a shared world that once witnessed the hope-filled leadership of Mohammad Mossadegh and the shining trajectory of Iran’s noble fight for independence. However, in the United States all truth about the diversion of Iran’s path to peace and sovereignty was buried for years by a propaganda of silence.

But truth finds a way. We know the U.S. infiltrated Iran after Prime Minister Mossadegh ousted the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, nationalized Iranian oil, and ended 150 years of British imperialist domination. In 1953, the CIA overthrew the man who restored independence to Iran in an intelligence mission unparalleled in its scope of destruction that resounds between us even today.

Your country and mine were once respectful, admiring neighbors mutually intrigued and inspired by each other’s history, arts and culture, social developments, technology and political evolution. A half century later we are less than strangers; we see each other as enemies.

Yet we are still fellow citizens in a shared world. For better or worse you and I are neighbors, and our countries were once friends.

The United States would be taking right action by acknowledging its past actions in Iran and extending a profound apology. But if right action isn’t forthcoming from my country, it is from at least this American. I am deeply sorry for the destruction perpetrated against Iran by the United States.

As we enter this new Year of the Ox, my country is changing. The president I voted for is proving to be a sincere man dedicated to securing a more peaceful way, a just and honest way not only here at home, but also in our shared world where an absence of threat between us could be our greatest mutual strength. But the United States and Iran are now so thickly mired in the vestigial politics between us that nothing short of our greatest effort can free us from this hateful place.

Each night before I go to sleep I study my world maps and consider the many ancient civilizations and cultures that have swept through the centuries and ever-changing borders of our shared world. Empires, armies, hordes and explorers have persevered against extraordinary conditions in exchange for extraordinary achievements, but none as epic or elusive as peace.

I close my letter to you with one eye toward the past, when men long dead changed the course of our two countries. The other eye is fixed squarely on the present and every possibility for peace between your country and mine.

Sent by postal mail February 9, 2009