South Afric: 30 years since apartheid

South Africa: 30 years after apartheid, what has changed?

Big socio-political gains have followed apartheid but the legacy of racism and segregation is still starkly visible.

African National Congress (ANC) supporters listen to an address by Nelson Mandela in March 1994 [File: Walter Dhladhla/AFP]

By Shola Lawal

Published On 27 Apr 2024 – aljazeera.com

Three decades ago, on April 27, 1994, after centuries of white rule, Black South Africans voted in general elections for the first time. This marked the official end of apartheid rule, cemented days later when Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the country’s first Black president.

Since the arrival of Dutch settlers in the 1600s and British colonists in the 1700s and 1800s, South Africa had been a project that subjected Black people to systematically segregationist laws and practices.

But it was the adoption of apartheid in 1948 that codified and formalised these racist practices into law. It strictly separated people into separate classes based on their skin colour, putting the white minority in the highest class, with all others, including Black, Indigenous, multi-race people, and descendants of indentured Indian workers, below them.

South Africa’s road to freedom was long and bloody –  laden with the bodies of thousands of Black activists and students who dared to protest, both loudly and quietly.

The wounds of those times are still painful and visible. Black South Africans make up 81 percent of the 60 million population. But, burdened with the trauma and lingering inequalities of the past, Black communities continue to be disproportionately afflicted with poverty.

Here’s how apartheid unfolded, how it collapsed, and what has since changed in South Africa:

(Al Jazeera)

What was apartheid?

The Afrikaner National Party (NP) government formally codified apartheid as government policy in South Africa in 1948.

Translated from Afrikaans – a language first spoken by Dutch and German settlers – apartheid means “apart-hood” or “separateness”, and its name embodied the ways the ruling white minority sought to separate itself from, and rule over, non-white people socially and spatially.

The policies rigidly and forcefully separated South Africa’s diverse racial groups into strata: White, Coloured (multiracial), Indian, and Black. These groups had to live and develop separately – and grossly unequally – such that although they lived in the same country, it was largely impossible for any one group to mix with another.

The rules were debilitating particularly for the Black majority who were relegated to the bottom rung. Laws limited their movement and squeezed them into small sections of land. The places they were allowed to inhabit were generally impoverished and included designated “Bantustans” (rural homelands) or townships on the outskirts of cities – settlements largely built out of ramshackle corrugated iron homes that were unplanned, overcrowded and had few to no amenities.

Meanwhile, the minority white population reaped the benefits of a gold-and-diamond-powered economy and flagrantly underpaid non-white labour as it kept the lion’s share of land, resources and amenities for themselves.

Apartheid also affected Indians, at first brought into South Africa as indentured labourers and later as traders, and multiracial people, called the Coloured community, who faced segregation and discrimination but to a lesser degree than Black Africans.

(Al Jazeera)

What were the apartheid laws?

Apartheid was enforced through a system of strict laws that kept everything in its place. There were “Grand” laws dictating housing and employment allocations, and “Petty” laws dealing with rules of everyday life, like the racial separations in public amenities.

Some of the most important laws were:

• Where people lived: The Group Areas Act – People were legally segregated based on race and allocated separate areas to live and work in. The law relegated nonwhite groups further away from developed urban cities. Black people, in particular, were housed in under-resourced fringe townships far from the centre. From the late 1950s, some 3.5 million Black South Africans were forced to relocate from urban areas, and some 70 percent of the population was squeezed into 13 percent of the country’s most unproductive land. Those who opposed the laws and refused to move had their homes forcibly demolished and were sometimes arrested and imprisoned. Black people, specifically men, who worked in cities as a source of cheap labour were required to carry “pass books” that dictated which white areas they were allowed to be in and for how long. Under the Separate Amenities Laws, public transport, parks, beaches, theatres, restaurants, and other amenities were segregated racially. Signs stating “Whites Only” and “Natives” were commonplace.
• What people learned: The Bantu Education Act – Apartheid laws stipulated the segregation of schools, including setting a different standard of education for different races. White schools were the best resourced, Coloured and Indian schools in the middle, while Black Africans were intentionally given an inferior education, specifically meant to ready them for manual labour and more menial jobs. A later law also segregated tertiary education. Some universities allowed non-white students to study but only to a limited degree, as apartheid officials sought to intentionally underskill the population. Government spending on white institutions was far higher than those catering to other groups.
• Who people could marry: The Immorality Laws – While intermarriages between white and Black people were already illegal under a 1927 law, a revised version (PDF) criminalised marriage and intimate relationships between white people and all other groups. The penalty was up to five years imprisonment. Thousands of people were arrested for this during apartheid, with nearly 20,000 prosecuted.

In August 1990, Black South African protesters are dispersed by tear gas fired by police [File: John Parkin/AP]

Why did apartheid end?

Apartheid came to an end out of the need for the white minority to sustain itself, not because of a change of heart, noted Thula Simpson, a historian of apartheid at the University of Pretoria.

“There was nothing benevolent or voluntary about the retreat of the white government,” he told Al Jazeera. “It was because there was an internal criticism of apartheid, and people were basically saying, ‘In order to maintain white supremacy, you must maintain white survival.’”

Before apartheid finally yielded, it was placed under tremendous pressure, including by growing resistance among Black South Africans. Political groups like the African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela, and the Pan African Congress (PAC), roused the population, instigating protests, peaceful and violent. These movements triggered deadly crackdowns by the apartheid government.

When, on March 21,1960, apartheid police officers opened fire on some 7,000 Black people protesting pass laws, killing 69 people and injuring 180 others in what is now known as the Sharpeville Massacre, the world noticed. International uproar and condemnation from the United Nations followed, even as Mandela was imprisoned and the ANC liberation movement and others like it were banned by the apartheid government.

The 1976 killing of hundreds of Soweto pupils protesting the compulsory use of Afrikaans in Black schools also drew a similar global reaction. June 16 still marks the African Union’s “Day of the African Child,” in remembrance of those killed in the Soweto Uprising.

Increasingly, South Africa became isolated as it was slapped with economic sanctions, starting with a trade ban from Jamaica in 1959. The country was banned from sporting events, as well. By the 1990s, President FW de Klerk was forced to release Mandela and start negotiations for a democratic transition.

(Al Jazeera)

What’s changed since apartheid?

Legally and politically, much has changed in South Africa, with people of all races now free and equal under the law. Anyone is technically able to live, work and study anywhere, and people are free to interact and marry across colour lines. Black South Africans have democratically governed through the ANC for the past 30 years, compared with during apartheid when it was illegal for a Black person to even vote.

However, despite the significant gains, the legacy of apartheid is still present economically and spatially, which has contributed to South Africa being one of the least equal countries in the world.

Economy

Although South Africa’s economy grew with the end of apartheid and international sanctions, Black South Africans households continue to receive only a small share.

In the first decade after apartheid, the ANC-led South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) went from $153bn in 1994 to $458bn in 2011, according to the World Bank.

However, a cocktail of corruption and government inefficiency has seen economic growth taper off, with gross debt rising from 23.6 percent of GDP in 2008 to 71.1 percent in 2022, according to researchers at Harvard (PDF).

While infrastructure quality has declined in general – partly due to the crumbling of the coal-powered electricity system that provided cheap power for production – it is exacerbating the historical inequalities Black communities face, experts said.

“The whole network has not been maintained so now the collapse is spreading out [even] to areas where it was not the norm,” Simpson of Pretoria University said, referencing South Africa’s recent, but frequent power and water cuts. “That impacts first and foremost the poor people,” he added.

A shopkeeper serves a customer in the dark during a regular electricity blackout in South Africa [File: Rogan Ward/Reuters]

In 2022, the World Bank classified (PDF) South Africa as the most unequal country in the world, and listed race, the legacy of apartheid, a missing middle class and highly unequal land ownership, as the major drivers. About 10 percent of the population controls 80 percent of the wealth, its report said.

Researchers from Spain’s Universidad de Vigo in 2014 found (PDF) that the average monthly income of Black South African households was 10,554 rand ($552), compared with 117,249 rand ($6,138) in white households.

In 2017, a government survey tracking household expenditure echoed those findings, stating that nearly half of all Black-headed households were spending the least while only 11 percent were in the highest spending category.

Economic woes have added pressure on the ANC, which is predicted to lose a parliamentary majority in the upcoming May elections for the first time since 1994. Simpson said a divide between older voters who witnessed the ANC’s struggle to end apartheid and younger people who do not have an attachment to the party has widened.

Education and skilled employment

After apartheid collapsed, historically white schools with good amenities and qualified teachers were desegregated and drew ambitious parents from Black communities, where government schools were poorly funded and lacked amenities like toilets – conditions that have persisted. According to a 2020 Amnesty International report, out of 23,471 public schools, 20,071 had no laboratory, 18,019 had no library, and 16,897 had no internet.

However, there is persistent trouble with transport to these formerly white-only schools for pupils from low-income and rural communities as these areas remain far apart and are not easily accessible. Pupils have also complained of racism in the formerly segregated white schools.

Meanwhile, general unemployment in South Africa is at more than 33 percent – one of the world’s highest. Nearly 40 percent of Black South Africans were unemployed in the first three months of 2023, while that rate was 7.5 percent among white people, according to government figures (PDF).

Where Black people make up 80 percent of the employable population (PDF) and account for 16.9 percent of top management jobs, white people who comprise about 8 percent of the employable population hold 62.9 percent of top management jobs.

A new law aimed at seeing more Black people employed – the Employment Equity Amendment Bill of 2020 – was signed last year by President Cyril Ramaphosa, but it sparked debate, with South Africa’s main opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA) saying the law prescribes “race quotas” for companies and would cause other groups to lose jobs.

Housing

Although Black South Africans are no longer confined to rural, fringe townships – and people of colour spread out to urban areas across the country at the end of white minority rule – many still live in settlements with limited amenities.

In the once-majority-white Cape Town, for example, the population of Black South Africans increased from 25 percent in 1996 to 43 percent in 2016, according to the Center for Sustainable Cities (PDF).

“There’s been a massive redistribution of the population and whites have moved to the suburbs or outside the country,” Simpson said. “It has created the opportunity for Black South Africans to move closer to business districts.”

But, the historian added, “the townships remain the areas that have not been de-racialised.”

In some parts, small buffers separate Black townships from high-income neighbourhoods, providing starkly visible differences in satellite images. For example, a quick Google Maps tour will reveal the beautiful Strand, a seaside community in the Western Cape province that boasts of big homes with large, well-tended yards, and clean streets. Just beside it though, the Nomzamo township stands, with tinier homes and streets littered with refuse.

Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township is seen in this picture taken in 2016 [File: Johnny Miller/Reuters]

Raesetje Sefala, a researcher at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), said her organisation has observed that townships are still expanding. “They continue to resemble their appearance during the apartheid era, indicating that similar small land sizes are still being allocated,” she told Al Jazeera.

Sefala said the South African government now groups townships together with well-serviced suburbs as “formal residential neighbourhoods”, which makes it difficult for researchers to track the actual improvements in quality of life since the end of apartheid.

However, as someone who comes from a township, “I can attest to the extent of the poor service delivery,” she added.

Government reforms have sought to provide subsidised homes for low-income earners, with some four million homes (PDF) delivered since 1994 according to the South Africa Human Rights Commission. But some of those policies have meant houses are located far from economic centres, inadvertently recreating the same apartheid dynamic, some researchers have said.

Besides, there is a national backlog of some 2.3 million households and individuals still waiting for a home since 1994.

Meanwhile, rural homelands, where Black people were once forced to reside, continue to be at a disadvantage. For one, they experience extremely low employment rates: Although some 29 percent of South Africa’s population lives there, employment rates are roughly half of what they are in all other parts of the country according to Harvard researchers. Experts have blamed the government’s failures to expand connecting infrastructure like transport, technology, and know-how to these historically excluded places.

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Video Duration 24 minutes 30 seconds 24:30

Source: Al Jazeera

Keep reading

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Mandela’s world: A photographic retrospective of apartheid South Africa

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Thirty years waiting for a house: South Africa’s ‘backyard’ dwellers

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In search of Ramadan with South Africa’s men who sight the moon

Dikt om ei mor, og dikt om alle mødre!

Mor i Teaterparken i Bergen, sommaren 2014, foto Ivar Jørdre

23. januar 2024 er gjeburtsdagen til mor. Signy ville ha fylt 102 år i år. Mor døydde på Granvin Sjuke- og aldersheim, 12. april 2020. Sorga mi var stor og saknet mitt er stort enno og vil alltid vera det. Far min, Sjur, døydde 8. mai 2008. Saknet etter han er altid hjå meg også og vil alltid vera det. Slik er livet, det tek slutt ei gong. Likevel, MINNENE er der, det gjeld å pleie og nære dei så godt ein kan med varme tankar. Minnene ligg i «arkiva våre», ein tek dei fram når ein treng dei, dei ligg der som gullkorn i hugen! I denne bloggposten presenterar eg fleire dikt om mor og om mødre i det heile.

I samband med at eg bloggar denne «minneposten» no på dødsdagen hennar, vil eg sende solidariske og varme kjensler til alle dei som har mista sine kjære i Koronapandemien i Noreg og elles i verda. Mor mi døydde ein «naturleg død», men alle dei som ikkje gjorde det i det siste året gjer meg uendeleg trist og forbanna. Sint først og fremst på grunn av det økonomiske globale systemet me lever i, som gjer det mogleg å spreie eit virus kloden rundt så raskt som det har gjort. Eg er redd verda «trampar» vidare i same økonomiske spor, etter pandemien. Eg håpte eg tok feil! Eg tok diverre ikkje feil

Trist fordi ein slik pandemi er klasserelatert (ikkje minst når det gjeld kven av fattige eller rike land som får vaksine først og mest). Viruset kjenner ikkje skilnad på rik og fattig, nei, men kven er det som døyr flest og åleine og utan hjelp til lindring eller redning? Svaret gjev vel seg sjølv.. Som Palestina-ven ville mor sikkert vridd seg i smerte om ho hadde opplevd dei meir enn 6 månader med drap og folkeord på sivile palestinarar i Gaza-krigen, utført av eit hemnlyste apartheid-Israel. Og dobbelmoralen i vestlege land/USA til ikkje å stoppe galskapen. Denne urettvisa veit eg mor ville ha kjent på også. Ho sa til meg mange gonger: «Da e fælt med denne uretten mange stader, du Ivar»!

Mor til minne!

Ivar Jørdre

Mor, oljemåleri på lerret, 60 x 40 cm, 2015, Ivar Jørdre

———————————————

Ei lite sedla (jenta)

Eit lite, men stort menneskje
er gjenge ut av tida no
Ut av livet, ut av verda

Men, ikkje ut av minna
Ikkje ut av røynsla
Ikkje ut av kjærleiken

Kjærleiken til ei lite sedla
er fasttømra i bankande hjarta
er hamra inn i hugen som gull

Minnene ligg i arkivskuffene mine
Dei hentast ut i ein morgonraud
av glede, av å ha kjent deg

Tårer av glede vert til stjernestøv
som glitrar i haustmørke av sorg
Men, våren kjem att, på ny og på ny
Og, der er du!

Ivar Jørdre
——————————————-

Stilt

Det er so stilt etter deg, mor
Det er so einsamt etter deg
Det er nesten som fuglane teier litt

Den saknalege latteren din, mor
Den saknalege gode røysta di
Det er som om universet kitlar litt

Står tida stille etter deg, mor?
Nei, tida går og går, det er sårt
Men, gleda om deg, gjer tårer godt
Dei ler i meg og deg, lenge, mor

Ivar Jørdre

Mor på «Den blå steinen» i Bergen, sommaren 2014, foto Ivar Jørdre

Mor og dotter mi Arina, Hagahaugen, Voss, april 2015. Foto Ivar Jørdre

Lengsel

Ho kom til meg ei morgon

fortalde noko og for sin veg

Ho kom att neste kveld

ho tok seg god tid denne gongen

Lengselen, det var noko

ho ville meg

Lengselen fortalde om

sin eigen lengsel

Eg forstod kva ho meinte

Lengselen var i meg gjennom natta

og sat med meg til frukost

–

Etter deg

Saknet etter deg

er som ein dråpe frå universet

som kjem til meg kvar dag

og vatnar mitt sinn

med deg

–

Bortanfor alt

Ein stad ligg lengtet og ventar

det ventar på meg kvar dag

Lengtet er som ei gamal kone

med skreppa si med mjøl og salt

som skal til sauene sine på fjellet

Ho gjev dei og går heim att

for så å kome att ein annan dag

—

Ho kjem att gong etter gong

til sine kjære sauer, gjev dei og går

Ho kjem og går, i sine merkelege

melankolske klede

Både med og utan finstasen på

helsar ho deg og smiler

Du forstår ikkje kvifor

vil ho deg vel?

—

Trist står du der og ventar på henne

nokre gonger kjem ho brått på deg

andre gonger langsamt snikande

—

Ein dag kom ho ikkje som venta

du undra deg kva som var hendt

Men du trengte ikkje undre lenge

Ho såg inn kjøkenglaset neste morgon

Du sokk attende i stolen, trøytt

—

Så hugsa du, kor du lengta, det var dagar

ho ikkje kom og var hjå deg

Du fekk ikkje fred før ho kom

Då smilte også du, litt, når ho kom

Saknet tok du i mot som sauene tok i mot

den gamle kona med mjøl og salt

–

Henda dine

Henda dine har gjort so mangt,
henda dine har arbeidt so mykje,
henda dine har vore so mjuke

Henda dine har bore meg som liten,
henda dine har verna meg frå fare,
henda dine har gjort meg til menneske

Henda dine er eit langt liv,
henda dine er noko vakkert ljosande,
henda dine er dei såraste og venaste i verda
Henda dine helsar meg som stjernor i mørke

–

«Det hev ei rose sprunge» (ein av favorittmelodiane til mor)

Nydikting:
Det hev ei smerte sprunge
Det hev mange tankar kome
om det menneske ein saknar mest

Nær er du, langt borte er du
Her er du, der er du
I mitt sinn er du både og

Det hev ikkje sorgen letta
Det hev ingen trøyst i sikte
Ein lyt berre bygge seg eit slott

Gjesteblogg: TRANGERE YTRINGSMULIGHETER FOR DE POLITISKE UKORREKTE.

TRANGERE YTRINGSMULIGHETER FOR DE POLITISKE UKORREKTE.

På Ivars blogg 23.10.23 kunne en lese om Jean-Paul Delescault lederen av fylkesforbundet Confédération du Travail (CGT) som tre dager tidligere var blitt arrestert i sitt hjem kl 06 om morgen. Delescault var siktet for å »forsvare terrorisme» etter å ha delt ut på gaten en løpeseddel fra CGT hvor det sto at med Hamas angrep den 07.10 »har okkupasjonen fått svar på det den har provosert selv.»

Gjesteblogg: I DET LIBERALE FRANKRIKE KNEBLES STØTTEN TIL DET PALESTINSKE FOLK. | «Ivar Jørdre (wordpress.com)

Saken kom nylig i retten i Lille, med organisasjonene Frankrikes jødisk ungdom og Det israelske samfunn i Lille som anklagerpartnere. Tiltale mot Jean-Paul Delescault var delt i to punkter: »å forsvare en terrorhandling», og »å provosere hat eller vold basert på opprinnelse, etnisitet, nasjonalitet, rase eller religion.» 18.04.23 falt dommen. Jean-Paul Delescault ble dømt til ett og et halvt år betinget fengsel som følge av det første anklagepunktet (det andre punktet falt bort) og til å betale 5000 euro i erstatning til Den europeiske jødiske organisasjonen for »moralsk urett». 
CGT har anket dommen på stedet.  Un cadre CGT sanctionné pour “apologie du terrorisme” à travers un tract sur le conflit Israël-Hamas (msn.com)

Dommen mot den fagforeningslederen er ikke det eneste forsøket på å kneble støtten til den palestinske motstandskampen. En konferanse om Palestina som skulle finne sted 18.04 på Universitetet i Lille, med Jean-Luc Mélanchon (partileder av La France Insoumise) og Rima Hassan (fransk jurist født i en palestinsk flyktningleir) som hovedgjester ble annullert av universitetsledelsen. Den offisielle begrunnelsen for annulleringen var sikkerheten rundt konferansen.

https://www.liberation.fr/international/moyen-orient/luniversite-de-lille-decide-dinterdire-une-conference-controversee-de-jean-luc-melenchon-sur-la-palestine-20240417_KIGUVW57QJGRTMCOPJHHUUITJE/  
Macron har beklaget at konferansen ble annullert men ville ikke gjøre noe med det. 
https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/actualite/france/conf%C3%A9rence-de-m%C3%A9lenchon-hassan-annul%C3%A9e-%C3%A0-lille-emmanuel-macron-aurait-pr%C3%A9f%C3%A9r%C3%A9-que-le-d%C3%A9bat-ne-soit-pas-interdit/ar-AA1nfJfc?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=b41a0c16e376450ab8c387605c988a4d&ei=41

Også i nabolandet Belgia ble en annen konferanse planlagt til 16.04 annullert. Viktor Orban, Nigel Farage (tidligere leder av Brexit Parti) og Eric Zemour (fransk politiker rangert til høyre for Rassemblement National) var inviterte gjester. Det belgiske statsrådet ga borgemesteren i Brussel medhold i å forby konferansen, denne gangen også av sikkerhetsgrunner. 
Colloque nationaliste à Bruxelles : la réunion en présence d’Eric Zemmour peut reprendre, valide le Conseil d’Etat belge (cnews.fr)

Det er for tiden politisk korrekt å rope varsko mot land utenfor Europa som den »politiske eliten», med god hjelp av servile media, har utpekt som våre fiender. På samme tid knebler den samme »eliten» ytringsmuligheter for »politiske ukorrekte» meninger.

Daniel Ducrocq

Israel want’s war with Iran? What happens next?

Iran launches hundreds of missiles, drones in first direct attack on Israel

Israel says, with help from US, UK and other forces, it intercepted vast majority of 300 drones and missiles launched by Iran.

Published On 13 Apr 2024 – aljazeera.com

Iran has launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israel, in an unprecedented attack that came as a response to an Israeli raid on the Iranian consulate in Syria two weeks ago.

The overnight escalation came more than six months into Israel’s devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians and pushed the besieged territory to the brink of famine. The war has driven up tensions in the region, spreading to fronts with Lebanon and Syria and drawing long-range fire at Israeli targets from as far away as Yemen and Iraq.

The Israeli military said on Sunday the Iranian salvo consisted of more than 300 “killer drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles”, but that 99 percent were intercepted with help from forces from France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

end of list

The launches, which the army said came from Iran, as well as from Iraq and Yemen, set off air raid sirens in cities across Israel, including Tel Aviv, with explosions heard as air defences intercepted the projectiles.

Medics said a girl in southern Israel was wounded by shrapnel from an intercepted drone, while the military said “a small number of hits were identified, including at [an Israeli military] base in southern Israel, where minor damage was caused to infrastructure”.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed the attack, saying it launched the drones and missiles under Operation True Promise as part of the punishment for “the Zionist entity’s crime of targeting the Iranian consulate in Syria” on April 1.

The raid in Damascus killed 13 people, including two senior generals in the IRGC’s elite Quds Force.

An ambulance is parked outside the Iranian embassy in Damascus after an Israeli strike on April 1, 2024 [File: Firas Makdesi/Reuters]

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the consulate attack.

With the missiles and drone attack, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said it now deemed the matter “concluded” and warned Israel of a “considerably more severe” response should the “Israeli regime make another mistake”.

It also warned the US to stay out of the conflict.

Fears of a wider escalation

Before the Iranian attack, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon announced temporarily closing their airspace, while Syria also put on high alert its Russian-made Pantsir ground-to-air defence systems around Damascus and major bases, according to the Reuters news agency.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian armed forces seized a container ship linked to Israel near the Strait of Hormuz.

Western countries condemned Iran’s missile and drone assault, including the US, the UK, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Mexico, the Netherlands and Norway. Egypt and Saudi Arabia called for restraint, while the UN Security Council scheduled an emergency session to discuss the matter at Israel’s request.

US President Joe Biden cut short a weekend stay at his Delaware beach house to meet his national security team at the White House on Saturday afternoon. He also spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late on Saturday, reaffirming Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to its ally’s security.

Biden said he told Netanyahu that “Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel”.

Netanyahu, in a brief post on X, said Israel will achieve victory.

“We intercepted, we repelled, together we shall win,” he added.

The Pentagon meanwhile reported that defence chief Lloyd Austin had spoken with his Israeli counterpart “to discuss urgent regional threats … and made clear that Israel could count on full US support to defend Israel against any attacks by Iran and its regional proxies”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned Iran’s attack, saying he was “deeply alarmed about the very real danger of a devastating region-wide escalation”.

Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said on the Telegram social media app that in addition to a letter from Israel, the UNSC had received one from Iran asserting its attack was within the UN Charter framework governing the right to self-defence.

“The latter warns that if Israel responds, Iran will respond in a more powerful and decisive manner,” Polyanskiy said.

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.633.0_en.html#goog_892639712

Video Duration 28 minutes 20 seconds 28:20

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on all parties to “exercise calm and restraint”, describing the situation as the “latest spillover of the Gaza conflict”. It said it was deeply concerned by the escalation and said Israel’s war on Gaza “must end now”.

Analysts described Iran’s attack on Israel as carefully calibrated to prevent further escalation.

“What the Iranians are trying to do is to come up with a measured, calculated attack in order to regain deterrence and not to be seen as weak in front of their own proxies,” said Hassan Barari, professor of international relations at the University of Qatar.

However, he expressed worry that the attack could worsen the situation in Gaza.

“I know some right-wing politicians in the government will see this as an opportunity because the world’s attention has shifted onto Iran-Israel and then they can do something probably horrendous in Gaza,” he said.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Keep reading

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list 2 of 4

Iran warns Israel, US of ‘severe response’ in case of retaliation

list 3 of 4

Biden vows G7 response, ‘ironclad’ US support for Israel after Iran attacks

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How high is the risk of conflict between Iran and Israel?

Gratulerar med Romfolket sin dag, 8. april!

Romfolkets dag 8. april

Den internasjonale romdagen er en dag for feiring av romanifolkets kultur og identitet.

av Arild Ness — sist endret 08.04.2024 – bergenbibliotek.no

Foto: Hans H. Lie/Maihaugen.

Den internasjonale romdagen ble innstiftet på den første store romkongressen i London 8. april 1971. Her ble også romflagget utformet. Den internasjonale romdagen markeres av romanifolk over hele verden, og er en dag for feiring av romanifolkets kultur og identitet. Romanifolket er en av de nasjonale minoritetene i Norge. Gelem, gelem – jeg går og går, romanifolkets nasjonalsang ble sunget første gang i London i 1971.

Litteratur

Bøker om romfolket på biblioteket

Om romfolket i Bookbites:

• Jahn Otto Johansen Folket som ingen vil ha 
• Jan Alexander Svoboda Brustad Et uønsket folk
• Eirik Ingebrigtsen Spikrar frå fallande plankar
• Stef Penney De Usynlige
• Kristian Novak Den vakreste, men sigøyner
• Witold Szablowski Dansende bjørner
• Lucinda Riley Månesøsteren  (ebok)

Mer informasjon

• Store norske leksikon
• HL-senteret om Norske rom

Sjå også:

Skandinaviske Romanifolk, no.wikipwdia.org

Tatersanger med Elias Akselsen, dottera Veronica Akselsen og KORK, tv.nrk.no

The Rwandan genocide, 30 years

Remembering the Rwandan genocide 30 years on – how did it happen?

Local media, in particular, were crucial in aiding the mass killings while world media either ignored or underplayed them.

The remains of 119 people believed to be victims of the Rwandan genocide are retrieved from a site in the Huye District of southern Rwanda on January 23, 2024 [File: AP]

By Shola Lawal

Published On 7 Apr 2024 – aljazeera.com

It has been three decades since the April 1994 Rwandan genocide when members of the majority Hutu ethnic group killed an estimated 800,000 minority Tutsis, moderate Hutus and members of a third ethnic group, the Twa, in one of the darkest episodes in world history.

A combination of colonial-era favouritism towards the Tutsis that angered other groups, a media landscape that was ripe for spreading hate and the slowness of the international community to respond to the crisis all combined to fuel the genocide.

Keep reading

list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4

A guide to the decades-long conflict in DR Congo

list 2 of 4

Rwanda’s Kagame fires slew of military officials in big shake-up

list 3 of 4

Paul Kagame: Africans can’t permanently stay in a ‘victim’ position

list 4 of 4

Rwanda genocide survivors criticise UN court’s call to halt suspect’s trial

end of list

The killings have continued to reverberate in East Africa, leading to civil wars and ongoing violence in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Here is how it unfolded:

What caused the genocide?

Tensions were already brewing between Hutus and Tutsis before April 1994.

The Tutsis, who made up 8.4 percent of the population according to a 1991 census, were believed to be genealogically closer to white Europeans under now-debunked scientific theories and were favoured under Belgian colonialism.

The Hutus made up 85 percent of the population, but they could not in practice access education and economic opportunities that the ruling Tutsis could.

“What’s commonly understood from historians is that the Belgians used the Tutsis as proxies in ruling the country, and that’s why they became privileged,” said Lennart Wohlgemuth, a researcher and former professor at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg.

Being identified as Tutsi or Hutu before colonialism was “fluid” and based significantly on class with wealthy Hutus able to attain an honorary Tutsi title. “It was really based on how many cows you had, [but] the Belgians built up differences between the two and manipulated it. The Tutsis were better off already, and they, of course, used their privilege to improve their lives,” Wohlgemuth said.

In 1932, Belgian colonists further entrenched those differences when they introduced identity cards that included individuals’ ethnicity.

In 1959, as independence movements swept across Africa, the Hutus violently revolted against the Belgian colonists and the Tutsi elite. About 120,000 people, primarily Tutsis, fled the killings and attacks, taking refuge in neighbouring countries.

A Hutu government came to power after independence in 1962. The new state from the onset, however, faced threats from Tutsi refugees who had organised in exile.

One group, the Uganda-based Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), aimed to seize power and return exiled refugees by launching attacks on civilian and military targets in Rwanda. The RPF was supported by the Ugandan government of Yoweri Museveni and was led mainly by Tutsi commanders, including Rwanda’s current president, Paul Kagame.

By late 1990, a civil war had broken out between the RPF and the Rwandan government.

What was the trigger for the genocide?

The Hutu government cracked down on Tutsis during the war, claiming they were RPF accomplices. Government propaganda painted them as traitors, generating widespread anger against them.

After international intervention, however, the Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, signed the Arusha Accords in August 1993 to end the war, resulting in a pause in RPF attacks. The United Nations deployed troops to facilitate the peace process under the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR).

However, some Hutus, even from within the government, seethed at the move, and some kick-started an “extermination” campaign by compiling lists of Tutsi targets.

On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down over Kigali. Habyarimana, Ntaryamira and many others on the plane died.

Although it has never been determined whether the RPF or Hutus shot down the aircraft, local media immediately pinned the assassinations on the rebels and told Hutus to “go to work”.

The killings began.

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.632.0_en.html#goog_1589907188

Video Duration 02 minutes 00 seconds 02:00

How did the genocide happen?

The murders were methodical. Members of government security forces assassinated Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu, and 10 Belgian peacekeepers assigned to protect her in her home on April 7, hours after news broadcasts pinned the plane crash on the RPF.

Then, government forces, together with Hutu militia groups known as the Interahamwe, a name that means “those who attack together”, set up roadblocks and barricades in Kigali and began to attack Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The killings quickly spread to other cities.

Soldiers opened fire on crowds while men buoyed by media messages and government officials promising rewards went from house to house, using machetes and sharpened or blunt clubs to hack at those they knew to be Tutsis or any Hutus offering them refuge. They killed neighbours and family members. They raped women and looted homes. Later, victims were herded into large open areas such as stadiums or schools where they were massacred.

The killings ended 100 days later on July 4 when the RPF, which had restarted its advance, seized control of Kigali. Hutus who had taken part in the genocide as well as many Hutu civilians fearing retaliation fled the country into the DRC. Government leaders raided the state coffers and also fled as far as France.

Rwandan boys pose with gravestones to commemorate the 1994 Rwanda genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred [File: Joe McNally/Getty Images]

How many people died?

It might never be known exactly how many people were killed as mass graves are still being found today. In January this year, for example, a site containing the remains of 119 people was discovered in the Huye District in southern Rwanda.

Estimates vary. The UN said 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the three-month genocide, but some said people included in that number are those who died of other causes. Other independent monitors put the number at about 500,000 people.

The size of the Tutsi population after the genocide is also unclear because many identified themselves as Hutus to avoid being killed and Rwanda has since scrapped any identification showing ethnicity in its censuses.

Before the genocide, the 1991 census pegged the Tutsi population at 657,000, or 8.4 percent, (although some allege without proof that Habyarimana’s government undercounted Tutsis to limit their access to education and other opportunities). Human Rights Watch estimated at least 500,000 Tutsis – 77 percent of their 1991 population – were killed.

An estimated 1.1 million people were killed in total, including thousands of Hutus who died at the hands of the RPF.

Kigali, Kibuye, Butare and Gitarama were some of the worst affected regions.

Hundreds of human skulls at a memorial to the genocide [File: Joe McNally/Getty Images]

How did the media fuel the genocide?

Radio-Television Libres des Milles Collines (RTML) as well as state-owned Radio Rwanda were central to fuelling hatred against the Tutsis throughout the country. They both spread messages that fed on and escalated anxieties among Hutus that they might once again be ruled over should the advancing RPF succeed.

RTML attracted a young, hip demographic and was an alternative to Radio Rwanda. The station would play popular music and then, in the middle of a track, cut to presenters making demeaning statements like “those people are a dirty group”, referring to the Tutsis. The terms “cockroaches” and “snakes” were used frequently in the broadcasts.

RTML was the first to pin Habyarimana’s plane attack on the RPF. Months before the genocide, the radio station told listeners to expect a “big event”, according to media researchers who have studied its programmes.

During the genocide, attackers paraded in the streets with machetes in one hand and radio sets in the other, listening to Radio Rwanda and RTLM broadcasts that named Tutsis or their protectors and informed people where to find them.

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.632.0_en.html#goog_1589907189

Video Duration 09 minutes 36 seconds 09:36

What did the international community do?

Global leaders were aware of the genocide but didn’t intervene. For a long time, the UN avoided using the word “genocide” under pressure from the United States, which was reluctant to send in troops. Former UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on the 20th anniversary of the genocide that the organisation was still “ashamed” for its failure to prevent the genocide.

President Kagame, who headed the Tutsi rebel army that in 1994 ousted the Hutu government and ended the genocide, has since said he was so frustrated by world inaction during the genocide that he considered attacking the local UN mission and stealing its weapons to stop the mass slaughter of civilians.

Before the killings, in early 1994, the commander of UNAMIR, General Romeo Dallaire, had received intelligence about the looming killings and identified secret weapon caches stockpiled by Hutus. He sent five missives from January to March to the UN Security Council asking for the mission’s mandate to be expanded so those weapons could be seized and for troop numbers to be boosted. His warnings were ignored.

When the killings began, the UN and Belgian government withdrew UNAMIR peacekeepers. French and Belgian peacekeepers evacuated expatriates in vehicles, refusing to help Tutsis.

A small contingent who remained did protect thousands of people who hid in places like the Hotel des Mille Collines and Amahoro Stadium in Kigali. In one incident, however, soldiers guarding about 2,000 people sheltering in Kigali’s Ecole Technique Officielle (Official Technical School) left their posts and tried to evacuate expatriates. Their absence led to a massacre at the school.

France, which armed Habyarimana’s government despite having knowledge of plans to kill Tutsis, continued to ally itself with the caretaker Hutu government in the first days of the killings. At the time, France viewed the Uganda-backed RPF as a hostile “Anglophone” force that would negatively impact its “Francafrique” sphere of influence.

The UN finally passed a resolution on May 17, 1994, imposing an arms ban on Rwanda and reinforcing UNAMIR. New soldiers did not start arriving until June, however, when most of the killings had already occurred.

Western media channels have since been criticised for downplaying the murders by describing them as “civil” or “tribal” wars.

What happened afterwards?

The UN established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in November 1994. It was based in Arusha, Tanzania, which agreed to host the tribunal because “some of those people would not be free to go to Rwanda, so it was the only possible way [for the UN] to create an independent justice system,” according to Wohlgemuth.

The court tried several high-profile leaders of the genocide, including caretaker Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, who was handed a life sentence for inciting, aiding, abetting and failing to prevent genocide. He was also sentenced on two counts of crimes against humanity. The tribunal convicted 61 people in total.

Trials in Rwanda itself began in 1996, focusing in particular on those who planned, instigated, supervised or led the killings. They also prosecuted rape. Twenty-two of the defendants found guilty of the worst crimes were sentenced to death by firing squad.

Most cases were tried in informal community courts because the judicial infrastructure was destroyed during the genocide and many legal staff had fled, been killed or imprisoned.

To address an enormous backlog of cases – about 150,000 people were imprisoned in the aftermath of the genocide – the government in 2001 launched the Gacaca system. The traditional mechanism, previously used to resolve community conflicts, was used to try defendants who were not government officials or top-level planners. The charges were filed in categories: planning or inciting genocide including sexual violence, causing grievous bodily harm, and looting or other property offences. Community members elected judges for more than 12,000 courts, who then tried the accused.

From 800,000 to a million people stood trial in the courts. Sentences ranged from prison terms for serious crimes like planning genocide and rape to community service for lesser offences.

The courts were criticised for exposing survivors as they gave evidence. They often faced threats and intimidation from people accused of crimes, and judges in some cases were revealed to have participated in the genocide themselves. Some also accused the system of failing to try cases of RPF attacks. However, others said it helped reconcile communities. The courts officially closed in 2012.

Source: Al Jazeera

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Published On 25 Jan 2024

The murderous regime and IDF on the loose, again!

Israel forces ‘intentionally killed’ World Central Kitchen aid workers

UN official Francesca Albanese said Israel targeted the aid workers to keep ‘quietly starving’ people in Gaza

UN official Francesca Albanese slammed Israel’s murder of the World Central Kitchen aid workers (Picture: Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

A top United Nations (UN) official says that Israel deliberately killed the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers earlier this week in order to intensify starvation in Gaza.

Francesca Albanese is the UN’s official reporting on the territories that Israel illegally occupied in 1967. She said, “Knowing how Israel operates, my assessment is that Israeli forces intentionally killed WCK workers so that donors would pull out and civilians in Gaza could continue to be starved quietly.”

She added, “Israel knows Western countries and most Arab countries won’t move a finger for the Palestinians.”

It’s true much of the aid to prevent escalating famine has now stopped. The Associated Press news agency reported that ships carrying more than 200 tonnes of undelivered aid were returning from Gaza after the WCK killings.

WCK has stopped all its operations. Another US charity it works with, Anera, has also suspended work. Together, they were delivering two million meals a week in Gaza.

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was forced to admit that Israel was responsible for the deaths. But he said the blasts that killed seven people on Monday were simply “a tragic incident”. “It happens in wartime,” he said.

Palestinian Saif Abu Taha was one of those killed alongside six others from countries including Britain.

Celebrity chef Jose Andres who founded WCK said on Wednesday that Israel had targeted the convoy “systematically, car by car”. He confirmed Israel knew about the aid workers’ movements.

“This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” Andres said.

He said that, after the Israeli military attacked the first armoured car, the team was able to escape. It moved to a second car which was then also blasted, forcing them to move to the third car.

The aid workers tried to communicate with Israeli forces to make clear who they were. Then Israel hit the third car—“and we saw the consequences of that,” said Andras.

The Israeli strike was delivered by a Hermes 450 drone manufactured by Elbit Systems. The Hermes 450 is powered by a UK-made R902(W) engine, produced by Elbit subsidiary UAV Engines Limited in Britain

“Explosive weapons expert” Chris Cobb-Smith told CNN news that the strikes appeared to have been carried out by an Israeli drone.

Cobb-Smith, a former British Army artillery officer, said the heavy damage to the three vehicles was consistent with the use of “highly accurate drone-fired missiles”. He added it was “hard to believe” the incident was an accident.

He also said the drone that fired the fatal missiles would have been operated in conjunction with a surveillance drone. This means the Israeli military would have had total visibility of the cars, including the WCK logo.

The attack on the WCK convoy has plunged the US and British governments deeper into crisis. The message from the mass Palestine movement that Israel is a murderous killing machine has been confirmed in the eyes of millions.

It should spur even stronger calls to halt all arms sales to Israel, to apply sanctions and to fight to stop backing the genocidal assault.

And there are new forms of pressure. More than 600 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges have signed a 17-page letter. It says “serious action” is needed to “avoid UK complicity in grave breaches of international law, including potential violations of the Genocide Convention”.

It adds that the sale of arms and weapons systems to Israel “falls significantly short” of the government’s obligations under international law. That’s given the “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza.

Pressure from below forced prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair to suspend arms to Israel in 1982 and 2002 respectively.

The US and British governments fear the attacks are too blatant, too revealing, too obvious. They also see the Israeli attack as directed at their own people. The Tory government has worked closely with WCK. The three British nationals slaughtered are all former military personnel, two of them from the Royal Marines.

The US also celebrates WCK. “I am outraged and heartbroken,” Joe Biden said after the blasts in a statement that called Andres “my friend”.

A few months ago, Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats nominated WCK and Andres for the Nobel Peace Prize. Anders had demanded a Spanish government minister should be fired for suggesting Israel was committing war crimes.

WCK is seen as an acceptable replacement for the UN agency Unrwa, which Israel falsely accused of conniving with the Hamas attack on 7 October.

On his podcast, Andres has guests such as US secretary of state Antony Blinken. So the US and British governments will hope that they can make angry noises but allow Israel to administer a cover-up.

On Wednesday White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters, “While we make no bones about the fact that we have certain issues about some of the way things are being done.

“We also make no bones about the fact that Israel is going to continue to have US support for the fight that they’re in to eliminate the threat from Hamas.”

It’s time to intensify the pro-Palestinian movement.

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FN-rapport: Over 1 milliard måltider kastas kvar dag globalt – Var det nokon som sa kapitalisme her?

FN: Verdens husholdninger kaster 1 milliard måltider hver dag

Husholdninger over hele verden kastet til sammen én milliard måltider hver eneste dag i 2022, noe FN kaller en global matsvinn-tragedie.

Mat verdt mer enn tusen milliarder dollar ble kastet av husholdninger og bedrifter på et tidspunkt da nesten 800 millioner mennesker sultet, heter det i FNs seneste rapport om matsvinn.

Mer en én milliard tonn mat, nesten en femdel av all mat tilgjengelig på markedet, ble kastet i 2022, det meste av husholdningene.

– Matsvinn er en global tragedie. Millioner vil sulte i dag da mat kastes over hele verden, sier Inger Andersen, sjef for FNs miljøprogram, i en uttalelse.

Rapporten er utarbeidet sammen med den ideelle organisasjonen WRAP, og bare den andre som er utarbeidet om globalt matsvinn fra FN og gir det mest omfattende bildet til dags dato.

NTB

Food Waste Index Report 2024

27 March 2024

To catalyse essential action towards reducing food waste and achieving SDG 12.3, it’s imperative to grasp the extent of food waste. Measuring food waste allows countries to comprehend the magnitude of the issue, thereby revealing the size of the opportunity, while establishing a baseline for tracking progress. The Food Waste Index Report 2021 marked a pivotal moment in understanding global food waste across retail, food service, and household sectors. It unveiled a greater availability of food waste data than anticipated, particularly at the household level, and revealed that per capita household food waste generation was more consistent worldwide than previously thought.

The Food Waste Index Report 2024 builds upon its predecessor in three key ways: Firstly, it incorporates vastly expanded data points from around the world, providing a significantly more robust global and national estimates, detailed in Chapter 2 of the main report. Secondly, it expands on the SDG 12.3 food waste measurement methodology introduced in the 2021 report, offering enhanced guidance on measurement across retail, food service, and household sectors. This additional guidance delves into various methodologies, their strengths and limitations, and strategies for prioritising sub-sectors for measurement, as explored in Chapter 3. Lastly, the report transitions from focusing solely on food waste measurement to exploring solutions for food waste reduction. The chapter examines effective approaches to reducing food waste globally, with a spotlight on public-private partnerships in this 2024 report.

From unep.org

Food Waste Index Report 2024: https://www.youtube.com/embed/KieA_WP-oi0?enablejsapi=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unep.org

Novelle – Den andre verda – Historiar frå planeten Proxima b

Den gode planeten – del 4

Krig er ikkje det beste ein har, nei!

I dette «brevet» frå Proxima b må eg fortelje om ei skremande historie som min far og mi mor hadde vorte fortalt frå tida på planeten Tellus, dette frå sine foreldre. Det var ei trist og brutal historie om ein uproposjonell krig der den eine parten var veldig overlegen den andre. Men, at ei gong gjennomførte den svake parten eit veldig overraskande åtak på den sterke. Den sterke parten var ei okkupasjonsmakt og hadde okkupert deira land i nerare 100 år. Om lag halvparten av det okkuperte folket hadde flykta eller var fordrevne av den sterke. Den sterke blokkerte også inn- og utferdsel frå landområdet, i tillegg nekta dei mesteparten av varer, mat, medisinar, minimalt med straum og drivstoff. Dette gjekk føre seg i tiår etter tiår, heilt til bobla sprakk og det største åtaket dei svake hadde klart til då. Eg forstår godt at på eit visst tidspunkt gjekk korken or flaska og det rann over. Det er vanskeleg å setje seg inn i ei slik beleiring utan å ha vore det sjølv, tenkjer eg. Me på Proxima b har ikkje opplevd dette menneskeskapte helvete, heldigvis, men litt plikt til å forstå det i alle fall har me, her på vår nokolunde fredlege planet.

Likevel har me også her på Proxima b hatt ei liknande krise, om ikkje så brutal og meiningslaus som den nemnte frå Tellus, så ille nok vil eg seie. Og til skilnad frå dette dømet frå Tellus så vart det ikkje full rå krig ut av striden, men vart stoppa før det kom så langt, med ei fredsløysing alle partar godtok. Vel godtok og godtok! Staten, altså Planetrådet, var sure lenge, dei meinte dei hadde gove etter mest, dei besinna seg til slutt likevel og det vart ingen brutal krig av det, men fred. Som enno held, meir enn 30 år seinare. Og, takk for det! Denne konflikta gjaldt ei utbrytargruppe frå «kuppelfolket», dei som budde i tre enorme kuplar (no bur i ein kuppel, avdi dei er færre), som eg skreiv om i del 3. Dette var altså ei utbrytargruppe som ikkje fann seg i å berre bu i ein kuppel lenger, som eigentleg var ein avtale med Planetrådet. Dei ville ikkje vera i «dette fengselet» lenger som dei omtala kuppelen som og okkuperte eit noko større område i «det fri». Eit stort landområde som Staten eigde og som vart brukt til eit viktig dyrkingsområde for mange nyttevekster som planeten treng. Denne aksjonen til utbrytargruppa frå kuppelfolket fall sjølvsagt ikkje i «god jord» hjå styresmaktene. Dei prøvde å presse gruppa attende til kuppelen deira, men det gjekk heller dårleg og utvikla seg ettterkvart til ei kvass konflikt med m.a. fleire åtak mot Staten sine lokalar og innstallasjonar i området, som ligg veldig langt sør på planeten vår. Den eine parten åtklaga den andre for terroraksjonar og motsett. Slik heldt det fram i mange månader med fleire dødlege mottiltak frå begge partar, før nokon tok til fornufta og endeleg fekk til våpenkvile og forhandlingar. Eg hadde ingenting med denne fredsprosessen å gjera bortsett frå at eg på den tida var ein utsend reportar frå den virtuelle nyhendekanalen «Avatar nytt», som eg då arbeidde for. Men, nokon var ikkje alltid nøgd med reportasjane mine og sende fleire meldinar til meg som eg etterkvart svara på. Dermed var ordkrigen i gong. Den eine ordutvekslinga var med folk frå mi eiga folkegruppe som støtta utbrytarane og synes me i media fordreide denne konflikta til Staten si side og at me var for lemfeldige med fakta og omgrep. Desse støttespelarane til utbrytargruppa vart etter ei tid mange og hevda med styrke den gongen (noko eg i dag er samd i, etter ei viss sjølvransaking) at denne gruppa burde få eit tilstrekkeleg område utanfor kuppelen i staden for denne valdsspiralen som utvikla seg i aukande fart.

Eg hugsar fyrste gong eg fekk svar frå ein av desse støttespelarane etter at eg hadde bede desse folka om svar på spørsmåla mine, kvifor dei var så sikre i si støtte og kvifor dei meinte me i media ikkje forstod denne konflikta. Seinare vart eg meir klar over at denne konflikta den gongen truleg ikkje var så svart/kvit som me i Avatar nytt framstilte ho som. Denne meldinga var via ein såkalla kommunikasjonsgreie, ein chip i hjernebarken, nær syns- og språksenteret, som mange av oss har fenge operert inn og brukar nesten fast i vår kommunikasjon planeten rundt. Meir om det seinare, men fyrst til den overførte meldinga eg såg og las frå chipen. Der stod det. «Takk for e-post. Jau, eg skal svara deg.

Det er ikkje noko nytt at den eine parten sine «fridomskjemparar», er den andre parten sine terroristar. Men, det nye er at Staten (noko eg absolutt IKKJE kallar fridomskjemparar, men terroriserande okkupasjonshær) angrip så utan sidestykkje grovt og brutalt. Planeten vår har ikkje sett liknande!

Eg er ikkje einig med deg i at «kuppelgeriljaen» spekulerte i og at dei hadde håpa på støtte utanfrå, t.d. frå Avatar-folket/Blåfolket eller oss. Avatarane vil, trur eg, ikkje ga til verks med Staten, for då å starte (truleg) ein regional storkrig, med Urfolk på lasset sjølvsagt. Nei, eg meinar denne «aksjonen» deira var ei, kall det desperat, handling for å kome fram i ljoset, eller rettare sagt få kuppelfolket si sak på dagsorden att. Mange av dette folket har nemleg prøvd før å tale si sak utan å verte høyrt av styresmaktene og Staten. Etter lang tid og tiår med planetrettsstridig blokkade av kuppelfolket sitt ynskje om å busetje seg utanfor kuplane (og få eigne styrte landområde) så var det berre tidsspørsmål før det SMALT. Men, godt planlagt var det tydeleg nok frå denne gerijlaaktige gruppa.

Det å anarkjenne dette kuppelfolket sine krav er eg absolutt for å gjera no Eg meinar det er viktig som ei planetarisk politisk handling. Så må det planetariske samfunn og Planetrådet hjelpe kuppelfolket med si institusjonsbygging, rettsvesen, økonomi og politiske prosessar, dernest val, og å få til einigheit om ein felles administrasjon er truleg første steg. Deira landområde og me lyt inkorporerast i kvarandre.

MEN, Staten må ut av desse områda, Ravi 999999. Elles vert det ingen fred i området heller. Då vert det i alle fall vanskeleg med å få til eit eige område for kuppelfolket sin vesle stat.»

Slik var meldinga . Eg vart ikkje overraska over det vedkommade meinte, heilt greitt tenkte eg den gongen. Men det var fyrst noko seinare at eg og mange fleire byrja meine at Staten burde ta til fornuft og avslutte denne farsen av ei konflikt, til ingen nytte for nokon. Det hende no også, det vart ein fredsavtale og at dei av kuppelfolket som ville ut av det «innestengde» tilværet i kuppelen og til eit område, fekk det. Sidan då har dei eit lite område dei styrer sjølve.

Her er forresten det korte svaret mitt eg sende «oponenten min» den gongen, for 30 år sidan, etter at sendaren hadde sendt meg nokre bilete av dette kuppelfolket og kampen deira: «Hei, og takk for meininga di. Elles takk for dei fine fotografia.

Eg vil berre fortelje deg at «det andre fredsbrev» har vorte publisert fleire stader og at ingen so langt har sagt at brevet var for langt. Men, sjølvsagt vil ikkje Staten lesa mykje av slike brev no, verken lange eller korte, og det gjev eg «katten» i også. Det siste nye no med dette brevet vårt er at nokon vil lese det opp under komande markeringar her i «hovudbyen».

«Me lyt alle gjera litt. Ingen kan gjera alt, men alle kan gjera litt», heiter det, dette prøver eg å leva etter, kvar dag.»

Her må det ei forklaring til, kjære lesar. Denne meldinga skulle forklare mottakaren at det såkalla fredsbrevet (som vedkommande hadde høyrt om før) berre var eit forsøk frå oss i Avatar nytt om å freiste eit fredsiniiativ retta mot staten vår, for å få slutt på denne konflikta. Etter ei svært lang tid, hugsar ikkje kor lenge, med stillheit frå styresmaktene så kom brått ei pressemelding om att «platået», eller rettare sagt Planetrådet, vårt høgaste organ, hadde byrja forhandlingar med utbrytargeriljaen. Me trudde fyrst ikkje det me såg, men etterkvart gjekk undringa vår over i glede og håp. Resten er historie som ein brukar sei. Sidan den gong har det ikkje vore nokon store konfliktar og krig på planeten vår.

-planeten-vår-med-to-av-«solene»- i trippelstjernesystemet Alfa Centauri. Utsikt over landområdet til Kuppelfolket, litt sør på planeten.-akryl på lerret, 80 x 100 cm, 1986, Ivar Jørdre

*I Tellusåret 2295 etter år 1, er proximitten Ravi 135 år = fødd i år 2160

Skreve ned på ære og samvit, Proximitt «Ravi 999999», Proxima b, 9-12. stjernerunde rundt Proxima Centauri, i trippelstjernesystemet Alfa Centauri, Tellusåret 2299 etter år 1.

How inhuman and cruel is it even possible to be? No words can express this horrible terror in Moscow!

‘Heinous, cowardly’: World reacts to attack on Moscow concert hall

Putin declares national day of mourning on Sunday after at least 133 people killed in assault claimed by ISIL affiliate.

Video Duration 00 minutes 46 seconds00:46

Published On 23 Mar 202423 Mar 2024 – aljazeera.com

At least 133 people have been killed and more than 100 injured after gunmen opened fire on concertgoers near Moscow and set fire to the venue in one of the deadliest attacks in Russia in decades.

An affiliate of the ISIL (ISIS) armed group, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which has been active in Afghanistan and Iran, claimed responsibility for the assault.

In a televised address to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack a “barbaric terrorist act” as he declared a national day of mourning on Sunday.

Here are some of the global reactions:

United Nations

The UN Security Council condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” at Crocus City Hall in Moscow’s northern suburb of Krasnogorsk.

“The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is on a visit to Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip, “firmly” condemned the attack on the concert hall.

“We consider absolutely intolerable the attack that took place in Moscow and we encourage all countries to cooperate with each other in order to make sure that ISIS [ISIL] will not have the capacity to strike anywhere else in the world,” he told reporters.

The UN secretary-general called ISIL “a terrorist organisation that is operating in several parts of the world and is a very serious threat to us all”.

“[It] needs to be fought with determination, with a lot of international cooperation,” he said.

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NATO

NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said the military alliance “unequivocally” condemns the attack.

“Nothing can justify such heinous crimes. Our deepest condolences to the victims and their families,” she said on X.

We unequivocally condemn the attacks targeting concertgoers in Moscow. Nothing can justify such heinous crimes. Our deepest condolences to the victims and their families.

— Farah Dakhlallah (@NATOpress) March 23, 2024

China

President Xi Jinping sent his “condolences” to Putin, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.

Xi “stressed that China opposes all forms of terrorism, strongly condemns the terrorist attack and firmly supports the Russian government’s efforts to safeguard its national security and stability”.

Turkey

“We strongly condemn this heinous terrorist attack targeting innocent civilians,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a public rally in the capital Ankara.

“Terrorism is unacceptable no matter who it comes from or who the perpetrator is.”

Erdogan said Turkey shared Russia’s pain, adding, “We’ll continue to fight against terror, the common enemy of humanity.”

A view of the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, on March 22, 2024 [Yulia Morozova/Reuters]

United States

White House spokesperson John Kirby said, “The images are just horrible and just hard to watch, and our thoughts obviously are going to be with the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced the deadly attack and said Washington condemns “terrorism in all its forms”.

“We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and all affected by this heinous crime. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and stand in solidarity with the people of Russia in grieving the loss of life from this horrific event,” Blinken said in a statement.

European Union

The European Union said it was “shocked and appalled” by the attack.

“The EU condemns any attacks against civilians. Our thoughts are with all those Russian citizens affected,” said an EU spokesperson.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also condemned the attack.

I strongly condemn the terrorist attack against civilians in the Crocus City Hall in Moscow claimed by the Islamic State.

My thoughts are with the victims and their families during this tragic time.

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 23, 2024

United Kingdom

Foreign Minister David Cameron said the UK condemned “in the strongest terms the deadly terrorist attack”.

“We offer our heartfelt condolences and express our deepest sympathy to the families of the many victims.”

The UK condemns in the strongest terms the deadly terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow.

We offer our heartfelt condolences and express our deepest sympathy to the families of the many victims.

Nothing can ever justify such horrific violence.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) March 23, 2024

India

“We strongly condemn the heinous terrorist attack in Moscow,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. India stands in solidarity with the government and the people of the Russian Federation in this hour of grief.”

We strongly condemn the heinous terrorist attack in Moscow. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. India stands in solidarity with the government and the people of the Russian Federation in this hour of grief.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2024

France

President Emmanuel Macron said he “strongly condemns the terrorist attack claimed by the Islamic State [ISIL]”, in a statement released by the Elysee Palace.

“France expresses its solidarity with the victims, their loved ones and all the Russian people,” it said.

The foreign ministry said, “The images coming out of Moscow are terrible,” and added that “light must be shed on these odious acts”.

Germany

“The images of the horrific attack on innocent people at Crocus City Hall near Moscow are horrific,” Germany’s foreign ministry said. “The background must be clarified quickly. Our deepest condolences go out to the families of the victims.”

“We condemn the terrible terrorist attack on innocent concertgoers in Moscow. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and all those injured,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X.

A child places a toy at the fence next to the Crocus City Hall, on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, on March 23, 2024 [Vitaly Smolnikov/AP Photo]

Afghanistan

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the Taliban administration condemned the attack in the “strongest terms”. Kabul considers it “a blatant violation of all human standards”.

Cuba

President Miguel Diaz-Canel said, “Cuba condemns the atrocious terrorist act that occurred in Moscow. Our sincerest condolences to the government and people of Russia.”

Italy

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned what she said was an “odious act of terrorism”.

“The horror of the massacre of innocent civilians in Moscow is unacceptable,” Meloni said, expressing her “full solidarity with the affected people and the victims’ families”.

Japan

Japan’s foreign ministry said it “strongly” condemned the attack. “Japan extends its sincere condolences to the bereaved families and expresses its heartfelt sympathy to those who were injured.”

Venezuela

“We express our strongest condemnation of the armed attack that has been carried out against civilians today in Moscow in the exhibition centre Crocus City Hall,” Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said.

“We send out condolences to the families of the victims and we stand in solidarity with the Russian government.”

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.629.1_en.html#goog_99710256Play Video

Video Duration 00 minutes 46 seconds00:46

Israel

“Saddened by tonight’s tragic events in Moscow. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims and to all those affected,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X.

Palestinian Authority

The presidency of the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack and “affirmed its solidarity and support for the Russian leadership and the friendly people of Russia, emphasising its keenness on stability in the friendly Russian Federation,” according to the official Wafa news agency.

Malaysia

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “reaffirms its stance in rejecting terrorism and violent extremism in all forms and manifestations.

“Malaysia continues to underscore the urgent need for a concerted international effort to eliminate the scourge of terrorism in a comprehensive and effective manner,” it said in a statement.

Spain

Spain said it was “shocked” by the attack, saying it “condemns any form of violence”.

“Our solidarity with the victims, their families and the Russian people,” the Spanish foreign ministry wrote on X.

Syria

The foreign ministry condemned “in the strongest terms, the cowardly terrorist attack … which comes after the great achievements gained by the friendly Russian people”, adding that “Syria stresses the need for intensifying global efforts in facing such massacres and bring their perpetrators to justice.”

Norway

The foreign ministry condemned the “appalling terror attack”.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families,” it said on X.

Sweden

The foreign ministry said on X that it condemns “any attacks against civilians”.

Denmark

Condemning the “terrible attack”, the foreign ministry sent its condolences “to the victims and their loved ones”.

Denmark condemns the terrible attack in #Moscow and sends its condolences to the victims and their loved ones.

— Denmark MFA 🇩🇰 (@DanishMFA) March 23, 2024

Poland

Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Poland was “constantly monitoring the situation.

“I am in contact with the general staff of the Polish Army, all services and our allies. We are analysing this situation in terms of its possible impact on Poland’s security.”

United Arab Emirates

“The UAE expresses its strong denunciation of these criminal acts, and its permanent rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism that aim to destabilise security and stability and are inconsistent with international law,” the foreign ministry said.

Saudi Arabia

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent condolences to Putin, the foreign ministry said.

“The crown prince strongly condemned this criminal act, and expressed deepest condolences and sincere sympathy to the president, the families of the victims, and the people of the Russian Federation, wishing the injured speedy recovery.”

Egypt

“Egypt strongly condemns the shooting incident,” the foreign ministry said.

“The government and the people of Egypt express their sincere condolences and sympathies to the government and people of Russia in this painful tragedy and to the families of the victims, wishing them a speedy recovery to all the injured.”

Greece

The Greek Foreign Ministry wrote on X that it was “shocked by the terrible images coming from Moscow” and sent its “heartfelt condolences” to the families of the victims.

The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also said that the goverment and all Greeks condemn the “brutal terrorist attack” against innocent Russian citizens.

Shocked by the terrible images coming from Moscow following the horrific attack at Crocus City Hall.

Our thoughts are with the families of the victims to whom we extend our heartfelt condolences.

— Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών (@GreeceMFA) March 22, 2024

South Africa

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote on X: “We are deeply saddened and we pay our condolences to the people of Russia following the tragic terror attack that killed so many people. I will be talking to President Putin to convey our condolences”.

Iceland

The Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on X: “The terrorist attacks in Moscow are appalling – attacks directed at civilians can never be justified. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families”.

Belgium

The Belgian Foreign Ministry wrote on X that it was “appalled by the shooting in a theatre in Moscow”. It offered condolences to the families of all victims of “gratuitous violence”.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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