#citizenship and displacement

[neyatimes]

SLASA: Amputee football association brings together Sierra Leone's civil war survivors

CNN  —  On a busy weekend in Freetown, Sierra Leone, dozens of people gather to watch an afternoon football match not unlike countless others you’d find anywhere else in the world. But there’s one striking difference – these players are all amputees. They’re members of the Single Leg Amputee Sports Association (SLASA), an organization co-founded by pastor Mambud Samai in 2001 after he returned…

[worldspotlightnews]

Mexico investigates migration chief over deadly fire in detention center | CNN

CNN  —  Mexican authorities are investigating the head of the country’s immigration agency, in the wake of last month’s deadly fire in a migrant detention center that killed at least 38 people and left dozens injured. Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed on Wednesday that the Attorney General’s Office is probing Francisco Garduño, commissioner of the National Institute of…

[reportwire]

After a tragic shipwreck, no peace for the dead or living | CNN

CNN  —  Two weeks after a boat packed with migrants sank off the coast of southern Italy, there is still no peace for the living or the dead, and the missing – mostly children – continue to wash up on the beaches. The latest – a girl aged five or six – was discovered on Saturday morning, bringing the toll from when the ill-fated boat broke apart on the rocks on February 26 off the village of…

[newslabs]

Australia to overturn Djokovic visa ban, paving way for Australian Open return | CNN

Australia to overturn Djokovic visa ban, paving way for Australian Open return | CNN

Sydney CNN  —  Australia will overturn a three-year ban on tennis player Novak Djokovic entering the country, paving the way for the former world No. 1 to contest the 2023 Australian Open. Djokovic confirmed the news in his press conference Wednesday after defeating Andrey Rublev at the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, adding that he will compete in the 2023 Australian Open next January. “I was…

[suchananewsblog]

Dua Lipa has been granted Albanian citizenship | CNN

Dua Lipa has been granted Albanian citizenship | CNN

CNN  —  Dua Lipa has been granted Albanian citizenship for spreading international awareness of Albania. Albanian President Bajram Begaj said Lipa, the daughter of Albanian immigrants, has made the country proud. “Happy to give the one and only Dua Lipa the decree of Albanian citizenship,” he said. “She has made us proud with her global career and engagement in important social causes.” Happy…

[srilanka1234]

https://www.bangladeshweekly.com/why-britain-needs-a-more-humane-asylum-system/

On 24th November last year, a fishing boat spotted dozens of bodies floating in the icy water. A rubber dinghy had left the French coast the previous evening but capsized before reaching England.

[etz-ashashiyot]

I think the true test of whether or not you are actually Pro-Palestinian is not whether you are willing to hold Israel, Jews, and/or Zionists accountable for their human rights abuses, but if you are willing to hold the multiple Arab countries who refuse them citizenship, property ownership, keep them in displaced persons camps, and/or refuse to open their borders to them accountable proportionate to the offense as well.

I think the true test of whether or not you are actually "pro-Israel" is not if you're willing to combat the "Israel can do no right" crowd with an "Israel can do no wrong" party line, but rather if you are willing to listen to the Israelis who are working their asses off trying to make it better even if you don't love their criticisms or would do things differently.

I think the true test of whether or not you're an ally to diaspora Jews is not if you recognize and stand with us against the antisemitism of the people on the other side of the political spectrum, but if you recognize and stand with us against the antisemitism of your own side.

I think the true test of whether or not you value peace and the well-being of everyone in the Levant is not having a clear idea of how to "solve" the problem, but if you are willing to prioritize the safety, dignity, freedom, and self-determination of all the people in the region over any one particular group being "right" or "vindicated."

[neyatimes]

West Bank: Angry Palestinians mourn 12 killed in Israeli military operation in Jenin

CNN  —  Thousands of Palestinians marched through the streets of Jenin on Wednesday for the funeral of the 12 people killed in Israel’s largest military operation in the occupied West Bank in more than 20 years. The two-day incursion into the sprawling refugee camp, which caused extensive damage to roads, homes and cars, ended earlier Wednesday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said, as the…

[worldspotlightnews]

Italian Coast Guard escorting 1,200 migrants on boats in Mediterranean Sea | CNN

CNN  —  The Italian Coast Guard was on Tuesday escorting two boats carrying 1,200 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of a major operation in a region that has seen migrant arrivals spike in the past year. Emergency workers were racing to rescue a barge with 400 migrants onboard that had ran out of fuel, according to the volunteer-run service Alarm Phone. The Coast Guard told CNN later…

[newslabs]

Djokovic can't forget being deported but ready to move on in Australia | CNN

Djokovic can’t forget being deported but ready to move on in Australia | CNN

Reuters  —  Novak Djokovic will never forget how it felt to be deported from Australia earlier this year but the Serb said his willingness to return for next month’s Grand Slam at Melbourne Park shows the depth of feeling he has for the country. Djokovic was deported on the eve of the 2022 Australian Open in January for not being vaccinated against COVID-19 and received a three-year travel ban…

[bijoumikhawal]

It is wild seeing people go "nasser sucks on a whole because he betrayed orher communists" okay cool what about the horrible shit he did to ethnic and racial minorities

[ayin-me-yesh]

US Americans have got to stop the "go back to New York" "settlers = Brooklyn landlords" thing. Are there American Jewish settlers in Palestine? Absolutely. Are there Israeli Jews in the U.S. who are still reservists? Absolutely.

The problem is that they are a small minority of settlers and Israelis. There are about 30,000 Israelis in the entire state of New York, including Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. [x] There are 1,600,000 Jews just in New York City. [x]

500,000 Israelis have U.S. passports, including Palestinian citizens of Israel. [x] There are 9,174,520 Israelis, again including Palestinians with citizenship. [x]

Saying this does not diminish what's happening in Palestine or the absolute U.S. government support for colonialism and genocide. Settlers do not need to be American or have direct ties to the U.S. to be settlers. Settlers do not need to be American for their colony to be a proxy state for imperial interests, as has also been seen in, say, South Africa.

When you do this shit you're also erasing millions of Arab, Persian, Amazigh, Kurdish, Ethiopian, Indian, Bukharan, and other Jews from outside of Europe who have largely ended up in Palestine as settlers due to colonial and imperial destabilisation of Asia and Africa and a racist "Western" agenda to keep African and Asian refugees of all religious backgrounds outside of "Western" countries as much as possible.

You're also erasing how much xenophobic anti-migrant policies contributed to "Allied" countries after WWII using Palestine as a means of removing Holocaust surviving refugees from mainland Europe without also themselves taking large numbers of refugees into their own countries.

Palestine has been at the centre of displacement of Jews from around the world through a process of ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. This is backed by "Western" not only to create or maintain white Christian hegemonic authority in their own countries, but also as part of a Cold War agenda to destabilise Asia and Africa and eliminate anti-imperial and communist movements.

Israel is a genocidal, fascist country propped up by the US, the UK, and other "Western" imperial powers while its settlers are largely from continental Europe, Asia, and Africa.

[bfpnola]

ID 1: Screenshot of a post by @/key48return on Instagram. Background is of a globe with pinpoints of the israeli flag all over North and South America. Title reads in all caps, “israel is involved in oppression all over the world not just in Palestine…” A yellow arrow points right underneath the title. End ID

ID 2: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:

THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE - 1994

ISRAEL EXPORTED SUBSTANTIAL WEAPONS AND ARMS TO THE HUTU MILITIAS WHO MASSACRED OVER 1 MILLION TUTSI CIVILIANS IN RWANDA ACROSS THE DURATION OF 100 DAYS.

WEAPONS USED IN THE GENOCIDE INCLUDED ISRAELI-MADE 5.56MM BULLETS, RIFLES AND GRENADES. THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE IS RECOGNISED AS THE WORST GENOCIDE IN MODERN HISTORY. ISRAEL HAS REPEATEDLY ATTEMPTED TO CONCEAL THEIR ARMS EXPORTS TO RWANDA BEFORE AND DURING THE GENOCIDE, FEARING PROSECUTION.”

Black and white photos below are shown of various Rwandan children in graveyards or in makeshift tents just trying to get by. End ID.

ID 3: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:

APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA 1948 - 1994

ISRAEL WAS A STAUNCH ALLY TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID REGIME, PROVIDING ANTI-RIOT VEHICLES AND ARMS TO USE AGAINST THE NATIVE BLACK POPULATION, ASSISTING THE REGIME IN CREATING NUCLEAR BOMBS AND ISRAEL ALSO OPPOSED THE GLOBAL EMBARGO AND BOYCOTT OF APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA.

FOR DECADES, THE ZIONIST FEDERATION IN SOUTH AFRICA HONOURED MEN SUCH AS PERCY YUTAR, WHO PROSECUTED NELSON MANDELA FOR SABOTAGE AND CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE STATE IN 1963 AND SENT HIM TO JAIL FOR LIFE. (FOR WHICH HE SERVED 27 YEARS)”

Black and white photos below showcase a Black man being held in a chokehold by a white man, two Black people on their knees and hands up trying not to get shot, and a sign that reads in english and afrikaans “white area.” End ID.

ID 4: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:

MAYAN GENOCIDE 1960 - 1996

THROUGHOUT THE GUATEMALAN CIVIL WAR FROM 1960-1996, OVER 200,000+ INDIGENOUS MAYANS WERE MURDERED BY STATE FORCES, AND OVER ONE MILLION MORE DISPLACED, IN WHAT IS REFERRED TO TODAY AS THE MAYAN GENOCIDE.

THE GUATEMALAN STATE FORCES RESPONSIBLE WERE ARMED AND TRAINED BY ISRAEL. WHEN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT SUSPENDED MILITARY FUNDING TO THE GUATEMALAN STATE FORCES IN 1977 IN THE MIDST OF THE MAYAN GENOCIDE, ISRAEL GAVE THEM OVER $38 BILLION WORTH OF ARMS TO FILL THE GAP. THE 'GALIL' ASAULT RIFLE, AN ISRAELI-MADE WEAPON, WAS STANDARD ISSUE FOR THE GUATEMALAN ARMY BY 1980, WITH THE STATE OWNED SMALL-ARMS PRODUCTION FACILITY IN ALTA VERAPAZ PRODUCING ITS AMMUNITION UNDER ISRAELI ARMS LICENCES.”

Below are multiple in-color photos of Mayan families mourning, one photo in particular which shows indigenous Mayans carrying a seemingly endless line of coffins off into the distance. End ID.

ID 5: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:

SREBRENICA - 1995

ALSO KNOWN AS THE SREBRENICA GENOCIDE. IN 1995 OVER 8,000+ BOSNIAN MUSLIMS WERE MASSACRED BY SERBIAN ARMY FORCES ARMED AND TRAINED BY ISRAEL. SERBIAN FORCES ETHNICALLY CLEANSED OVER 250,000+ MUSLIMS IN TOTAL ACROSS CROATIA AND BOSNIA.

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHERS WERE WOUNDED, STARVED, WOMEN WERE MASS RAPED AND MANY WERE INCARCERATED IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS. MANY OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GENOCIDE FLED TO ISRAEL, WHERE THEY WERE GRANTED ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP IN ORDER TO AVOID ARREST AND PROSECUTION FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.”

Once again, the in-color photos below show various peoples mourning. Two of the photos specifically show people reaching their hands out over extremely long lists of just names of people who have died. End ID.

ID 6: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:

TRAINING U.S. POLICE

SINCE 1990, HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN POLICE OFFICERS, INCLUDING AGENTS FROM THE FBI, CIA AND IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), HAVE EITHER BEEN SENT TO ISRAEL THROUGH POLICE TRAINING EXCHANGES, OR ATTENDED SUMMITS WITHIN THE U.S. THAT WERE SPONSORED BY ISRAELI LOBBY ORGANISATIONS.

THE KNEE-TO-NECK 'RESTRAINT' THAT DEREK CHAUVIN MURDERED GEORGE FLOYD WITH, IS OFTEN USED BY ISRAELI POLICE AND SOLIDERS AGAINST PALESTINIANS.

BLACK LIVES MATTER.”

Photos below are in-color and show various B.L.M. protests. End ID.

ID 7: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:

ARMING INDIA'S VIOLENCE IN KASHMIR

INDIA IS ISRAEL'S LARGEST ARMS CLIENT, MAKING UP OVER 45% OF ISRAEL'S ARMS SALES. BUYING ISRAELI AMMUNITION AND AIR-TO-GROUND MISSILES, ON THE PREMISE THEY HAVE BEEN 'BATTLE-TESTED' ON PALESTINIANS IN GAZA. ISRAEL PROVIDES INDIA WITH THE ARMS INDIA USES TO MILITARILY OCCUPY KASHMIR AND BRUTALISE KASHMIRI'S.

SINCE 1989, OVER 100,000+ KASHMIRIS HAVE BEEN KILLED BY INDIAN FORCES. WITH OVER 7,200+ KASHMIRIS BEING MURDERED IN INDIAN POLICE CUSTODY, OVER 110,000+ KASHMIRI CHILDREN HAVE BEEN ORPHANED, AND MORE THAN 11,000+ KASHMIRI WOMEN HAVE BEEN RAPED BY INDIAN OCCUPATION FORCES. IN ADDITION, OVER 7,000+ UNNAMED MASS GRAVES HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED WITH THOUSANDS OF VICTIMS.”

The photos below show israel and india’s leaders shaking hands and various armed indian soldiers stopping Kashmiris for unnecessary checks. End ID.

ID 8: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:

PINOCHET COUP - CHILE 1973

CIA BACKED DICTATOR, AUGUSTO PINOCHET TOOK OVER CHILE ON SEPTEMBER 11, 1973. OVERTHROWING ITS DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PRESIDENT, SALVADOR ALLENDE. THE NEXT DAY HIS FORCES BEGAN KIDNAPPING ANYONE THEY SUSPECTED OF BEING LEFT WING AND PLACED THEM IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS.

PINOCHET'S SECRET POLICE, DINA (DIRECCION DE INTELIGENCIA NACIONAL) RAN THOSE CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND TORTURE CENTRES, AND THEY FREQUENTLY ABDUCTED, 'DISAPPEARED' AND EXECUTED CHILEAN CIVILIANS. ISRAEL TRAINED DINA AND WAS ALSO ONE OF PINOCHET'S MAIN ARMS SUPPLIERS.”

Black and white photos below showcase various scenes of armed DINA officers, with one photo in particular showing them in a tank over bodies on the ground, presumably dead. End ID.

ID 9: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:

ETHNICALLY CLEANSING ARMENIANS - ONGOING

ISRAEL HAS BEEN FUNDING AND ARMING AZERBAIJAN'S MILITARY SINCE 1988, ARMS WHICH HAVE BEEN USED TO KILL ARMENIAN CIVILIANS THROUGHOUT AZERBAIJAN'S ONGOING ETHNIC CLEANSING OF ARTSAKH. THE ISRAELI REGIME SUPPLIES AZERBAIJAN WITH OVER 70% OF ITS MILITARY ARSENAL.

IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING THE ARMS TO KILL ARMENIANS, ISRAEL ALSO REFUSES TO RECOGNISE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, COMMITTED BY THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (TURKEY) FROM 1914-1923, WHO SYSTEMATICALLY MURDERED OVER 1.5 MILLION ARMENIAN CIVILIANS.”

Photos below show israel and azerbaijan’s leaders shaking hands, azerbaijan’s soldiers menacingly standing in front of someone wrapped in an Armenian flag, and Armenians mourning over a shrine with their flags all around them. End ID.

ID 10: In all caps, “THE PALESTINIAN STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM IS CONNECTED TO STRUGGLES ALL AROUND THE WORLD.

BECAUSE OPPRESSORS LIKE ISRAEL ARE NOT ONLY UPHOLDING OPPRESSION AGAINST ONE POPULATION, ITS ALWAYS INTERCONNECTED TO OPPRESSING MANY MORE.

FREE PALESTINE.” No photos at the bottom of this slide. End ID.

[vague-humanoid]

A few months after arriving, she said, she was raped by the man who wrote the letter of invitation that had gotten her out of the war zone.

“She was sleeping and he woke her up and roughly dragged her into his room,” says Olga Udovichenko, whom Svetlana later approached for help at the Volunteer Help Center for Refugees from Ukraine in Haifa. “She suffered deeply from both the war and the rape — but here she could barely get any assistance from the authorities. Instead of help she encountered a maze of bureaucracy and lost any motivation she had to hold the man to account and seek justice.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 is estimated to have killed more than 40,000 civilians and displaced up to 30 million more. As the war surpasses 300 days, 17.7 million Ukrainians around the world need humanitarian help and protection, according to the United Nations.

Svetlana is one of over 47,000 Ukrainians — the vast majority of them women — who traveled to Israel since the start of the invasion but who are not eligible for citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return, according to Israel’s Welfare Ministry. Of these, only approximately 15,000 currently remain in Israel, with the rest having chosen to leave. Not a single Ukrainian fleeing the war has been accorded refugee status by Israel.

A Times of Israel investigation has documented cases of rape, sexual harassment, workplace exploitation and other abuses faced in Israel by these women, many of whom have had their homes destroyed and lost their livelihoods. At least one of the women’s lives ended in death by suicide.

Many of these abuses remain at best under the radar of the authorities or at worst willfully ignored, leaving the victims in a cycle of violence and poverty that only deepens the trauma they have endured to date. The perpetrators remain free to commit further crimes.

[etz-ashashiyot]

I know I'm gonna regret posting this, but I just can't not say something: I'm so sick of people who are actively contributing to the ongoing oppression of and violence against Palestinians calling themselves "pro-Palestinian."

In the same way that so many people in the anti-abortion movement are actually pro forced birth rather than pro-child, there are a lot of you who aren't pro-Palestinian, you're just violently antisemitic or in it for yourselves.

If you aren't:

Also angry with the other countries that abuse their Palestinian populations, refuse them citizenship, keep them in displaced person camps under horrific conditions, and/or close their borders entirely to them;

In support of genuine grassroots movements that aim to create some kind of stability, peace, and safety through diplomatic relationships and community building, because that's ""normalization"";

Willing to condemn antisemitism in the diaspora, which helps fuels right-wing rhetoric in Israel;

Willing to shut down lies, propaganda, and disinformation even if it "supports" Palestinians in theory, because lying repeatedly associates the Palestinian movement with lying and makes it harder for survivors to tell their actual stories and be believed outside of the far left movements (and also the truth is bad enough - there's no need to lie);

Willing to focus on practical problem solving over political posturing, especially when it will save Palestinian lives;

Willing to condemn Hamas, which started this most recent disaster, steals aid meant for civilians, uses civilians as human shields, and has been torturing dissenters for years;

Willing to work with Israeli leftists who hate their current government and want peace and full equality for Arab Israelis and their Palestinian neighbors, and also have the best shot at making that change happen; and/or,

Willing to learn about Palestinians as living human beings and value their lives over using them as a political cudgel, whatever that looks like on the ground;

.............then maybe you're more interested in looking radical and jerking off to some fantastical version of The Revolution, and/or hurting Jews than you are in promoting peace, safety, dignity, and self-determination for Palestinians.

Like seriously with "friends" like these, do they even need enemies??

Anyway you should call out the Israeli government for its very real abuses of Palestinians and nothing in this post should be construed otherwise. But if you genuinely care and aren't just in it for internet cool points or leftist cred or feeding your Jew-hate boner or whatever, you gotta prioritize solutions that have a realistic shot at short-term relief and long-term possibility over whatever fits some idealistic goal that will only ever end with more dead Palestinians.

[neyatimes]

Greek migrant boat tragedy: Pakistani boy's fateful journey exposes impossible choice faced by millions

Gujrat, Pakistan CNN  —  Pervez Akhtar fights through tears as he recalls the final words of his 14-year-old son. “It will all be OK,” Muhammad Abuzar told him. “I’ll educate my brothers, I’ll make your house. You won’t go hungry. Just pray for me.” Akhtar now sits in his dilapidated, one-room home in a village in Pakistan’s eastern district of Gujrat, looking through photos of Abuzar. His…