organization:national unity

  • Toward a democratic, not Jewish, state

    A civil alternative to the right’s doctrines – one God, one people, one land and one leader – is urgently needed, and whoever has the courage and inspiration to stand at this front will win it all
    Avraham Burg
    Jan 25, 2019 1
    Haaretz.com

    https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-toward-a-democratic-not-jewish-state-1.6872815

    The spirit in the election atmosphere is the spirit of the time, the insane Netanyahu spirit. That’s the wind blowing in the sails of his fervid supporters and defining his rivals. He is asking for the voters’ confidence to do more of the same and his opponents say “Just not Bibi.”
    Haaretz Weekly Ep. 13Haaretz

    For 35 years Israel has had no opposition. We have no experience and memories of alternative thinking anymore. There is nobody to offer a different kind of hope at the end of all the despair.

    >> Read more: Meretz leader Zandberg shines as stand-up comic in celebrity roast that showcased her party’s sad reality ■ The war that will decide Israel’s future won’t involve airstrikes, tanks or missiles

    Many years ago I contended for the leadership of the Labor Party, which at the time was stuck in the mire of the national unity government. It was characterized by no governance and little unity. That is exactly where the destruction of democracy and the nationalization of the political discourse, together with its turn to ultra-nationalism, began.

    At the time I planned to take Labor out of the government, to turn it into a civil alternative to the right’s doctrines – one God, one people, one land and one leader. I was told then: Your ideas are premature. Today I’m telling us all: In a moment it will be too late. Because this is exactly what is urgently needed, even more than before.

    In this sense Avi Gabbay is absolutely right to make the public commitment he is making – not to join Netanyahu’s next government. But this is an empty commitment. It deals with title and status, not with content. To replace Netanyahuism one must present a comprehensive, complete worldview.

    The right of recent years stands on five legs: sowing of fear, Jewish supremacy, abandonment of Western values, systematic weakening of the institutions of law and divisiveness.
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    After so many years of such thorough indoctrination it’s not enough to say “I won’t sit in the same government with him.” It must be self-evident – what’s needed is to “turn from evil.” But what does it mean to “do good,” what is the ideological content that will heal Israel from Netanyahu’s curse?

    The renewal of Israel must stand on a foundation of civil equality. There is no other supreme value capable of uniting the variety of our identities, with absolute commitment to a democratic way of life. To achieve it we must set up a coalition for civil equality including various parties, movements and interests, all of which have one ultimate goal: changing Israeli discourse from ethnic domination to equal citizenship for all. The coalition’s agenda should include:

    Redefining Israel from “a Jewish-democratic state” to “a constitutional democracy in which part of the Jewish people has established its sovereignty, and which belongs to all its citizens.”
    Proposing a civil constitution including complete civil equality, secularizing the public sphere, separating state from religion, a fair distribution of public resources and decent, fair “rules of the game.”
    Significantly minimizing the Law of Return and closing all the automatic fast tracks granted on the basis of (at times dubious) genetic connection to the Jewish collective.
    Changing the Israeli security concept, from the obsessive amassing of power to the constant striving for long-term political arrangements, including with the Palestinian people.
    Waiving the monopolies and privileges of Israel and the Jews between the Jordan River and the sea. Turning it into a shared space as much as possible, in which every person is entitled to the same rights and every nation has the right to self-determination and confederate partnership in every walk of life.
    Implementing a policy of affirmative action and justice to redress past iniquities to the excluded and discriminated-against populations in Israel, centering on the Arab population, until the goals of civil equality are met.

    Yes, all these things mean a painful parting from the Jewish comfort and supremacy zones. It’s a dramatic evolution from the ideas of 1948 and 1967 to a new model of society, in a world of populistic madness stretching from Washington to Ankara and from Moscow to Balfour Street in Jerusalem.

    Anyone who has the courage and inspiration to stand at this front, and is ready to pay the price, will win it all. And make all of us winners.

  • Tunisia’s Challenging Transition: An Interview with Mehrezia Labidi - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
    http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/index.cfm?fa=67953&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTnpaa056TTFOR000TldJNCIsInQiOi

    How do you view Ennahda’s role in the unity government?

    Our leadership declared—even in 2011, just after the revolution, and even before the election of the constituent assembly—that the transition is a sensitive period and we cannot lead it alone, that no political party, no political actor is able to lead Tunisia alone in this very sensitive and fragile period. So we were [in favor of a] participatory process. During the first government, we worked hard to have partners among other political families like the social democrats and the liberal democrats. And after the election of 2014, we declared that we are not just going to be in the opposition, we are going to be in a coalition. This coalition now is extended to the national unity government, because Tunisia needs all its vivid forces [together] to get through this very sensitive period. In this government, we have about seven political parties who contributed to the Carthage Agreement. And the three main civil society organizations—UGTT, the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fishery (UTAP), and the employers’ union—are also included. We have two ministers who were originally members of the UGTT.

  • Electoral rules (and threats) cure Bahrain’s sectarian parliament - The Washington Post
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/12/01/electoral-rules-and-threats-cure-bahrains-sectarian-parliament

    Lost in this debate, however, have been the actual results of the voting. Particularly noteworthy is that, al-Wefaq aside, Bahrainis elected only four candidates from any political society whatsoever, the other 36 incoming MPs being nominal “independents” more or less close to the government. The vote was therefore disastrous for Bahrain’s Sunni parties, including the most established societies al-Manbar al-Islami and al-Asalah, which represent Islamists affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafism, respectively. The former earned just a single seat, the latter two.

    Even more striking, not one of the 10 candidates fielded by the so-called “Al-Fatih Coalition,” a list representing populist Sunni groups that gained influence following their mass pro-government mobilization in February 2011 that helped arrest the momentum of the uprising, won a single seat; indeed, only three made it to a second round run-off. Thus, less than four years after drawing a claimed 350,000 Bahrainis to the streets in support of the state, grassroots movements such as the once-formidable Gathering of National Unity (TGONU) could motivate decidedly few to the polls. The Sunni populism so on display in early 2011, and to a lesser extent since, has utterly failed to become an institutionalized player in Bahraini politics.

    The obvious question, then, is what happened?

    Many would point to widespread dissatisfaction with prevailing political societies, and see in the results a repudiation of Bahrain’s traditional sectarian-based politics, whether of the Shiite or Sunni variety. Evidence is cited that several candidates known to be associated with political societies competed instead as independents. And, certainly, some sense of this liability of and frustration with extant Sunni societies was on display even in the Al-Fatih mobilization of 2011, which largely sidestepped these groups as loci of political coordination.

    Yet the former observation – individuals closely associated with political societies contesting as nominal independents – is not unique to this election. Notorious Salafi firebrand Jassim al-Saeedi won three terms as a nominal “independent,” for instance, while in reality belonging to al-Asalah; the same is true of former MP Isa Abu al-Fath. It is therefore unclear whether the 2014 election represents a qualitative difference in this respect. More importantly, though, inasmuch as the entire raison d’être of the TGONU was precisely to offer a more populist alternative to Bahrain’s traditional Sunni societies, its pitiful electoral performance appears even more curious rather than less.

    Thus, while sheer frustration with Bahrain’s extended political malaise doubtless played a role, there are at least three other direct contributors to Bahrain’s new, near party-less parliament.

    1. General polling stations

    In spite of opposition calls to end the use of “general” polling stations – stations not tied geographically to a specific constituency, instead containing ballot boxes for all 40 districts – in the 2014 election their deployment reached a new high at 13 stations, compared to just 5 in 2010. Their far-flung locations (including, for example, on the causeway linking Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, at the country’s Formula One circuit, and in the desolate and nearly unpopulated coastal village of al-Jaw adjacent to security installations) make effective vote monitoring impossible.

    Opposition activists accuse the government of using such isolated stations to mask electoral manipulations, including the busing of military and police personnel to voting stations, and similar transport of dual-nationals residing in Saudi Arabia who are said to have received Bahraini citizenship in return for their votes. Moreover, since each station contains ballot boxes for all 40 constituencies, there is the potential for votes to be directed strategically by the state toward particularly contentious or sensitive races.

    2. New electoral districts

    Just two months prior to the election in late September, Bahrain announced sweeping changes to its electoral districts aimed, according to the justice minister, at making them “more equal in size.” For al-Wefaq, this surprise unilateral move, which the group quickly concluded neither aided nor harmed its electoral prospects, helped crystalize its eventual decision to boycott, which it announced just days later. But whereas the redistricting had no substantive impact on al-Wefaq, the same was not true of Sunni societies, which appeared the clear target of the changes.

    The new constituencies severely hindered the chances of Sunni Islamist and populist candidates in favor of tribal independents. Districts in the Sunni-dominated south were substantially expanded to include new neighborhoods belonging formerly to a now-dissolved Central Governorate, disadvantaging candidates with localized bases of support in and around the Sunni-dominated al-Riffa. The districts of several current Islamist MPs, including that of Saeedi, were even combined to force direct electoral face-offs among sitting Sunni legislators. Finally, while the Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood stronghold of Muharraq was spared redistricting, it was, on the other hand, the only governorate not to gain seats with the changes.

    The state’s obvious purpose, admitted even by loyalist groups supportive of the crown prince-backed electoral reforms, is to preserve al-Wefaq’s parliamentary minority while also averting the emergence of a populist, non-sectarian Sunni bloc along the lines of the TGONU. Having served its purpose of arresting the momentum of opposition demonstrations in 2011, Sunni nationalism is not a phenomenon the Bahraini state is eager to see linger in the imagination of citizens, much less become institutionalized in the form of organized political societies in the first full elections since the uprising. Sunnis working together temporarily to block a Shiite-led coup attempt is one thing – indeed, an act of loyalty to the ruling family – but Sunnis engaged in a sustained fight to secure a parliamentary majority over reliably pro-government tribal independents is a far more dubious project not to be taken passively by the state.

    3. Threat-induced voter turnout

    Finally, perhaps the most direct contributor to Bahrain’s new-look parliament is the state’s not-so-veiled threats to citizens who might otherwise have abstained from voting. Two days before the crucial first round, electoral officials announced that the cabinet “is studying procedures and administrative measures against those who miss out intentionally on the elections.” As the government-affiliated Gulf Daily News then reported, “High Elections Committee chief executive and Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission president Abdulla Al Buainain told the Press … [that] options included preventing those who don’t take part in the election from getting a job in government.” Earlier rumors, publicly contradicted by the justice minister, suggested that citizens who do not take part would be barred from future elections.

    Now, for Bahrainis oriented toward the opposition who generally have no real expectation of landing a government job in any case, such a threat may have little effect on their calculation whether to vote. But the case is obviously very different for a considerable segment of the nominally pro-government but largely apolitical Sunni community. For instance, one Bahraini with whom I spoke recently said that her sister was not even registered to vote but, spurred by what might happen if she did not, went to the voting center with her passport to ensure that she would have a stamp as proof of participation, in the event she should ever need it to secure a job or other public services.

    So, if a large number of Bahraini Sunnis are mobilized to participate in the elections who otherwise would not, these individuals are unlikely to be inclined toward formal political societies insofar as they are motivated to vote not for their support of individual candidates or groups, but only by the threat of repercussions.

    Hence, it is reasonable to think that the votes cast by this cadre of usual Sunni non-voters went disproportionately to independent figures, just as these Sunni voters are themselves “independents” in the sense of their typical abstention from electoral participation. Such individuals may care little which candidates they choose, or indeed have little knowledge of electoral platforms to begin with, intent only on the act of participation itself. In short, when a whole new segment of Sunni society is compelled to vote, a segment made all the more influential by the opposition boycott, then it is little wonder that the outcome should also look very different.

    The question that remains, therefore, is whether Sunni societies will accept their electoral beating quietly, or cry foul at government tactics traditionally reserved for use against the opposition. It is one thing for the state to use electoral rules and incentives to limit the influence of al-Wefaq (and entirely disenfranchise smaller Shiite and secular societies), but their deployment against the state’s historical legislative support base breaks new ground. Mere involvement in a formal political society seems now to be cause for suspicion.

  • De Facto Abkhaz President Says He Will Not Resign
    http://www.rferl.org/content/caucasus-report-abkhazia-ankvab/25404232.html

    Meeting in emergency session late on May 29, the parliament of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia passed a vote of no confidence in the region’s government.

    It also called on de facto President Aleksandr Ankvab to resign in order to resolve the two-day standoff between his supporters and the opposition Coordinating Council headed by Ankvab’s longtime rival, Forum of National Unity of Abkhazia co-Chairman Raul Khajimba.

    In an interview with “Izvestia,” de facto Prime Minister Leonid Lakerbaya has indicated his readiness to yield his post at any time to an opposition representative qualified to fill it, but noted that the cabinet can only be dismissed by presidential decree. Ankvab for his part continues to refuse either to dismiss the government or to step down himself.
    (…)
    In line with the region’s constitution, the presidential ballot must be held no later than three months after Ankvab’s resignation. But at present the parliament cannot muster the required two-thirds vote to impeach him. On May 29, just 20 of the total 35 parliament members voted in favor of his resignation: despite Khajimba’s efforts to coerce them, most of the deputies from the pro-presidential Amtsakhara party failed to attend the session.
    (…)
    Similarly unclear is what behind-the-scenes role Moscow’s two representatives, Vladislav Surkov and Rashid Nurgaliyev, have played since their arrival in Sukhumi on May 28. On May 29, the opposition Coordinating Council suddenly demanded the signing of a new treaty between the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia and the Russian Federation, which recognized Abkhazia as an independent sovereign state following the August 2008, that would raise the “strategic partnership” to a new level. The council also advocated Abkhaz participation in the CIS Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union.

    Relations with Russia did not figure on the long and detailed list of criticisms of Ankvab’s policies that the Coordinating Council made public one month ago. Those criticisms focused primarily on Ankvab’s high-handed leadership style and the lack of a coherent policy to kick-start Abkhazia’s stagnating economy.

    True, Surkov publicly declared that Moscow had no intention of interfering in the domestic politics of the independent Republic of Abkhazia. But the possibility that he undertook to engineer Ankvab’s resignation in return for a commitment by the new leadership to closer integration with Russia cannot be dismissed out of hand.

  • La meilleure défense, c’est l’attaque, dit l’adage...
    Suite à la condamnation du Bahrein par 47 pays au Conseil des DH à Genève, les sunnites du Rassemblement national se déchaînent contre l’Iran et son piètre bilan en matière de DH

    TGONU’s Dr Shaikh Naji al- Arabi: What is the position of the 47 countries that issued a conspiratorial statement on Bahrain in Geneva on the Iran executions?

    The Gathering of National Unity warns on the risk of the basis of sectarian identity in Iran.

    The Gathering of National Unity warned of the risks of continuing sectarian division via secret and public executions in Iran.

    Dr Sheikh Naji Al Arabi vice president of TGONU appealed to human rights organizations around the world to implement immediate urgent action to prevent executing death sentences on the 19th of September 2013 which is against human rights and which will be without a fair trial and which will result in the execution of a number of young people.

    Shaikh Naji al- Arabi said: “Here we’re pointing out to those who speak of human rights before a new offense and human crime occurs in Iran and we will be keeping an eye on their reactions to discern the following.

    Will those who signed the speculative allegations Geneva data against Bahrain move and stop the series of assassinations and genocide on the basis of identity and sect in Iran? And what about the Iranian regime crimes against the Arabs of Al Ahwaz demanding the Iranian authorities to halt the executions that prove that Iran has not matured or altered?

    Le Sheikh sufi Naji al Arabi n’a malheureusement pas la vertu de nous convaincre

    Voir la déclaration des 47 à Genève
    http://pomed.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Joint-Statement-on-the-OHCHR-and-the-human-rights-situation-in-Bahrain-FINAL.

  • Le journal saoudien basé à Londres, Al Hayat rapporte l’ouverture du siège des forces du CCEAG ’bouclier de la Péninsule’. Ces forces armées qui étaient intervenues en mars 2011 sont probablement là pour rester..

    Identical Gulf sources said to Al-Hayat that the Gulf Cooperation Council states agreed to inaugurate permanent headquarters for the Peninsula Shield Forces in Bahrain following the completion of its construction. The sources assured that the headquarters of Gulf force were finally completed and that the official inauguration is expected to be held during the next stage in the presence of officials from the Gulf states. However, the Gulf sources did not reveal the number of Gulf troops who will be staying in Bahrain, indicating however that the headquarters will be named “the command of the advanced Peninsula Shield Forces.”

    “This Gulf action to establish permanent headquarters for the Peninsula Shield forces came two years after the Gulf troops entered Bahrain, following protests behind which Iran was accused of standing. For his part, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled al-Khalifa had said in previous statements: “The Peninsula Shield Force is not carrying out any missions on the street and is not engaged in any frictions with the Bahraini citizens. It is just guarding the strategic facilities.” It is worth mentioning at this level that the Peninsula Shield Forces enjoy sophisticated weapons and equipment, as well as various types of tanks and aircrafts with high defensive capabilities.”

    Al-Hayat, United Kingdom
    http://alhayat.com/Details/503701

    • Réaction très favorable des salafistes de l’Asala et des sunnites communautaires du ’National Unity Gathering’

      “We are grateful for the wisdom of the His Majesty the King and the GCC leaders for making this important decision,” Al Asala, the exclusive expression of Salafism in Bahrain, said. “We have been pressing for setting up the headquarters since March 23, 2011. This move will be a highly significant moment in the GCC and in ensuring the strategic security of the GCC states. Bahrain is the eastern gate of this Council and ensuring its protection means a sound security strategy to protect us, people and leaders, from ominous threats,” the Islamist society said.
      [..]
      We call upon the GCC leaders to promote further cooperation and coordination for the sake of realising the dream of a Gulf union,” the society said.

      The National Unity Gathering said the presence of the Peninsula Shield headquarters in Bahrain would send a powerful message to those “targeting the Arab nation and planning to redraw its countries along religious, sectarian and racial lines”.

      Habib Toumi GUlf News
      http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/peninsula-shield-bahrain-headquarters-report-hailed-1.1172196

  • Alerte! Alerte! Les mooslims veulent détruire les pyramides!

    Ah non en fait: tout ce qui suit est certes très excitant, mais totalement bidon. Les paranos anti-mooslims (la réacosphère islamophobe est là) se sont encore fait balader. Et jamais honte, avec ça.

    Calls to Destroy Egypt’s Great Pyramids Begin - Raymond Ibrahim
    http://frontpagemag.com/2012/raymond-ibrahim/muslim-brotherhood-destroy-the-pyramids

    Most recently, Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, to “destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not.”

    Islam vs. History Daniel Pipes
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2012/07/islam-vs-history

    July 11, 2012 update: Raymond Ibrahim writes today that “Calls to Destroy Egypt’s Great Pyramids Begin.”

    Meh, who needs the damn pyramids anyway?
    http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_64726.shtml

    Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, has reportedly urged Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, to “destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not,” according to conservative political publication FrontPage Magazine.

    The Islamist pyramid scheme
    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/10/editorial-islamist-pyramid-scheme

    Radical Muslims want to tear down Egypt’s pyramids and take over the world. The least the rest of us can do is take them seriously.

    Islamists Calling for Pyramids’ Destruction?
    http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/07/11/islamists-calling-for-pyramids-destruction

    The calls to destroy the Pyramids are certainly fringe, and do not represent the vast majority of the Egyptian public or the Egyptian leadership, even amongst the Muslim Brotherhood. Still, that such a fringe and wacky idea gains any voice in Arabic media or on Islamist websites should be cause for concern, given precedent.

    Islamists call for the destruction of the pyramids
    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/07/islamists_call_for_the_destruction_of_the_pyramids.html

    Ray Ibrahim reports that prominent Islamists in Egypt have begun to call for the destruction of the “pagan” pyramids.

    Egypt’s Government Planning to Destroy the Great Pyramids?
    http://global.christianpost.com/news/egypts-government-planning-to-destroy-the-great-pyramids-77996

    An online magazine has offered translations to Arabic news sources that purportedly indicate that Egypt’s Salafi party has come forth with plans to demolish Egypt’s Great Pyramids in an effort to bring down what it calls “symbols of paganism.”

    Egyptian Clerics: Take Down the Heathen Pyramids | JewishPress
    http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/egyptian-clerics-take-down-the-heathen-pyramids/2012/07/12

    According to Frontpagemag.com, Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and the president of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, have urged Egypt’s President Muhammad Morsi to “destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not.”

    The death cult hopes to destroy Pyramids
    http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/the-death-cult-hopes-to-destroy-pyramids

    The Pyramids: They are one of the wonders of our world, the symbol of the once-great society of ancient Egypt. They are iconic and timeless, standing for thousands of years, defying precise measurements of their age. To most they represent a mammoth feat of human endeavor – a triumph of engineering, mathematics and human labor that itself spanned generations.

    For years, Muslims have plotted to destroy them.

    Parce que, hein: _Another hoax: cleric calls on President Morsy to destroy Giza Pyramids
    http://thedailynewsegypt.com/2012/07/11/another-hoax-cleric-calls-on-president-morsy-to-destroy-giza-pyra

    Calls from a Bahraini Sunni cleric urging President Mohamed Morsy to destroy the Giza Pyramids were issued from a parody Twitter account online, the Daily News Egypt has learned.

    Several right wing online portals ran with the controversial news as a means to raise alarms over the rise of an Islamist-led government in Egypt and its threat to rich historical sites. According to the rumours, Shiek Abd Al-Latif Al-Mahmoud denounced the pyramids as idolatry and asked President Morsy to destroy them.

    Following a pattern of news based on hoaxes meant to incite panic about Islamists, this latest item suggests the method is effective in garnering media widespread interest.