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Noam Chomsky: The siege on Gaza ’is a criminal act that has no justification’ | rabble.ca
►http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/canadianboattogaza/2012/10/noam-chomsky-siege-gaza-criminal-act-has-no-justification

I’m here in Gaza, I’ve been here for several days. I was here hoping to greet the latest boat from the Flotilla, the Estelle. We were waiting at the Gaza port.

The boat, like earlier ones, was hijacked by the Israeli navy. They call it Israeli territorial waters, it’s actually Gazan waters or international waters, Israel has no right to those waters.

The Estelle was another effort to break the siege, as in some way is our visit.

The siege is a criminal act that has no justification. It should be broken and it should be strongly opposed by the outside world. It’s simply an effort to intimidate the Gazans into self-destruction, to try to get rid of them and destroy the society.

There is absolutely no justification for it — military justifications are claimed but they have no credibility.

The people on the boat should be honoured and respected for their courage and commitment and for undertaking a brave and important effort to break the siege, the criminal siege, and bring hope to the people of Gaza who are imprisoned, literally imprisoned in the biggest prison in the world — also to bring to the world the message that we on the outside have a real responsibility to bring these criminal acts to an end.

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Chomsky: Gaza Perseverance Inspiring; Ship Attack Compounds Israel’s “Diminishing Legitimacy”

►http://www.democracynow.org/2012/10/22/headlines#10225

Noam Chomsky: “[My] main impression is how inspiring it is to see people living under extreme duress but nevertheless remaining vibrant, vigorous, active, hopeful, resilient, and continuing the struggle. ... I should say that every time Israel stops a boat, that’s another blow to its diminishing legitimacy and another element of support both to the those who are resisting internally and to those who are opposing the policies outside, and sooner or later the wave will sweep over the barriers.”

Green Party Candidates Arrested, Shackled to Chairs For 8 Hours After Trying to Enter Hofstra Debate
►http://www.democracynow.org/2012/10/17/green_partys_jill_stein_cheri_honkala

Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein and vice-presidential candidate Cheri Honkala were arrested Tuesday as they attempted to enter the grounds of the presidential debate site at Hofstra University. Like other third-party candidates, Stein was blocked from participating in the debate by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is controlled by the Republican and Democratic parties. Stein and Honkala were held for eight hours, handcuffed to chairs. As she was being arrested, Stein condemned what she called “this mock debate, this mockery of democracy.” Just hours after being released, Stein joins us in the Democracy Now! studio

Democracy Now !

As Millions Buy iPhone 5, Chinese Workers at Apple Plant Foxconn Protest Workplace Conditions
►http://www.democracynow.org/2012/10/10/as_millions_buy_iphone_5_chinese

AMY GOODMAN: Li Qiang, what do you—what do you think needs to happen now? We are hearing about the thousands of people walking out. There are millions of phones all over this country. The iPhone 5 is probably one of the most popular products in history. What do you think Americans should know, people all over the world should know?

LI QIANG: [translated] I think they can exert some influence on the Apple company so that Apple can try to improve some of the working conditions of those Foxconn factories in China, and so Apple can offer some trainings to the workers so that their working conditions can be improved and their benefits and salaries can be increased somehow.

This time for the strike was originally caused by the complaints from the clients of the—or the consumers of the iPhone 5. Because they wrote letters or emails to Apple company, and then the Apple company just transferred this pressure on to Foxconn CEOs or management, and then Foxconn transferred this pressure or put this pressure on to the factories. Because there’s the products that have been manufactured on the production lines cannot live up to the standard of their qualifications, so the workers started to hit the quality control inspectors.