International Detention Coalition. IDC.

LOUD SPACE is now helping compile the monthy newsletter for the International Detention Coalition. If you are interested in subscribing to the newsletter or seeing what work the IDC is involved click here.

Zion & Babylon.

Zion and Babylon. On the subject of Israel/Palestine, Thomas Friedman, a columnist for the New York times states that people go temporarily insane over the issue, with opinions for and against the state of Israel. The Israel/Palestine issue is one in which opinions are fraught with personal bias, often influenced by the cultural and religious identities of the person expressing their subjective opinion.

Documented below is a quick summation of LOUD SPACE'S standpoints on the Israel/Palestine issue, with attention given to Israel's raid on the Mavi Marmara, the ship that as charged with bringing aid to Gaza.

*Israel has a right to exist. Whether a person likes it or not the state of Israel is here to remain for the foreseeable future.

*Palestinians are entitled to basic human rights denied currently to them.

*It is unfortunate that Jewish people, victims for so long of hate and injustice, now perpetrate their own injustices on another.

*The blockade on Gaza must end.

*New Jewish settlements must end.

*The use of violence on the Mavi Marmara towards IDF soldiers was inappropriate and counter productive.

*Calls for the destruction of Israel must end.

And this is enough for now. The subject is too divisive. Filled with blood and history. There are too many extremists/fundamentalists that have hijacked the debate. There is too much fear and hate. As a Jew I see the faults of my own people but understand our fears and standpoints. As a human I see the plight of the Palestinian people but wonder if the two sides can ultimately get along. Below is a Wiki entry on Joe Slovo's opinion on Zionism.

A committed Marxist internationalist, Slovo was outspoken as a South African critic of Israeli policies, both highlighting the cooperation between Israeli administrations and apartheid-era South Africa and noting the irony of a nation of dispossessed refugees establishing a state founded on the idea of exclusion.

Remembering his brief visit to a Jewish kibbutz in Palestine during his trip back to South Africa from Europe after the Second World War, Slovo, in an unfinished autobiography published following his death, wrote:

"Within a few years the wars of consolidation and expansion began. Ironically enough, the horrors of the Holocaust became the rationalization for the preparation by Zionists of acts of genocide against the indigenous people of Palestine. Those of us who, in the years that were to follow, raised our voices publicly against the violent apartheid of the Israeli state were vilified by the Zionist press. It is ironic, too, that the Jew-haters in South Africa – those who worked and prayed for a Hitler victory – have been linked in close embrace with the rulers of Israel in a new axis based on racism."

The dead flag blues.

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR

The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel
And the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides
And a dark wind blows
The government is corrupt
And we're on so many drugs
With the radio on and the curtains drawn

We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
And the machine is bleeding to death

The sun has fallen down
And the billboards are all leering
And the flags are all dead at the top of their poles

It went like this

The buildings tumbled in on themselves
Mothers clutching babies picked through the rubble and pulled out their hair

The skyline was beautiful on fire
All twisted metal stretching upwards
Everything washed in a thin orange haze

I said, "Kiss me, you're beautiful..
These are truly the last days"

You grabbed my hand and we fell into it
Like a daydream or a fever

We woke up one morning and fell a little further down
For sure it's the valley of death

I open up my wallet
And it's full of blood

Empty promises.

Empty promises should not be made. Just write. There was something inherently voyeuristic about watching the bird as it drowned in the oil, helpless and unable to move. Innocense lost. Nothing can stop the flow of oil, yet. But what has happened is tragic, leaving one lost for your words. The environmental destruction is tragic and the effect of this will be long felt if not irreversible. The true economic impact of the oil spill is yet to be felt on a global level. BP has "offered no firm guidance on plans for dividend payments to shareholders. Some American political leaders have called for dividend payments to be suspended while BP addressed the needs of residents of the Gulf. The impact of such a step would be felt widely, not least in Britain where BP is cornerstone stock of millions of pension plans. BP accounts for one seventh of all dividends paid out by blue-chip companies in Britain, much of it feeding retirement policies. A suspension of dividend payments would be felt across the UK economy."

The oil spill is economic, environmental and its scope far reaching. Its reach will extend beyond the United States, how far this reach will extend is yet unknown. Though we may be disturbed by this tragic event what can be done to effect change? Thomas Friedman sees the oil spill as not only tragic but an opportunity to move away from an oil addiction through innovation and renewable technologies, is this however possible in a growth orientated economy? No renewable energy source is comparable to oil when a cost benefit analysis is applied to energy variables.

Ultimately there needs to be a rethink/shift in our goals and thought processes if real change is to take place and future catastrophes not to occur, politically and personally.

Legal steps must be taken not only to make BP pay for the damage it has created but even more important regulation must be enacted so that companies take their responsibilities seriously. It is interesting to note that BP (British Petroleum) in ad over the years has marketed BP to stand for Beyond Petroleum. They then should be held to account for this marketing mechanism. Why has a boycott not been setup to boycott BP around the world? Perhaps we feel powerless and if we are to boycott BP we will be giving our money to Exxon Mobil. A hegemony exists, what can we do to enable change? Perhaps we can learn from the recent events in Gaza. Though LOUD SPACE does not condone the use of violence by some of the protesters on the flotilla, the biggest impact of the Mavi Marmara's mission may be that Israel may be pressured to increasingly open Gaza's borders to aid.

The oil spill needs to evoke the world's anger and rage, it must evoke calls for change towards a more sustainable world. It must force governments, people and companies to change their practices. The world has two options following the spill, to learn and grow or continue on the same destructive path, it scares me to think that we will continue with the same unsustainable practices, it is not viable and through them we will kill the only place we know in the galaxy that sustains life, our home.