<<Call for Chain Hunger Strike in Protest against Israeli Invasion of Gaza Strip
On Saturday, January 3, upon receiving the news of the Israeli ground attack of the Gaza Strip, Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Severgnini commenced a solitary hunger strike here in Istanbul, in protest against this atorocity. We, the local group of supporters of his courageous action, hereby request our Friends of the World Community to join us in a global action, we have termed "Chain Hunger Strike", the rule of engagement of which we propose shall be outlined below.
Guiding Principle
Each member of our World Community must decide whether to be a mere observer or a true witness of the current crisis. In order to be a witness of history, however, one must live in its events. Were it a joyful event in history, we would have rejoiced. How shall a true witness express his or her sorrow and anger in the face of the on-going tragedy in the Gaza Strip? Mass demonstrations against Israeli action have been taking place in every major cities in the world. We cry out against the atorocity, denoucing Israeli actions, demanding the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops. But is it enough?
Today in history, a crisis in one corner of the world matters to us all. Isn't it true, then, that we are all under the threat of the action of the aggressor? If we can assert that we are victims as well, we, the people from every corner of the world, would gain rightful position to make political demands against the aggressor, as well as demands from the world's political powers, affirming that we the people have the power to change. By staging a massive participation of hunger strikes, we are not to impose suicide threats on them but to assert the right to make certain political demands (below). Needless to say, the pain and suffering of the people of Gaza Strip is incomparable to anything but to death itself. We, the fortunate in the peaceful corners of the world, are merely proposing what we can.
Methodology
Based on this belief, we are calling for a world-wide chain reaction of hunger strike, in which a volunteer from each local group would hunger-strike for a predetermined duration, followed immediately by a hunger strike by another volunteer. Each local action would register with our website (we are currently building), which displays the activities worldwide, and every member of the world community would be able to monitor the on-going hunger strikes. This simple logistics will allow us to ensure the continuity of the chain of hunger strikes worldwide. The chain of actions shall continue until the following demands are met.
The Demands
We, the Istanbul Action Group, are requesting the chain hunger strikers to subscribe to the following demands against Israeli Government and from World political powers:
1- Israel troops immediately out of Gaza Strip for the basic conditions of an immediate cease-fire from both sides.
2- The ending of the economic embargo on Gaza Strip which devoids even the basic needs of civilian Palestinian population and at least partly prompted the Hamas' attacks on the Israeli civilians. There, the Palestinian people's basic human rights to live must be restored by ending the embargo.
3- Those responsible for this attack to be denounced by an International Court as war criminals.
Logistics and Rule of Engagement
One who can not stand still in front of this crime and wants to join the action from the entire world can do it with informing the campaign basically about how many days s/he could fast, in which conditions, what kind of media and logistic support s/he could organize.
Istanbul Action Group for Chain Hunger Strike in Protest against Israeli Invasion of Gaza Strip
January 6th, 2009, Istanbul, Turkey>>.
On Saturday, January 3, upon receiving the news of the Israeli ground attack of the Gaza Strip, Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Severgnini commenced a solitary hunger strike here in Istanbul, in protest against this atorocity. We, the local group of supporters of his courageous action, hereby request our Friends of the World Community to join us in a global action, we have termed "Chain Hunger Strike", the rule of engagement of which we propose shall be outlined below.
Guiding Principle
Each member of our World Community must decide whether to be a mere observer or a true witness of the current crisis. In order to be a witness of history, however, one must live in its events. Were it a joyful event in history, we would have rejoiced. How shall a true witness express his or her sorrow and anger in the face of the on-going tragedy in the Gaza Strip? Mass demonstrations against Israeli action have been taking place in every major cities in the world. We cry out against the atorocity, denoucing Israeli actions, demanding the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops. But is it enough?
Today in history, a crisis in one corner of the world matters to us all. Isn't it true, then, that we are all under the threat of the action of the aggressor? If we can assert that we are victims as well, we, the people from every corner of the world, would gain rightful position to make political demands against the aggressor, as well as demands from the world's political powers, affirming that we the people have the power to change. By staging a massive participation of hunger strikes, we are not to impose suicide threats on them but to assert the right to make certain political demands (below). Needless to say, the pain and suffering of the people of Gaza Strip is incomparable to anything but to death itself. We, the fortunate in the peaceful corners of the world, are merely proposing what we can.
Methodology
Based on this belief, we are calling for a world-wide chain reaction of hunger strike, in which a volunteer from each local group would hunger-strike for a predetermined duration, followed immediately by a hunger strike by another volunteer. Each local action would register with our website (we are currently building), which displays the activities worldwide, and every member of the world community would be able to monitor the on-going hunger strikes. This simple logistics will allow us to ensure the continuity of the chain of hunger strikes worldwide. The chain of actions shall continue until the following demands are met.
The Demands
We, the Istanbul Action Group, are requesting the chain hunger strikers to subscribe to the following demands against Israeli Government and from World political powers:
1- Israel troops immediately out of Gaza Strip for the basic conditions of an immediate cease-fire from both sides.
2- The ending of the economic embargo on Gaza Strip which devoids even the basic needs of civilian Palestinian population and at least partly prompted the Hamas' attacks on the Israeli civilians. There, the Palestinian people's basic human rights to live must be restored by ending the embargo.
3- Those responsible for this attack to be denounced by an International Court as war criminals.
Logistics and Rule of Engagement
One who can not stand still in front of this crime and wants to join the action from the entire world can do it with informing the campaign basically about how many days s/he could fast, in which conditions, what kind of media and logistic support s/he could organize.
Istanbul Action Group for Chain Hunger Strike in Protest against Israeli Invasion of Gaza Strip
January 6th, 2009, Istanbul, Turkey>>.
E-mail also to filistin@riseup.net.
