Open Letter to Chris de Burgh, Don’t Play Apartheid Israel – IPSC

zazafl

Dear Chris de Burgh,

In your song Lebanese Nights you wrote:

                                All over the world, the gift from before,

                                Nothing is left for the children of war…

Since the year 2000 more than 1400 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli soldiers and illegal colonial settlers. Defence for Children International estimates that “since the year 2000, around 8,000 Palestinian children have been detained and prosecuted in the system…. The majority of these children are charged with throwing stones.”

In a report last month (February 2014), Amnesty International declared that Israeli forces have displayed a callous disregard for human life by killing dozens of Palestinian civilians, including children, in the occupied West Bank over the past three years with near total impunity…”

These children are indeed “children of war”, but is there really nothing left for them except “the gift from before”? Do we not owe them our solidarity…

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Oh fool I shall go mad! Lear from the National

Max Hafler - Radiating /Receiving

I had not been to a simultaneous cinema screening from the RSC or the National Theatre [UK]  before last night. I was rather excited by the idea. I got the feeling that it would not quite be like being at the theatre, but it was much more accessible to me living as I do on the West Coast of Ireland.

However, before I left the uk I was often massively disappointed with the productions I saw in these big companies because it did not matter how great the play was, how good the actors were purported to be, nor how much money was thrown at the production , I often came away frustrated and as if something was missing. Despite some good performances, a nice set or whatever , I felt I had somehow been conned. As I was an actor at the time, and though i had worked a…

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John Michael McDonagh Cancels His Attendance at the Haifa International Film Festival

zazafl

John Michael McDonagh has contacted the Cultural Boycott Officer of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), Raymond Deane to say that he has pulled out of attending the screening of his film The Guard at the Haifa International Film Festival  “in view of the political situation”.

Although the film will still be screened, such victories are significant  and illustrative of how appearing at Israeli cultural events is becoming increasingly unattractive to artists, filmmakers etc as the BDS campaign goes from strength to strength.

I’m sure the PACBI, IPSC, DPAI calls, the Haifa International Film Festival:  A Call to Boycott Facebook page  and everyone’s great efforts, helped to persuade John Michael McDonagh that “the political situation” of apartheid is not something anyone should endorse.

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Stolen Phone Experience

Popular London Youtube star and blogger Sam4God had her phone stolen in Feb It can a nerve-wrecking exp for anyone . She ulises honesty throught this post.

Sam4God

Texting has become one of the most popular methods of communication in recent years. With the introduction of smart phones, it is not surprising that so many people are constantly texting or playing on them even when they are in the middle of doing other work. Almost everyone has a phone these days and they are not afraid to use them at any possible moment. But can being on your phone all the time have consequences?

It was a cold Monday afternoon, and as usual, I was in a lecture at The London School of Journalism, patiently waiting for it to end so I could go home. Normally, I take my time leaving after a lecture, often leaving the building with some of my fellow students. But that specific day, I had an important phone call meeting at 6pm and wanted to make sure I got home in time. The…

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Survivors….of a kind….

eamonntgardiner

Walter Reed Hospital Veterans from the Great War

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-26170799

The First World War was as it’s name suggests, a titanic thing. It was so monumental both in terms of human sacrifice and geography, that sometimes we as a species fail to grasp a subtle truth. Not all those who war returned and not all those who returned really fully returned.

But many did.

And a good many led normal, happy lives after. A visiting academic recently gave a lecture in NUI Galway where she touched on the matter that not everyone who went to war returned suffering from Post Traumatic Stress. Now while this may be somewhat of an oversimplification of a wider phenomenon (the substitution of PTSD as a meta grouping for ALL forms of stress), there is an argument behind it.  While very few veterans of the conflict had positive memories of it, bad memories do not necessarily…

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