Just Commentary December 2012

Vol 12, No.12 December 2012

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.MUSLIM SOCIETIES, ISRAEL AND THE WEST

(PART I)INTERVIEW................................................................P 4

.MILLIONS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED MOSQUITOES

RELEASED WITHOUT RISK ASSESSMENT OR OVERSIGHT

BY BARBARA H. PETERSON...................................P 6

.YANOMAMI MASSACRE IN VENEZUELA

BY EMBASSY OF THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA

IN MALAYSIA.........................................................P 8

.A COMMENT ON THE DIAYU DISPUTE

BY MOTOKO SHUTO...............................................P 9

ARTICLES

STATEMENT.CARRYING THE ISRAEL - HAMAS CEASEFIRE FORWARD BY CHANDRA MUZAFFAR .................................P 4

By Franklin Lamb

VICTORY FOR PALESTINE

Beirut: The United Nations GeneralAssembly vote of 11/29/12, which

some in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinianrefugee camps are calling a “birthcertificate for our country” is thelatest of more than 400 UN resolutionson the Question of Palestine and arare major victory for Palestiniansafter 65 years of resisting occupation.

The UN action, which wasbacked by an overwhelm majority ofUN members with a lopsided vote of138 to 9, may well force the Zionistregime to seriously consider a justpeaceful resolution of the conflict.

With due respect to the nearlyfifty UN members who voted against

the historic Palestine Resolution on11/29/12 at the General Assembly,which is to say the Marshall Islands,Micronesia, Nauru ( the world’ssmallest republic covering just 8.1square miles with a population of 9,378)), and Palau, with itsapproximately 20,000 inhabitants, allformer U.S. Trust Territories andcurrently “freely associated states”of the United States, with U.S. zip/postal and telephone codes muchmore closely resembling Americanstates (51st, 52nd, 53rd and 54th) thansovereign countries, the World spokeclearly in favor of Palestinian self-determination. Indeed, the onlyreason these dissenting four“countries” are UN Members at all

is due to cold war era efforts ofWashington to stack the GeneralAssembly in its favor by running upthe numbers of its safe votes.

Over the past fortnight, as theUS and Israel piled layers of threatsonto their mantra of derision regardingyesterday’s historic UN vote onPalestine, both countries desperatelytried to dissuade the Palestinians fromscrapping their application for non-member observer state membershipstatus with the United Nations.

Way too much did Israeliofficials and their US lobby protest,thus drawing more international

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attention and curiosity as they keptdissing the “purely symbolic emptygesture and meaningless act.”

Naftali Bennett, leader of theextremist right-wing national religiousZionist party in Israel, HabayitHayehudi (“The Jewish Home”)warned the day before the vote that“the PA bid for non-member statusat the UN has very real implicationson Israel, and that we must takeharsh measures in response. I don’taccept the claim that this is a symbolicmove,” Bennet told Israel Radio.“This is not symbolic at all. This hasvery practical implications. “Headded: “We must tell the Arabs, if youpursue a unilateral strategy at the UN,we will pursue a unilateral strategy inannexing settlements in the WestBank.”

There is some importantsymbolism in the UN admittingPalestine as a non-member observeron the 65th anniversary of theNovember 29, 1947, adoption by theUN General Assembly of theresolution on the partition of Palestine(resolution 181 (II)). On December2, 1977, it was recorded that theassembly called for the annualobservance of November 29 as theInternational Day of Solidarity withthe Palestinian People (A/RES/32/40B).

Last minute appeals bySecretary of State Hilary Clinton plusa late night pre-vote visit by USDeputy Secretary of State WilliamBurns and Middle East envoy DavidHale to the hotel room of thePalestinian Authority hold-overPresident Mahmoud Abbas failed to

convince him to withdraw theresolution and to include thedemanded eviscerating codicils.

Secretary of State Clintoncould not have been more mistakenas she insisted at her newsconference on 11/28/12 that “the onlypath towards a Palestinian state wasthrough direct negotiations. As I havesaid many times the only path to atwo-state solution that fulfills theaspirations of the Palestinian peopleis through Jerusalem and Ramallah,not New York.” Few in the statedepartment, according tocongressional staff members wholiaise with Clinton’s staff, believe thatdirect negotiations would ever lead toIsrael voluntarily rejecting its currentapartheid system or that theinterminable “peace process” hasever been taken seriously by theZionist regime and in fact constitutea hoax. In contradistinction, thegrowing reality in the Middle East andall five continents is the belief that onlyResistance, with its scores of forms,will liberate Palestine from Zionistoccupation.

Low balling the UN vote…..

Following the 138 to 9 vote,Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu, intimated, as did the usualAmen chorus of anti-Arab & anti-Islam zealots, from the US Israelilobby, including the likes of ADL’sAbe Foxman, that” just as predicted,anti-Semitism was lurking behind thelopsided vote” and that it all amounted,in the words of Netanyahuspokesman Mark Regev, “to nothingbut cheap political theater that shouldnot come as a surprise to anyone.”

The American-Israel PublicAffairs Committee (AIPAC), as itdoes on any issue involving Palestineand Israel issued Talking Points formembers of Congress and otherZionist organizations to be used whencommunicating with constituents andgiving media interviews. AIPACkeeps close track of how manyinterviews each member gives and

how closely they tow the Zionist lineso as to help determine how muchcash the particular member willreceive for re-election as well as otherperks.

For this crucial UN vote, theUS Zionist lobby used U.S. SenatorsBen Cardin (D-MD) and SusanCollins (R-ME) drafted a letter fromthese AIPAC stalwarts to PalestinianAuthority President Mahmoud Abbasopposing any unilateral attempts bythe Palestinian Government to pursuenon-member state status at the UnitedNations General Assembly.

In their letter, the Senatorsasserted that “Palestinian statehoodcan only be realized as a result of abroader peace agreement negotiatedwith the Israelis, not through unilateralmeasures at the United Nations.Should you decide, however, tobypass direct negotiations andunilaterally seek upgraded status atthe UN, we want to again remind youof the potential for significantconsequences. As S. Res. 185 notes,any such efforts may causeconsequences in regards to U.S.policy and foreign aid.”

AIPAC instructed Congress tomake the following points which wereincluded in an “urgent advisory” toevery member and many staffers.

1. This UN action won’t lead topeace.Peace will only occur through directtalks. By refusing to meet with IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuand seeking recognition of a state atthe United Nations, PalestinianAuthority President Mahmoud Abbasis damaging U.S. peace efforts.(nothing in this point is accurate)

2. Recognizing a Palestinian stategives legitimacy to Hamas.The Iranian-backed terrorist group hasfired thousands of rockets at Israelicivilians and is sworn to thedestruction of the Jewish state. Bygranting recognition of a state, the


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international community will rewardHamas for its terrorist actions, ratherthan condemn them

3. The United States has rejectedthe Palestinian approach.President Obama has said that “novote at the United Nations will evercreate an independent Palestinianstate” and called the Palestinianefforts at the U.N. a “mistake.”

Other talking points AIPAC toldCongress to use include: while IsraelTakes Steps for Peace, Palestiniansrun to UN , Israel Wants Talks;Palestinians Still Refuse, PalestiniansGlorify Terrorists by praising theHamas victory.

What the Zionist leaders ofIsrael, as they frantically try tointimidate the region by stockpilingAmerican weapons, while grabbingmore Palestinian land, fear is that the11/19/12 UN resolution may be agame changer.

In this they are correct.

The UN action allows thePalestinians to participate in GeneralAssembly debates and de facto grantsrecognition of Palestinian statehood onthe pre-1967 ceasefire lines while re-enforcing the wide internationalconsensus that the pre-1967 linesshould form the basis of a permanentpeace settlement.

It also opens up the 17Specialized Agencies of the UNincluding the Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO), InternationalCivil Aviation Organization (ICAO),International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD), InternationalLabor Organization (ILO),International Maritime Organization(IMO), International Monetary Fund(IMF), InternationalTelecommunication Union (ITU),United Nations IndustrialDevelopment Organization (UNIDO),Universal Postal Union (UPU), theWorld Bank Group, World HealthOrganization, World Trade

Organization (WTO), InternationalBank for Reconstruction andDevelopment (IBRD) as well asrelated and comparableorganizations.

As noted this week by Al-Haq,the Palestinian human rightsorganization “ Under such astrengthened position within theinternational legal system, the Stateof Palestine will be allowed toformally accede to internationalhuman rights instruments and othertechnical United Nations bodies, thusimproving protection of Palestinianrights at the domestic andinternational level”.

It is also to be expected thatPalestinian citizens under brutalZionist occupation will demand to usetheir new status to join theInternational Criminal Court andmight press for investigations ofZionist international crimes, crimesagainst humanity, attemptedgenocide, and a host of other practicesin the occupied territories.Investigating such internationalcrimes and bringing punishment tothose convicted is why the ICC wasestablished.

Professor Francis Boylereminds us that Palestine can alsonow sue Israel at the InternationalCourt of Justice and end the illegalsiege of Gaza, and join the Law ofthe Sea Convention and secure its fairshare of the gas fields lying off theGaza coast with enormous economicbenefits. Palestine can also now jointhe International Civil AviationOrganization and gain sovereigntyover its own airspace; join theInternational TelecommunicationsUnion and gain sovereign legal controlover its own airwaves, phone linesand band-widths.

These are just some of themany reason the Obamaadministration, slavishly joined theZionist leadership of occupiedPalestine to defeat the UNapplication.

The actions of the ObamaAdministration and its vehementopposition to the UN vote continuesto diminish the relevance of the USin the Middle East as it slides furtherdown the wrong side of history withits client state in tow. Attempting tojustify its shameful opposition to thePalestinian diplomatic undertaking inthe UN, the Obama administrationcould only offer a weak brief fromthe State Department legaldepartment accusing the PLO ofacting unilaterally, in breach of signedagreements. This is simply parrotingAIPAC talking points noted above.

Deepening Palestine’sinternational legal personality withinthe United Nations system is alegitimate exercise from which toassert rights guaranteed byfundamental principles ofInternational Law. With more accessto the United Nations system,Palestinians have gained a majorpolitical and legal framework fromwhich to work and to encourage theinternational community to complywith its obligation to end Israeli crimesagainst them and bring Israel’sserious breaches of international lawto an end.

1 December, 2012

Franklin P. Lamb is Director, AmericansConcerned for Middle East Peace,Wash.DC-Beirut and Board Member, TheSabra Shatila Foundation and thePalestine Civil Rights Campaign, Beirut-Washington DCSource: Countercurrents.org

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Like millions of people everywhereand thousands of organisations in everycontinent, the members of theInternational Movement for a JustWorld (JUST) hope and pray that theceasefire declared between the state ofIsrael and Hamas, the democraticallyelected representative of thePalestinians in Gaza, on 21 November2012, will not be broken. Though onePalestinian has been killed at the Gaza-Israel border since the ceasefire, theincident is regarded by many as anaberration.

For the ceasefire to hold, Israelisecurity forces should stop killinginnocent Palestinians in Gaza in thename of eliminating “terrorists.” It wassuch murders - a 12 year old boy killedon 8 November and two teenagerskilled on 10 November - that ignitedthe conflict that has just been broughtto an end. Hamas retaliated by firingrockets into Israel.

To carry the ceasefire forwardIsrael should now lift the blockade ofGaza which has been in force since2007. It should allow all goods andservices to flow freely into the strip.Hamas should reciprocate by ensuring thatno weapons are brought into the territory.

This should set the stage forserious negotiations between Israel andthe Palestinians aimed at theestablishment of an independent,sovereign Palestinian State on the WestBank and Gaza in accordance withvarious UN Resolutions. EastJerusalem would be the capital of thisstate which would also absorb asubstantial portion of the six millionPalestinian refugees. Israel should alsorelease all Palestinian and Arab politicalprisoners. At the same time, it shouldreturn unconditionally the GolanHeights to Syria and the Sheba Farmsto Lebanon.

Israel should also eliminate its hugestockpile of nuclear weapons and allother weapons of mass destruction(WMD) in its possession. All other

states in West Asia and North Africa(WANA) should also get rid of whateverWMD they own. WANA should bedeclared a Zone Free of WMD.

Such a Zone will provide all statesin the region with a genuine sense ofsecurity. It is that sort of security thatIsrael should seek. At the core of sucha Zone of Security - it is worthreiterating - will be an independent,sovereign Palestinian State. There is noneed to emphasise that without justicefor the Palestinians and others in WANAthere will be no security for Israelis.

One hopes that the new governmentin Cairo which played an active role inbrokering the current ceasefire betweenIsrael and Hamas will take the lead inworking towards justice for thePalestinians and others in WANA whohave been victims of Israeli occupationand aggression for decades. If itsucceeds, it will help to herald the birthof a new WANA.

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar,President,

International Movement for aJust World (JUST).23 November, 2012.

MUSLIM SOCIETIES, ISRAEL AND THE WEST (PART I)

1- The Western mainstream mediaportray a completely biased andprejudiced image of Islam andMuslims, while Muslims havealways contributed to the social,economic, political and scientificadvancement and progress of thesocieties which they live in asminorities. What’s your viewpoint continued next page

in this regard? How should arealistic image of Islam bepresented to the Western public?Answer: If no Muslim resorts toterrorism, if no Muslim misinterpretsIslamic teachings to justify thesuppression of women or themarginalisation of non-Muslimminorities, if no Muslim leader abuses

power or violates the rights of hispeople, it is quite conceivable that themainstream Western media will haveless ammunition to target Muslims andtheir faith. But I suspect negativestereotyping of Muslims and pejorativerepresentations of Islam will continueto find expression through the

STATEMENTCARRYING THE ISRAEL - HAMAS CEASEFIRE FORWARD

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We publish below an email interview which the well known Iranian journalist Kourosh Ziabari conducted withDr. Chandra Muzaffar. The second and third part of this interview will appear in subsequent issues of theJUST Commentary. –editor

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influential stratum of Western society.Why?

It is simply because the prejudicedportrayal of Muslims and Islam in themedia serves the interests of thecentres of power in the West. WhenPalestinians resist Israeli occupationand aggression, it is in the interest ofthe occupier and its allies inWashington, London, Paris and Berlinto project the victim as the wrongdoer,ever ready to commit violence.Likewise, when the hegemon invadedIraq for its oil, the mainstream mediacamouflaged the real motive for theinvasion by highlighting that monstrouslie concocted by former British PrimeMinister, Tony Blair, and former USPresident, George Bush, about SaddamHussein’s Weapons of MassDestruction (WMD). It is lies like thispedalled by the media that sully theimage of Muslims. Anyone who resistsUS led hegemony is demonised:Muammar Gaddafi became a massmurderer of tens of thousands of hisown citizens — a gross exaggeration—because he stood in the way of theNATO-led operation to usurp Libya’soil wealth. Today, Bashar al-Assad ofSyria is projected in the media as abloodthirsty monster — anotherfalsehood— because he has chosen todefend the sovereignty andindependence of his country in the faceof a concerted attempt by Westernpowers and their West Asian allies tooust him through military force so thata pliant regime that dances to their tunecan be installed in Damascus.

This is why Western hegemony hasto end before an honest image ofMuslims can emerge. It is not justbecause of Israel and oil that Muslims

and Islam are often tarred and tarnishedin the media. It is also because Muslimcountries are on the shores of most ofthe vital sea-routes in the world, thecontrol of which is critical for thepursuit of global power anddominance.

The good news is that Westernhegemony is on the decline. The riseof new centres of power from LatinAmerica to East Asia is an irreversibleprocess. For some years now I havebeen suggesting that Muslim scholars,politicians and media practitionersshould as a matter of priority reachout to groups with influence and impactin various parts of the non-Westernworld to tell them what is reallyhappening in the Arab-Israeli conflictand in West Asia as a whole and whythere is so much negative imaging ofIslam and Muslims. A bit of this isalready being done but much moreremains to be done. At the same time,more literature should be produced andcirculated in the native languages ofthe new centres of power that seeksto correct distorted perspectives onjihad, terrorism, the position ofwomen, relations with non-Muslims,the concept of justice and the meaningof compassion and mercy in Islam.

In other words, one should notconcentrate only on how Muslims andIslam are perceived in the West. Poweris shifting to the East and it is the imageof Islam and Muslims in the non-Muslim, non-Western world— such asChina— that will really matter in theend.

2- As a Muslim-majority country,Malaysia has made remarkableprogresses, especially in terms ofhuman development index,economic prosperity and attractingforeign investment. What do youthink are the reasons for theseachievements? How can the otherIslamic states reach such a level?Answer: Malaysia it is true has donerelatively well compared to most otherMuslim and non-Muslim countries inthe Global South. Since achievingIndependence from British colonialrule in 1957, the level of absolutepoverty within the populace has been

reduced from 64% to 3.8% in 2011.Almost the entire population has accessto primary health care facilities. 94%of the population is literate. Basicamenities such as piped water andelectricity are available to most of thepeople. Less than 3% of the labourforce is unemployed.

Apart from continuous economicdevelopment over 55 years, the nationhas also been politically stable.Compared to many other countries inthe Global South and the Global North,there has been very little politicalviolence. Political succession has beensmooth. Malaysia is a functioningdemocracy in which the electedparliamentary opposition has invariablysecured more than 35% of the popularvote.

While the Federal government hasbeen in the hands of the same coalitionsince Independence, opposition partieshave exercised power in various states.What is really remarkable aboutMalaysia is that it has succeeded inmaintaining a commendable degree ofinter-ethnic peace in one of the mostchallenging multi-religious and multi-cultural environments in the world. Inthe functional sense, there is also amodicum of inter-ethnic interaction.

What explains the Malaysian successstory? A fairly effective public service, avigorous business sector, a range ofcommodities which command a globalmarket and a live- and- let live attitudeamong the people, have all contributedto the nation’s well-being. But the singlemost important factor would be a nationalleadership since 1957 which has alwayshad a balanced outlook, a sense of justiceand fair play, and a grasp of the mechanicsof good governance.

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Nonetheless, Malaysia is notwithout blemish. Like so many othercountries where the ruling party orcoalition has been in power for a longwhile, elite corruption is a bane. Againlike most other countries caught in theweb of global capitalism, the gapbetween the have-a-lot and the have-a-little is getting wider with all its direconsequences. Forging national unityhas become an even more complexchallenge with growing religiosityexpressing itself through thereinforcement of religious exclusiveness.

Still, Malaysia, its challengesnotwithstanding, serves as an exampleto many other countries.

3- In one of your interviews, youmentioned that Israel is one of theimpediments on the way of theimprovement of relationshipbetween the United States and theMuslim states, because the Muslimnations believe that America is asuperpower which unconditionallysupports Israel at the cost offorfeiting the rights of Muslims andArabs. Why doesn’t the U.S.abandon its sponsorship of Israel inorder to maintain better ties withthe Muslim nations?Answer: One of the main reasons


MILLIONS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED MOSQUITOES RELEASED

WITHOUT RISK ASSESSMENT OR OVERSIGHTBy Barbara H. Peterson

Look out people of planet earth,genetically engineered bugs are here.Just in case you haven’t figured it outyet, our technocracy is working everdiligently on genetically engineeringevery last living cell on the planet –WITHOUT EXCEPTION. What doesthis mean for life here on earth? Everhear the expression “soup sandwich?”

why the US elite is not able to abandonits patronage and protection of Israelis because of Zionist influence andpower in some of the key sectors ofAmerican public life. The US Congress,Senate and the White House are allbeholden, in one way or another, toZionist funds and Zionist lobbies.Zionists are dominant in the upperechelons of finance. Look at the ethnicbackground of almost all the majorfigures connected to the 2008 sub-prime crisis. Zionist power in themedia, including the new mediachannels, is obvious. The top stratumof leading universities also reflectsZionist presence and influence.Hollywood and the entertainmentindustry as a whole is another exampleof subtle Zionist influence. But morethan anything else, within US society —and in Europe— there is a great deal ofsympathy for the Jews for the terriblesuffering they had undergone as a resultof the holocaust. This is why in spite ofwhat the Israeli state has done to thePalestinians, Israelis and Jews continueto be viewed as victims to this day.

At the same time, we cannot ignorethe fact that Israel serves US andEuropean strategic interests in WestAsia— the region that is the world’smost important oil exporter and theonly spot on earth where three

Well, after these “scientific” geniusesare through with us, that is exactly whatall life will be – a genetic soup sandwich,made in a lab, and stamped with acorporate logo embedded in our DNA.

If the following report fromTestbiotech doesn’t send chills up yourspine, I don’t know what will. Getready world, because nothing will everbe the same. Ever. There is noremediation technique available to cleanup genetically engineered mutationsreleased into the wild and spreadthrough horizontal gene transfer.

Regulatory decisions on releasinggenetically modified (GM) insects biasedby corporate interests

Dr Helen Wallace, Director ofGeneWatch UK said “The public willbe shocked to learn that GM insectscan be released into the environmentwithout any proper oversight. Conflicts-of-interest should be removed from alldecision-making processes to ensure thepublic have a proper say about theseplans.”

London/ Munich Thursday 8thNovember 2012 A briefing publishedtoday by public interest groupshighlights how regulatory decisionson GM insects in Europe and aroundthe world are being biased bycorporate interests.

continents meet. Some of the world’smost critical waterways are also inWest Asia. Even if we examine theorigins the idea of a Zionist state in 19th

century Europe, Zionist and someEuropean leaders were already lookingat the future state of Israel as abulwark for the perpetuation ofWestern interests.

In spite of strong support for Israelin the US, there are analysts who feelthe situation is changing. Theoverwhelming support that existed forIsrael in the first three decades afterthe 1967 Israel-Arab War has declinedsomewhat. This is partly because ofthe extreme positions often adopted bythe Israeli ruling elite on the questionof Israeli settlements in the West Bankthat has disillusioned some so-calledliberal Jews in the US. It is said that oneof the reasons why Barack Obama wonin the recent Presidential Election isbecause the Zionist lobbies in the USwere split.

18 November, 2012End of Part IKourosh Ziabari is an award-winning

Iranian journalist and media correspondent.

In 2010, he received the national medal of

Superior Iranian Youth from President

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his media

activities.

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The briefing shows how UKbiotech company Oxitec has infiltrateddecision-making processes around theworld. The company has close linksto the multinational pesticide and seedcompany, Syngenta. Oxitec has alreadymade large-scale open releases of GMmosquitoes in the Cayman Islands,Malaysia and Brazil and is developingGM agricultural pests, jointly withSyngenta. Plans to commercialise GMinsects would result in many millionsof GM insects being released in fieldsof crops, including olives, tomatoes,citrus fruits, cabbages and cotton. Infuture, any insect species might begenetically modified.

The European Food SafetyAuthority (EFSA) is highlighted as oneof several examples showing howindustry organises its influence. InEFSA´s GM insects working group,which was established to developguidance for risk assessment ofgenetically engineered insects, thereare several cases of conflicts ofinterest, including experts with links toOxitec who only partially declared theirinterests. The draft Guidance on riskassessment of GM insects shows somesignificant deficiencies: for example itdoes not consider the impacts of GMinsects on the food chain. Oxitec’s GMinsects are genetically engineered to diemostly at the larval stage so dead GMlarvae will enter the food chain insidefood crops such as olives, cabbagesand tomatoes. Living GM insects couldalso be transported on crops to otherfarms or different countries. EFSA hasexcluded any consideration of theseimportant issues from its draftguidance. Many other issues are notproperly addressed.

The briefing also highlightsproblems with a World HealthOrganisation (WHO)-funded projectwhich has allowed the company tobypass requirements for informedconsent for the release of GMmosquitoes. The WHO-fundedMosqguide project, which was supposedto be developing best practice, alsoallowed the company to gain approvalfrom Brazilian regulators to release 16million GM mosquitoes before draft

regulations on the release of GM insectshad been finalised or adopted, withoutpublishing a risk assessment.

Dr Helen Wallace, Director ofGeneWatch UK said “The public willbe shocked to learn that GM insectscan be released into the environmentwithout any proper oversight.Conflicts-of-interest should be removedfrom all decision-making processes toensure the public have a proper sayabout these plans.”

Christoph Then, ExecutiveDirector, Testbiotech, said: “Riskassessment of genetically engineeredanimals touches many areas wherethere is lack of knowledge. We areconcerned that EFSA will apply abiased and selective protocol to safetywithout really sorting out potentialhazards.”

François Meienberg, BerneDeclaration, said: “Companies such asSyngenta and Oxitec have to learn thatnegative impacts on the environmentor health can arise from their lobbyingactivities. To act responsibly they haveto change their lobbying behaviourimmediately.”

Nina Holland, Corporate EuropeObservatory (CEO), said: “Experts onEFSA’s working groups should not beallowed to have any conflict of interestswith industry, let alone ties withcompanies producing the very productthey are assessing – in this case GMinsects. This clearly shows that EFSA’srules to deal with conflicts of intereststill have major gaps.”

Tina Goethe, SwissAid, said: “Thedevelopment of GM-insects foragriculture implies unforeseeable risksfor human health and environment. Inorder to meet the challenges of smallscale agriculture in poor countries, wedo not need expensive and high risktechnologies, but agro-ecologicalsolutions.”

The briefing highlights multipleattempts by Oxitec to influenceregulation around the world, whichhave included:

(i) Attempts to define ‘biological

containment’ of the insects (which areprogrammed to die at the larval stage)as contained use, by-passingrequirements for risk assessments andconsultation on decisions to release GMinsects into the environment;

(ii) Attempts to avoid any egulationof GM agricultural pests on crops whichwill end up in the food chain;

(iii) Avoidance of any discussion ofhow GM insects can be contained at asite, or products produced using GMinsects can be labelled;

(iv) Exclusion of many importantissues from risk assessments, includingimpacts of surviving GM mosquitoeson the environment and health, andimpacts of changing mosquitopopulations on human immunity anddisease;

(v) Failure to follow transboundarynotification processes for exports of GMinsects correctly;

(vi) Undermining the requirement toobtain informed consent forexperiments involving insect specieswhich transmit disease;

(vii) Attempts to avoid liability forany harm if anything goes wrong;

(viii) Pushing ahead with large-scaleopen releases of GM mosquitoes beforerelevant guidance or regulations areadopted.

For further information contact:Helen Wallace, GeneWatch UK, Tel

+44 (0)1298-24300, +44 (0)7903-311584,[email protected]

Christoph Then, Testbiotech, Tel+49151 54638040, [email protected]

François Meienberg, BerneDeclaration, Ph: +41 44 277 70 04, Email:[email protected]

Nina Holland, Corporate EuropeObservatory (CEO), Tel: +32 2 8930930,+ 3 1 ( 0 ) 6 3 0 2 8 5 0 4 2 ,[email protected]

Tina Goethe, SwissAid, Tel.: +41-(0)31-350 53 75, [email protected]

8 November, 2012Barbara H. Peterson is a writer/ activist whoretired from the California Department ofCorrections as a Correctional Officer atFolsom Prison. She was one of the firstfemales to work at the facility in this

classification.

Source: www.farmwars.info

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YANOMAMI MASSACRE IN VENEZUELABy Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Malaysia

Whenever the word ‘massacre’ isuttered, one can’t help but imaginelifeless bodies liying hauntingly likediscarded dolls, some with their armsoutstretched, lying shoulder toshoulder.

Thus, to read about a massacre ofup to 80 Yanomami people in theVenezuelan state of Amazonas is mosthorrifying. Two months before theVenezuelan Presidential elections,there was a report saying an armedgroup flew over in a helicopter,opening fire with guns and launchingexplosives into a Irotatheri settlementin the High Ocamo area. Accordingto the report, the village was home toabout 80 people and only threesurvived the attack.

Images of the horrifying attackwith crude explosives, executions anda helicopter strafing the village withmachine-gun fire dominates one’simagination of how the attack tookplace. Feelings of anguish and despairsoon take over when we learn thatthe village was burned, and likewildfire quickly spread, consuming thethick, dried-out vegetation and almosteverything else in its path.

It was horrific just to imagine. Butit was not as horrific as the act ofMedia Terrorism aimed at Venezuela.

The news about the massacre ofthe Yanomami spread throughout theinternational media like wildfire,sparked by the statement by SurvivalInternational (SI).

Despite causing a big stir ininternational news, SI thenconveniently retracted their claim ofthe attack after Venezuelanauthorities sent a team accompaniedby the media and found no bodies orany evidence of an attack, let alone amassacre.

However, what SI and most of the

international media refuse to highlightare the efforts of the Venezuelangovernment to ensure the welfare ofits indigenous people.

In 2011, the Venezuelangovernment returned over 15,800hectares of ancestral lands to theindigenous Yukpa people, as an act ofsocial justice. It repaid what was owedto those who for years maintainedcontrol over these lands as the countrycelebrated “Indigenous ResistanceDay”.

Then, in the same celebration, theVenezuelan government announcednumerous initiatives aimed at assistingand empowering indigenouscommunities. Nicia Maldonado, theminister for indigenous peoples, saidthat the government plans to createseveral socialist communes to beinhabited by indigenous communities.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Menéndez, theminister for science and technologyand vice president for the productiveeconomy, said that indigenouscommunities are being incorporatedinto the Grand Venezuelan HousingMission through which thegovernment has promised to build twomillion homes over the next sevenyears.

In addition, the NationalConstitution of 1999 and the OrganicLaw on Indigenous Peoples andCommunities (LOPCI) obligate thegovernment to institute a series of

special rights for people of indigenousancestry. These include the right todemarcate and inhabit their ancestralterritory; to be legally identified asindigenous; to receive bilingual ormulti-lingual education; to choosetheir own authentic authorities andhave those authorities recognized; toelect three indigenousrepresentatives in the NationalAssembly, to carry out traditionaleconomic and religious customs oftheir choice; to practice traditionalmedicine with patients’ consent; andto have their genetic materialprotected from exploitation.

On top of that, Venezuela’sNational Assembly also has a“Permanent Commission ofIndigenous Peoples” which has nineAssembly members; with fiverepresented by the Government andfour from the opposition.

Nevertheless, these effortsrepresent only a small part of thegovernment’s broad set of policiestoward indigenous communities.

Thus, why was there a SI reportin the first place? Why did SI makesuch reckless allegations against theVenezuelan government?

Additionally, questions also ariseon how unfounded horror storieswere found published in respectableinternational media without anyinvestigation or corroboration as tothe facts of the story or whether iteven occurred in the first place.

In all this commotion of falsereporting, one cannot ignore the factthat this dubious report wasconveniently published two monthsbefore the Venezuelan Presidentialelections.

The lie about the massacre of theVenezuelan Yanomami was created


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and published as a direct attack onthe Venezuelan Government. Theselies fabricated and disseminated bySurvival International andinternational news agencies, serve asan example of Media Terrorism,meant to turn public opinion againstthe Bolivarian Republic of Venezuelaand undermine the BolivarianRevolution in Latin America. It wasa ghastly bid to disrupt the Venezuelangovernment’s attention in the midst ofthe elections.

These lies have not only abusedthe indigenous Yanomami but areinsulting to the government ofVenezuela. What is more insulting isthe irresponsible reporting by these‘Media Terrorists’ who are feedinglies to the readers who deserve toknow the truth.

While showing no concern for theirreaders, they have also not issued asingle apology for the lies theypublished.

By Motoko Shuto

A COMMENT ON THE DIAOYU DISPUTE

Meanwhile, when the Venezuelangovernment flew local andinternational journalists to theIrotatheri village, just 12 miles fromthe Brazilian border, smiling andcurious indigenous welcomed thevisitors with chest thumping. “Nomatanza, todo fino” (“No killing, allfine”) a Yanomami said in Spanish tothe delegation’s translator.

In this isolated place there is noapparent trace of violence or deaths.In contrast, its inhabitants, who havea lump of snuff in their mouths,prepare a welcome dance showingtheir spears and bows and faces

painted with black lines.

“‘Wishak, wishak, wishak,’ or‘monkey, monkey, monkey,’ theindigenous repeated as two beardedphotographers approached”. One ofthe photographers wrote “It was ourfacial hair that took them by surprise.They touched our faces. Theytouched their own. Then they liftedtheir hands to their own. Then theylifted their hands to their chest andsaid, ‘noji,’ or ‘friend.’”

30 November, 2012

The above article is a response toSubhankar Banerjee’s “80Yanomami People Massacred asShell Gets Artric Drilling Permit”in the JUST Commentary October2012.

The following is my comment on“THE CHINA JAPAN DISPUTEOVER DIAOYU: LET THE TRUTHPREVAIL!” by Dr. Chandra Muzaffarin JUST Commentary, October 2012.

I thank Dr. Chandra Muzaffar forgiving me this opportunity to send mycomments below pertaining to hisarticle.

First, though it says that “There arebooks, reports and maps from the 15thcentury, during the period of the MingDynasty, that establish in no uncertainterms that Diaoyu is Chineseterritory”, this is simply untrue. Inreality, in the old Chinese documentsduring the Ming dynasty, theSenkakus, which had beenuninhabited, were mentioned as they

were visible from the sea duringvoyages to the RyukyuKingdom. Nothing more, nothing less.No documents have been found toprove that the islands were underChinese administration during anyperiod.

On the contrary, the official mapsduring the Ming Dynasty clearly

mentioned that the “Diaoyu” wasoutside the Ming‘s Defense Line. Forinstance, if you access the map of theEast China Sea which was made in1562 found at http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/576443_103570713134979_1739804879_n.jpg,you will find that the “Diaoyu” wasoutside the Defense Line far fromFujian Province. (In the map The redline is the defense line, 190 Ri,approximately 100 km, from thecoast-line. The red-line in the mapwas drawn by a scholar. TheSenkakus are 330 km away from thecoast-line, far beyond the defenseline.) The “defense line” wasrecognized, but the “boundary” wasnot recognized during this era. It isprimarily because under the


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traditional Chinese world order therewas no such concept as “boundary”.It was a hierarchical world orderspreading endlessly, and there wereno concepts such as “internal” or“external” affairs. The latter was anextension of the former boundlessly. Thus, there was no such concept as“boundary” which originated from theEuropean modern state system. TheChinese Government simply hides thisfact and they are telling lies to thenation and to the internationalcommunity, claiming that theSenkakus are “historically Chineseterritory”.

Second, the annexation tookalmost 10 years and it was based onthe doctrine of terra nullius, not“through military force”. TheGovernment of Japan in the earlyMeiji era examined the past historyrelated to the Senkakus since1885 upon a request of a Mr. Koga,a private business person. He wasfrom Fukuoka in Kyushu and hadopened a marine product-processingbusiness on Ishigaki Island. Afterhaving explored the Senkakus with hisfriends, he requested permission fromthe government to open a marineproduct- processing factory on theSenkakus in 1884. This was 10 yearsbefore the Sino-Japan War broke out.Ten years after the request, thegovernment concluded that the islandshad never been governed by anystates earlier and based on the terranullius doctrine of international lawincorporated the Senkakus intoOkinawa prefecture on 14 January1895. This was two months beforethe peace treaty initiated on March20 in Shimonoseki. Under theShimonoseki Treaty, Taiwan and thePenghu islands, located west ofTaiwan, were ceded to Japan by theQing dynasty. But the Senkakus werenot part of this treaty.

It was in late 2000 that I first hearda Chinese General mention at asymposium in Singapore that Japanhas not returned what she had

obtained by the Shimonoseki Treaty.Shortly after that, China began todisseminate this misleadinginterpretation through the state mediaand recently international media. Theyhave been aggressively expandinglobbying campaigns through a firmcalled Patton Boggs, payingUSD35,000 per month, and have beenutilizing diplomatic channels all overthe world. This is Chinese propaganda,however.

In reality, since it was annexed toOkinawa prefecture, there used to bea village with a peak population of 90Japanese households on the Senkakuislands, They lived there until the late1930s when it became difficult to getoil for their fishing boats. During andafter WW II, the Senkakus were notmentioned as the areas that Japanshould agree to abandon in neither theCairo or Potsdam Declarations nor theSan Francisco Peace Treaty. Thoughthe article says that “Both the CairoDeclaration and the PotsdamDeclaration acknowledged this (thatDiaoyu was Chinese territory)”, it isuntrue because in the twodeclarations it was Taiwan and thePenghu islands that were mentioned.

Actually, the People’s Daily of theChinese Communist Party (CCP)used to recognize that the SenkakuIslands were part of Okinawaprefecture throughout the 1950s and1960s. For instance, an article in thePeople’s Daily dated January 8, 1953said that “the Senkaku Islands werepart of the Ryukyu Islands”. Also theofficial maps published by the Chinesegovernment in 1953, 1958,1960 and1967 showed that the “SenkakuIslands”, using this name, were partof the Okinawa islands. Maps andschool text books published in theRepublic of China (Taiwan) as well,used to note that the Senkakus werepart of Okinawa during the 1950s and1960s. Some maps and newspapersare available on the Internet.

It was since 1971 that the PRCand Taiwan suddenly changed their

attitude and began to claim that theislands were traditionally Chineseterritory. It was after the EconomicCommission for Asia and the Far East(ECAFE) announced in its surveyreport that there was potential oil/LNG resources in the East China Sea.First Taiwan claimed territorial rightsand the Senkakus were put withintheir boundary in post 1971 textbooks.Soon afterwards, the PRC began toclaim territorial rights, perhaps by thelogic that the Senkakus are part ofTaiwan, and since Taiwan is part ofChina, thus the Senkakus are Chineseterritory.

It was Prime Minister Chou En-lai who said in 1972 that “Becauseof oil it has become an issue. If there’sno oil, Taiwan and the United Stateswould not make it an issue either”,when Prime Minister Tanaka askedhim about his opinion on the Senkakuswhen he visited Beijing to negotiatediplomatic normalization with thePRC. They did not discuss it anyfurther at the meeting according tothe diplomatic record. In laternegotiations, it is widely said that theytacitly agreed that they would leavethe solution of the Senkakus to thewisdom of a future generation andkeep the current status quo. Actuallyit is not clear whether this was reallya point of agreement or part of themedia’s interpretation, because as faras the diplomatic documents areconcerned it is not recorded.

Third, after the diplomaticnormalization between China andJapan, in 1992 China unilaterallyenacted the Law on Territorial Seaand the Contiguous Zone in which the

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continued from page 10South China Sea and the East ChinaSea are all included as Chineseterritorial seas. At the same time, inorder to avoid the path of theCommunist Party of the USSR, theCCP switched its legitimizing strategyfrom ideology to patriotism since theearly 1990s to stress that it was theCCP that had fought against Japanesefascism to save the nation. In thiscontext they have taught that the“Diaoyu is Chinese territory” throughpublic education and the media atlarge in China. Those younggenerations have enormouslyincreased in number and they arepushing the government to take muchtougher action against “Fascist LittleJapan”. In response to such grosspublic mood which is, in itself, aproduct of state policy through“patriotic education”, China seems tohave crossed the rubicon over theSenkaku issue. What is the truepurpose? Are the Senkakus theultimate goal or a step towards thegoal of their strategy?

Now, China claims the islandsare “part of Chinese territoryhistorically”, but there are twopoints: First, which claim is moreconvincing, “a discovery” mentionedin the old documents with no historyof administration or annexation basedon the doctrine of terra nullis whichwas immediately followed by the localadministration of Okinawa prefecturefor decades? Second, based on whatcriteria can the state claim its“historical rights of territory”? If itwere based on the widestgeographical stretch of old empires,China could insist on the wideststretch of its sphere of influenceunder the Ming or Qing dynasties,although Tibet was not yet part of theirterritory during the medieval times. Ifso, then, other former empires duringmedieval times could also justifiablyclaim its widest territorial rights as “itsown historical property”. In thissense, it is a conceptual clash of “stateboundary” between the Westernsovereign state system and the old

Chinese world order system that weare witnessing now in the South ChinaSea and the East China Sea.

However, in the case of the EastChina Sea, there is a point wellbeyond that. Clearly by the samelogic, their territorial claims do not stopat the Senkakus but the next target isOkinawa. China is already active inexpanding campaigns that Okinawashould not be part of Japan. Thepurpose of their strategy is first, togain oil and other marine resourcesin the East China Sea, and second, tobring the First Island Chain underChinese control through her navy andair forces. This strategy inevitablyconfronts US military presence in theAsia-Pacific region.

Although on 10 September2012 with regard to the purchase of the islands by the Japanesegovernment the Chinesegovernment announced that “Thisconstitutes a gross violation of China’ssovereignty”, obviously they hadrealized that there existed a person(family) who had property rights overthe Senkakus and tried to purchasethe islands from him. Because of this,the land-owner consulted with formerTokyo Governor Ishihara, their oldfriend, to consider the purchase by theTokyo Metropolitan Government.Governor Ishihara respondedpositively and started to collect fundsto purchase the islands, whicheventually reached more than JPY1.4billion. The government of Japan wasworried about possible provocativeactions if such purchase wasactualized. Thus, in a hurry, thegovernment decided to put the

Senkakus under the control of thegovernment to keep the status quo.They had consulted with Beijing inadvance, needless to say, and got tacitapproval from the CPP with threeconditions at least up to early August,it is said.

Immediately after the purchaseannouncement, however, massivedemonstrations continued for weeksagainst Japan as well as Japaneseshops and factories in China, as wehave seen, causing major damage.What is worse is that China grosslycurtailed major trade relations, beganto exclude Japan from trade meetingsand exhibitions in China, cancelledcultural exchange visits, and evenordered the removal of all Japanesebooks from bookstores. At Beijingcustoms, all Japanese newspapersthat have arrived at the airport wereconfiscated.

China has gravely and unjustlyinjured Japanese factories and shopsin China by mobilizing such massivenumbers of people to participate inthe demonstrations. It was nothing butde facto state-organized terroragainst Japan. It is China that isintimidating Japan’s sovereignty byconstantly sending the government’svessels near the Senkakus and tryingto change the status quo by force,refusing diplomatic talks. It is Chinathat has taken unilateral actions inbreach of its obligations under the UNCharter, the WTO and otherinternational agreements. China is notan enemy of Japan, having establishedheavily interdependent relations at thebilateral and regional levels. However,China is a threat in the sense thatunpredictable incidents can happen atthe whims and fancies of the CCPleaders.

4 November, 2012

Dr. Mokoto Shuto is a professor at theUniversity of Tsukuba, Japan. She is alsoa JUST member.

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Just Commentary December 2012