Pen Thoughts

The report below is published through emails by the PWWSD association, it is very important to be propagated: The Palestinian Working Women’s Society for Development would like to express its extreme concern regarding the fate of over 1500 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons. Two men, Bilal Diyab and Tha’er Halahla, are currently in immediate danger of death following their 73 rd day of hunger strike against the Israeli government practice of administrative detention. Under administrative detention, detainees can be held by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) in Israeli prisons for 3 months at a time without charge or trial, and with indefinite renewal of the detention after 3 month periods. On Monday the 7 th May the Israeli supreme court rejected appeals by the two men against their administrative detention, citing a need for further review of secret evidence held against them, as act  described as a ‘death sentence’ by Physicians for Human...

في يوم من أيام الحرّ الشديد الذي يخترق الأجواء اللبنانية في فترات الصيف، كنت سائراً في إحدى شوارع الحمرا في بيروت و العرق يتصبب عن جبيني، متململاً متعكّر المزاج، قاضب الحاجبين، جلّ ما أريد هو أن أصل إلى بيتي في ضواحي المتن لكي أتناول الغذاء وأنام قليلاً لأنزع عن منكابيّ ضجيج النهار وحافلته رغم إن الضجيج لا ينقطع حتى داخل جدران منزلي. و إذ، على مقربة من   كنيسة السيدة في وسط شارع المكحول، منظراً مألوفاً متميّزاً يُستَعرض أمام مقلتيّ. لعلها اشارة من الله ليبعث في قلبي القليل من الإبتهاج، لإني لطالما كنت ميّالاً الى الترسيم الفكاهي خصوصاً للمناظر الأكثر دراماتيكيّة. ما أَلفَ من هذا المنظر هي الدراجة النارية الآتية بعكس السير، متّجهة نحو شارع عبد العزيز بالرغم من التميّز وسخرية هذا الحدث كون سائق الدراجة هو شرطي سير، غير أن هذه الحالة ما زالت تحتفظ في بلدنا الحبيب صفة "المألوف". سأشرح لكم ما رأيت بإسهاب لعليّ أبرز لكم السبب الذي جعلني مبتهج لما تبقى من نهاري في حين، فشل أغلى الناس على قلبي  منحي هذا الشعور: شرطي في العقد الثالث من العمر مربوع القامة م...

For now, the U.S. and its allies are biding their time, because they see no good options. The European Union, for example,  has dropped its demand that Assad must go .  As author and activist Gilbert Achcar put it : " The truth is that one of the major reasons for the skepticism and reluctance shown in practice by the Western countries towards the Syrian situation is the fear that the fall of Assad would lead to an outcome that would be worse for Western interests and Israel."

Singapore’s Manpower Ministry recently announced that the country’s domestic workers – women who work as live-in nannies or housekeepers – will be granted one day of rest each week. Singapore’s families employ about 206,000 domestic workers, primarily from Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and India. Before this change, employers were only required to grant their domestic workers one day off per month. This weekly day free from work is critical for domestic workers’ physical and mental well-being. But we want Singapore’s laws protecting domestic workers to be even stronger. This reform, for example, only pertains to contracts that go into effect beginning in January, 2013 and does not address other key labor rights, such as limits to working hours. We’re calling for the government to apply this change to all domestic workers, no matter when they started their job, and to allow domestic workers to benefit from basic rights under the labor law, giving them the same prot...

خبر عاجل  بعدما احتلّ فيلم الزهرة والقنّاس للدكتور سمير جعجع المرتبة الاولى واصبح على كل لسان تقرر اعادة انتاج فيلم " الهروب بالبجامة " لميشال عون لدعم حملة " تذكّر تاريخك" من اجل التوعية العامة. و شكراً

http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/economie/sarkozy-proglio-nucleaire-anne-lauvergeon-dit-tout_1102901.html ‎what a god dam policy. i remember while observing the Libyan revolution, Sarkozy was constantly depicting Ghaddafi as the utter lunatic of the century. i don't know how to digest this actually, really. i got used to the modern grime aspect of politics, but that is overwhelming.

In Cold Blood: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/syria0412webwcover.pdf the link above is a report containing the extrajudicial executions by Shabiha, the Syrian security forces and pro government militias. by the Human Rights Watch

While driving to work, I saw a man sitting in a Soukline truck throwing a tissue from the window. We passed a couple of streets and I saw the same guy saluting and smiling to his fellow colleague, the one armed with a big green trashcan and a dangerous metal limb, which he will be probably using to pick up the tissue tossed earlier by his beloved friend. What a fucked up contradiction!! - I need my coffee now

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all...

بقلم / عبد الناصر فروانة 20-2-2012 "خضر عدنان " .. المعتقل الإداري الفلسطيني الذي يخوض اضراباً عن الطعام منذ خمسة وستين يوماً متواصلة ، وهو الإضراب الأطول في تاريخ الحركة الأسيرة ، ليُسطر بذلك ملحمة بطولية فردية وفريدة ، نوعية ومميزة ، في التضحية والفداء قلما شهدتها السجون في " اسرائيل " والعالم قاطبة . " خضر عدنان " .. بصموده الأسطوري وإصراره على معركته رغم كل ما يُمارس بحفه من إجراءات قمعية واستفزازية ، يقدم نموذجاً هو الأروع في المقاومة السلمية المشروعة ضد الظلم والاضطهاد التي يتعرض لها الأسرى عموماً في سجون الاحتلال الإسرائيلي . " خضر عدنان " وبغض النظر لأي فصيل ينتمي ، فهو المرآة التي تعكس معاناتنا وماساتنا ، جوعنا وعطشنا ، صمودنا أمام ما نتعرض له من ظلم وقهر وحرمان ، لكنه يتميز عنا بأنه قرر أن ينوب عنا جميعاً ذوداً عن كرامة أسرانا كافة وكرامتنا جميعاً ، ليتحول إلى حالة رمزية ونضالية أذهلتنا جميعاً وفاقت كل توقعاتنا ، وأدهشتنا وأدهشت الجميع بمن فيهم أعدائه ، بل تخطت الدهشة لتصل درجة الانبهار . خضر عدنان .. لفت الأنظار بمفرده ، بجوعه وعطشه وب...