May 7, 2001

Miscellaneous Subjects 81: 1. U.S. ousted from U.N. Human Rights Commission + 2. Marketing Environmental Destruction and Disease + 3. Excerpt from the Good News Agency newsletter: 2005 megawatts of wind energy by 2005 in the UK! - Power cells get warm - Biodiversity gives carbon sinks a boost - OECD calls world's richest nations: urge green taxes - The “Turn Off Violence on TV” Campaign + 4. Transmission from Archangel Ariel: "Shadow Boxing" + 5. Grass Is Gone on Other Side of These Fences + 6. Boycott Israel Campaign "Lets go for this one" (and A Peace Walk from Bethlehem to Jerusalem planned for next December 25, 2001)


Hello everyone

With all the gardening work I'll have to do in the coming weeks, I'll be much less available as already mentioned to prepare my compilations and follow up on everything that comes in. Still I want to do my best to keep you posted on some of the most important issues and info that come to my attention. In this one you'll find some hope-stirring material on the positive side of the global situation as well as a mixture of suggestions for action that may appeal to you.

Hoping you are having a good time

Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000

IMPORTANT: Free FTAA protester -- To support the liberation of Jaggi Singh, the sole person arrested during the Quebec Summit protests in April who is still in jail and about whom there is no evidence that he committed any violent act (the only charge against him is possession of a weapon - a catapult that hurled teddy bears at police - and those responsible for the catapult have stated clearly, both in court and in the media, that it was a theatre prop, not a weapon, and that Jaggi Singh had nothing to do with it), please go at http://rabble.ca/petition/index.php3

Keeping him in jail is a serious breach of civil liberties that threatens freedom of political expression! This was recommended by Richard Sanders <ad207@freenet.carleton.ca>




1.

Date: Sun, 06 May 2001
From: Trevor <wharmony@iinet.net.au>
Subject: U.S. ousted from U.N. Human Rights Commission

Jean,

You may like to post this article that expresses the rest of the world's feeling towards the Bush Administration.

Trevor

---

U.S. ousted from U.N. Human Rights Commission

UNITED NATIONS -- In what amounts to a stinging rebuke, the United States has been voted off the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

This marks the first time the United States will not be represented on the commission since its inception in 1947.

The commission investigates human-rights abuses around the world.

"It's a stunning development," one council ambassador said. France, Austria and Sweden were chosen for the three seats allocated to Western countries that were up for election, Reuters reported. The vote was conducted among 53 nations in the Economic and Social Council, the umbrella group for the commission, U.N. officials said.

One diplomat speculated that U.S. policies on the Middle East might have swung some countries to reject its candidacy.

But according to Reuters, some diplomats said they believed the Bush administration's opposition to the Kyoto climate change treaty as well as its insistence on a missile defense contributed to the loss.

Joanna Weschler, the U.N. representative of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said both Western and developing countries bore grudges against the United States.

"Washington should have seen it coming because there has been a growing resentment towards the United States and ... votes on key human-rights standards, including opposition to a treaty to abolish land mines and to the International Criminal Court and making AIDS drugs available to everyone," she said in a Reuters report.

Other nations the United States has held up to the spotlight in the Geneva commission, such as China or Cuba, resented U.S. actions on the committee and "made their feelings well known in their speeches," Weschler said in the Reuters report.

Weschler also said the 53-member commission was turning into an "abuser solidarity" group with more and more countries with questionable human-rights records gaining election and then voting as a bloc not to single out individual nations for human rights abuses.

In the Reuters report, she cited Libya, Syria and Sudan among those given seats in the commission during the past two years.

James Cunningham, the acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called the move "very disappointing." He said the decision "won't affect our commitment to human rights."

Every year, one-third of the members come up for re-election.

The commission just completed on April 27 its annual six-week session in Geneva to prove human rights violations around the world. It was established in 1947 and the United States, Russia and India had served on the rights body ever since.




2.

Date: Sat, 05 May 2001
From: "Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D." <jackie@deepteaching.com>
Subject: Marketing Environmental Destruction and Disease

Hello,

Each day, activists and concerned citizens around the nation are fighting to stem the tide of environmental destruction, fueled by an economy based on endless consumption of resources and supported by an ultra-conservative presidential administration.

Victories and gains are for these activists are visible everywhere, and even the most conservative industry must eventually bend to public outcry. But the occasional investigative report by the print and broadcast media and infrequent victory by consumer groups are often offset by the massive public relations and marketing machines of the corporate world.

Every hour of every day, subtle and not-so-subtle, insidious messages are fed to us via the media, government, and even the professionals we trust to try to sell us on a way of life that is killing us. Every day, in the U.S. alone, over $200 million is spent on advertising. The environmental connection is dramatic.

The intentional marketing of practices that are destructive to the environment and our health is explored in this week's Healing Our World commentary. You can read "Marketing Environmental Destruction and Disease" on the Environment News Service at http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-04g.html.

We must be very selective in deciding where to place our trust. Trust your gut and your heart. I believe we all really know what to do deep inside.

Take care and I wish you peace.

Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

http://www.ens.lycos.com
http://www.healingourworld.com.




3.

AND NOW SOME POSITIVE, UPLIFTING NEWS...

From the Good News Agency newsletter (27 April 2001)
http://www.goodnewsagency.org

CLIP

Science and technology

UK: 2005 by 2005!
UK - The BWEA (British Wind Energy Association) predicts that 2005 megawatts of wind energy will be operating in the UK by the end of 2005. The turbines, both on and offshore, will provide enough electricity for one and a quarter million households.

Presentations made at the CREA (Confederation of Renewable Energy Associations) seminar on Regional planning targets; rationale, progress and practical implementation now available at:
http://www.britishwindenergy.co.uk/new.html
http://www.crownestate.co.uk
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/contentlookup.cfm?SiteKeyParam=CLIMATEREN15

The 5th April Crown Estate announced the release of eighteen potential sea bed sites for offshore wind farms. Should all the projects go ahead, their combined electricity generation would power 1.1 million homes each year, equivalent to the output of both Dungeness B and Bradwell nuclear reactors.
The UK has the largest wind resource in Europe, with the offshore resource alone sufficient to power the country nearly three times over.
http://www.britishwindenergy.co.uk/new.html
http://www.offshorewindfarms.co.uk/

Power cells get warm

A new type of fuel cell could prove cheap, reliable and robust enough to speed things up. Developed at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, the prototype cell converts hydrogen to electricity more efficiently than existing devices, and at temperatures many engineers consider ideal. Operating at around 160o C, these devices create higher voltages than PEM cells, and should, once design is optimised, have greater overall efficiencies. “If we really decided that we wanted a clean hydrogen economy”, a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, USA comments, “we could have it by 2010.” The barriers are now mainly psychological, agrees Stanford Ovshinsky of Energy Conversion Devices in Troy, Michigan: “What is involved is the task of changing a huge, powerful, entrenched global industry from a petrol-engine base to an electric one.”
http://www.nature.com/nsu/010419/010419-5.html

Environment and Wildlife

Biodiversity gives carbon sinks a boost

Upton, New York, April 13 (ENS) - The more diverse an ecosystem, the better it can serve to absorb carbon dioxide - a potent greenhouse gas - from the atmosphere, a new study suggests. The research has important implications for ongoing international negotiations over the best way to address global climate change, and the role that so called carbon sinks should play.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2001/2001L-04-13-06.html

CLIP

OECD calls world's richest nations: urge green taxes

Paris, April - The Paris based OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) is urging with a coordinated program the removal of subsidies and introduction of environmental taxes “to prevent irreversible damage to our environment over the next 20 years”. OECD groups 30 industrialized countries that produce two-thirds of the world's goods and services.
The call comes in a major review of key environmental challenges to 2020, to be considered by OECD environment ministers May 16. “Only with such widespread use of economic instruments will it be possible to tackle the more complex, interrelated and international environmental problems of the future”, told OECD environment director Joke Waller-Hunter, “More stringent policies are needed to ensure that environmental degradation is de-coupled from economic growth”. There would be nine percent lower SOx emissions, three percent lower methane emissions, and 30 percent less run-off of nitrogen to waterways from agricultural chemicals. The OECD Outlook is available online at: http://www.oecd.org/env/outlook/outlook.htm

The OECD member countries are listed at: http://www.oecd.org/about/general/member-countries.htm

CLIP

Culture and education

The “Turn Off Violence on TV” Campaign

(Good News Agency reports this press release as received by IFLAC’s President, Prof. Ada Aharoni.)
IFLAC: The International Forum for the Culture of Peace, has launched a new global campaign: “Turn Off Violence on TV”, following "The Ethical Code of the Media" launched by Sergio Tripi, editor of  the "Good News Agency."  This code calls upon the world media to abide by ethical and objective standards, and to equally cover the good aspects of life and of human experience.Unfortunately, this code is often ignored on the electronic media, especially  when abominably violent films are daily projected on television all around the world, which have a bad influence on society.

The "Turn Off Violence on TV" campaign calls on world governments, and on the citizens of the world who abhor violence and regard it as a danger to humanity, to stop its influence  on the electronic media.  Citizens of the world are recommended  to  write to their local and national television stations, and to the sponsors and directors of violent films, and to warn them that they will not watch their films filled with shootings, homicide, blood and murder anymore. Violence and murder are only a small part of human experience, and by all means, not the most interesting or beneficial. Television sponsors were warned that if they do not want to lose their money, they should air good and exciting films that present the real problems of life, that build society and not destroy it.
The first responses to this innovative campaign coming both from TV companies, and from NGO's and associations, as well as from individuals from England, India, Canada and Israel, are very promising.

http://techunix.technion.ac.il/~ada/home.html




4.

I COMPLETELY CONCUR WITH CHERE RAE REGARDING THE FOLLOWING CHANNELED TRANSMISSION

Date: Fri, 04 May 2001
From: Chere Rae <heartvisions@earthlink.net>
Subject: TRANSMISSION from Archangel Ariel & The Ascended Masters

Greetings Jean,

I generally do not pass on channeled material however I particularly resonated with this, share if you choose as we all can use emotional/spiritual food to recharge our light shinning batteries.

Chere Rae

---

TRANSMISSIONS from Archangel Ariel & The Ascended Masters:

"Shadow Boxing"

Archangel Ariel

May 2nd, 2001

Greetings to one and all! Ariel here! We have come at this time to awaken your awareness, to bring the Light to your perception for the purpose of clarity and discernment. Many shifts and many dramatic changes are now present with you and around you, and it is now time for all who are able to hear what we have to impart to listen with their souls. We choose and intend to transmit this information in a balanced manner and with unconditional love and honor.

During the times of awakening on this planet, many lightworkers and seekers have avidly and diligently dedicated themselves to spiritual change and evolution through the purification of their minds, emotions, and bodies.

The amount of light that you now hold at the cellular and subatomic levels is quite dramatic in comparison to the early 1990's, and still the process of ascension is just now reaching a critical mass. We have also observed that as many of you approach the thresholds of integrating 9th and 10th level Lightbody, you begin to lose heart or become distracted by various energetic and world phenomena.

One of the most challenging aspects for you at this point are the imbalances that many hold regarding the shadow self, and the collective shadow of humanity's unresolved thoughtforms. Many of those on the path hold a belief that even the shadow and its potential manifestations do not warrant any attention whatsoever, thinking that solely through holding an opposite thought (positive) one can negate a negative! We assure you that this is just another form of resistance that furthers the game of polarity. You are attempting to engage in battle with the shadow, and that is also an illusion.

Another influence is that of your Sun. The solar storms that currently impact your biosphere and the electro-magnetic grids and structures around your planet and your bodies are also doing quite a magnificent job stirring up all that has been held in shadow and darkness for hundreds of thousands of years. All of the karmic monads and "games" are being illuminated! We will discuss this in more detail shortly.

Now for some time we, and many others, have presented information and technologies for transmuting the misqualified energies of your creations, and for accelerating the leap into Unity Consciousness. That is still the Divine plot. However, it is now time to examine that which you still hold in fear - the shadow.

The shadow or hidden part of the polarity game is an illusion, yes. Also, it is that part of the Divine Forces that holds the balance in the 3rd and 4th dimension universes. To see "all that is" as anything less than total and complete ONENESS is the ultimate illusion, and brings an individual consciousness into the realm of fear and separation. The first level of resolving the separation consciousness is as follows.

You have heard for decades that you must "release" the old patterns and energies. First it was into the earth, and now we recommend that it be toward the higher forces for transmutation. But how can you release what is your own? This personal shadow stuff is your property and your responsibility. No one can clear it or take it from you. However, you can choose to bring it into balance within yourself through transmutation. This transmutation process begins with self-respect, and honoring that a limiting thought or belief is your own. It may not have been your own thought or belief to begin with, but you resonated with it by choice. Then, call in the Violet Transmuting Flame, or Legions of Michael to assist in re-integrating these energies. Breathe it in as St. Germain would say, and thereby you eliminate the magnetic that brought the limiting belief to you in the first place.

The second level relates to the source of limiting beliefs or non-unity thoughts. These have been brought into being by aspects of the One that long ago sought to experience separation by mis-applying Divine Will for purely selfish ends. These manifestations have been labeled "evil" in the polarity game. “Evil” is “Live” reversed, it is the Divine turned upside-down, or so it seems, and is in denial of itself. Since the All That Is would never consider harming Itself, evil exists as a manifestation of the duality system that set into motion all of the experiences that you would label as "bad." Ultimately, these beings are quite ignorant of their predicament, and they are especially unaware that they serve the Divine Plan by providing the catalyst for the growth and evolution of the soul through choice, or more accurately, the illusion of choice.

This brings us back to the point about what is presently occurring in your reality. The intensity of the Divine Forces activity as expressed through the solar activity, certain astrological influences, and the earth ascension process upon your world are bringing things to a critical mass. The Earth now exists in a blend of third and fourth dimensional levels at the same time, and as a result the unmanifested Apocalypse scenarios are beginning to out-picture in your reality, along with all types of separation thoughtforms and ancient unresolved memories. Some of the beings on your planet are actively encouraging the manifestation of these dramas, but do not understand the true nature of the Divine Plan at this point.

As more and more Light is being emitted by you, and as more Light is introduced into the matrix, the more agitated and active these energies of separation become. They detest Light because it is painful, and they will do whatever is necessary to hold the polarity in their favor. Now, this seems to set up a paradox that apparently has no resolution. It is temporary situation. The polarity CAN exist in peace and harmony. That is what you are being asked to do!

Because of the current energetics, we recommend that you be a bit more fastidious about your personal spiritual hygiene. Grid your living space and keep your energy fields clear by whatever means you are attracted to, and do it on a regular basis. Space-clearing using high vibrational sprays or incense are beneficial. Take more Epsom salt or sea salt baths. Wear or carry stones that reflect energy, such as black tourmaline. Most of all, hold a consciousness that loves all parts of oneself, does not judge or condemn anyone, and be aware of when you feel uncomfortable or agitated around certain beings. Shine your light in unconditional love and just move on! Just refuse to engage with anything or anyone that does not feel good to you, but judge it not! Actively request Archangels Michael and Raphael to assist in stabilizing those that seem challenged mentally and emotionally, and to protect those who are struggling to complete their soul's mission in this incarnation. Come together in groups and consciously create vortexes of light around trouble spots on your planet, so that the thoughtform transmutations may be facilitated.

Please also remember that the force of Love is the ultimate power in all situations, and when you call on Love to illuminate the shadow, then it is like Love calling parts of itself home. Likewise, all beings, no matter what their beliefs or orientation, are your spiritual brothers and sisters. Avoid labels or power struggles. Allow everyone to choose what is best for themselves, and follow your own spirit. You no longer need to box with your shadow, or with any shadow. Your shadow and the world shadow will eventually melt into the Light of your understanding and compassion, reabsorbed into the light of a higher knowing. Walk in peace and confidence, or as the Christ instructed, be as innocent as lambs and as wise as serpents.

This phase of merging shall be more stable and reach a completion about mid-July. Others will follow and as the frequency of Light increases, so shall the resistance. Stand firm therefore, and KNOW that you have all that is required to BE the balance. You are the Light of the World, and we are ONE! We are complete.

From the Source and in service to the Source,

I Am Ariel.

End of Transmission

Note: This material is All Rights Reserved Spiritlife 2001. Interested parties may freely distribute via the Internet for private use only. Permission for any other use (reprints and publications) must be obtained from Isaac George. Cassette recordings of the transmissions are available. Please email or call for more information on available topics and how to place your order.


Isaac is a channel for Archangel Ariel and the Ascended Masters
800-891-8044 or 541-683-3692
Email: archariel@hotmail.com




5.

THIS IS A VERY POSITIVE NEW TREND - DEFINITELY THE ENVIRONMENTALLY-SUSTAINABLE THING TO DO!

Date: Sat, 05 May 2001
From: Chere Rae <heartvisions@earthlink.net>
Subject: Grass Is Gone on Other Side of These Fences

Greetings Jean, this just made me feel good and I hope it does the same with your readers if you choose to send it. Great step in the light direction don't you think?

Health and Wellness,
Chere Rae

---

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/05/national/05LAWN.html

Larry Davis for The New York Times

Barbara Porter in her new, virtually grass-free yard in Seattle. ``When I'm done, there won't be a single blade left,'' she said.

SEATTLE, May 4 - Barbara Porter was the first to cross the line, and it was very much a premeditated act. She had reached her limit with the mowing, the mulching, the weeding, the watering, the fertilizing, the thatching, the whole range of green lawn pathologies. Finally, she took hoe to turf, hacking away ˜ and it felt good.

Four of her neighbors on the same street of this stately old community in Seattle's Mount Baker neighborhood have since gone down the same route, tearing up their lawns and replacing them with a variety of creative flora. A few miles away, another homeowner is growing fava beans in place of her grass, requiring only a good Chianti as she cannibalizes her front yard.

Prompted by water restrictions and fed up with the demands of keeping a rectangle in crew cut, perpetual green, even some homeowners in famously rainy parts of the country are giving up on the traditional lawn.

Though landscape architects have sneered at lawns for years, and many people in arid areas long ago threw in the sprinkler, the movement is clearly taking on momentum ˜ no easy feat in a country that still has enough domestic sod to cover the state of Pennsylvania.

"Americans are tinkerers at heart, and we have found out that there is so much more we can do with our yards than just pour water and fertilizer over grass," said Dr. Gordon T. Geballe, associate dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Science at Yale, and the co- author of a book on redesigning lawns.

Beyond the new lawn tinkerers, many cities and towns are now encouraging people to lose the Kentucky bluegrass, offering cash rebates to people who replace their lawns with rock gardens, perennial beds, a tangle of ivy, cactuses or other kinds of less water-gluttonous plantings. Researchers at the National Gardening Association, a nonprofit group, say as much as 10 percent of all yards may be dominated by something other than grass.

People are returning long-banished native plants to their yards ˜ not only cactuses and yuccas in the arid West, but also buffalo grass on the high plains and live oak and buttonwood in Florida, where a drought is in its fourth year.

In Atlanta, where home lawn demands have drained water resources in a city struggling with drought, more than 900 people in the last few years have ripped up their lawns and replaced them with backyard wildlife patches certified by the National Wildlife Federation.

And in Sharon, Mass., a city of 17,000 that is dependent on water from six wells for its dwindling water supply, officials are trying to encourage people to reduce their dependence on turf.

"Unless you own your own baseball field, you don't need two acres of green grass under your feet," said David Masciarelli, the superintendent of the Sharon water district.

Still, it requires overcoming huge psychological barriers for homeowners to dig up their turf and park the lawnmower. But once the deed has been done, people say a liberating feeling takes hold.

"I'm just now finishing off the last of the grass, and when I'm done, there won't be a single blade left," Ms. Porter said as she showed off various vines, ground covers, perennials, patterned stones, even a curious-looking blue-flowering plant.

"That is a weed," Ms. Porter said, smiling as she pointed to the blue-flowering spread. "But it's a perfectly fine weed."

Her new yard makes officials in this garden-crazed city happy because Seattle is in the midst of a drought that may force water restrictions this summer.

The most popular offering this spring by Seattle Tilth, an organic gardening society, is a class on how to rip up the yard. Former green- grass enthusiasts gather like addicts in a 12-step program to share advice on how to be lawn-free.

"I grow potatoes where the sod used to be, and people just love it," said Pamela Burton, executive director of Seattle Tilth. "Of course, there is always that one person who has to have a perfect green lawn, but I think there's something in our DNA about that."

American lawn lineage goes back to England, where the wet climate and temperate weather are ideal for growing grasses. In the United States, home lawn obsession has generally been traced to envy over the carpets of green laid in parks and planned communities designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the premier American landscape architect of the 19th century.

But much of the turf grass grown in the United States is not native, and requires a lot of water, chemical herbicide and fertilizer to keep up its appearance. The average lawn will use up to 10,000 gallons of water over a summer, according to city water departments. And the National Wildlife Federation says the average suburban lawn takes in 10 times the pesticides as an acre of farmland.

Companies dedicated to growing, fertilizing and mowing grass are not taking this nascent antilawn movement lying down.

"The lawn is starting to get a bad rap," said Kerry Bierman, a spokesman for Scotts Company, the world's largest seller of lawn and garden products. "But I don't think you have to apologize for a good-looking yard. The lawn is a friend."

Grass takes heat out of cities, releases oxygen, and provides a holding buffer for water that otherwise might run into sewers, Mr. Bierman said. "It may be a feel-good thing to get rid of your lawn, but it doesn't always save water," he said.

Mr. Bierman could be in for a prolonged battle. High-end gardening magazines like HG have been running detailed features on how to grow an environmentally correct patch of the original American prairie, or return moss to a shaded area. Moss and prairie grass, of course, have long been the nemesis of the perfect lawn movement.

Many cities, reluctant to build new irrigation systems or mine deep aquifers for new water, are simply trying to get people to change their gardening aesthetics. In Glendale, Ariz., for example, homeowners can receive a $100 rebate for converting 50 percent or more of their grass to lower-water-use shrubs or plants.

In Southern California, where the lawn has been under assault for some time, the Metropolitan Water District, which serves 17 million households and uses up to half its water on home irrigation, is studying similar cash-for-grass programs.

In Denver, the term "xeriscape" was coined to promote a seven-step program to get people to use plants that conserve water. The word, based on the Greek word for "dry," has now been evoked in numerous ordinances around the country. City officials say about 25 percent of all homeowners served by the Denver water department have converted some or all of their lawns into yards more adaptive to the arid, high-elevation climate near the Rocky Mountain Front Range.

Federal officials are looking to see how much water can be saved by replacing grass with other species. Preliminary results, from Las Vegas, showed that a city could save 40 percent of its water by taking the new landscaping approach.

In some communities, the desire to save water runs into strict covenants that require homeowners to keep green, perfectly mowed grass of a certain species.

Sara Romeo, a state legislator from Tampa, lives in a private community in a part of Florida that is under tight water restrictions, making it impossible to water her lawn more than one day a week. But Ms. Romeo has been cited by the homeowners association for not keeping her grass the water-consuming St. Augustine species in the green.

As a result, she has introduced a bill in the Florida Legislature ˜ which is given a good chance of passing to allow people in deed-restricted communities to grow something other than St. Augustine grass.

"It's crazy," Ms. Romeo said. "We live in a state with a terrible drought, and half the water is going to landscaping."

Others share her frustration.

"We created the lawn industrial complex, giving half our drinking water over to keeping the grass green at all times," said Jim Knopf, a Colorado landscape designer and author of two books on new-style yards. "But a lot of people are now looking for alternatives, and once you convince them they can have something that looks good, doesn't cost as much and requires less work, they will abandon the old-style lawn."




6.

From: "Boudewijn Wegerif" <bw@jak.se>
Subject: Boycott Israel Campaign -- "Lets go for this one", words from a friend
Date: Sat, 5 May 2001

Dear friends,

Last night I went to http://www.matzpun.com to see how the list of supporters for the Boycott Israel Campaign -- BIC -- might be growing.

"I see you joined the supporters list for the Boycott Israel Campaign. Good on you," I wrote to friends. "We must do what we can."

Now I want to share this reply from Paul H.... This is important.

"Yes I sent it to all my network and to ICA* supermarket - I suggest that no one shops at any supermarkets that stock Israeli products and advise every Supermarket buyer in Europe. Then I was thinking of emailing the BBC business programme.

"Yes this boycott is an important one - I have 3 friends who are directors of Global aid in USA one in the State Department who say Israel is a nightmare waiting to happen - even before Sharon - their intransigence over water right negotiations was appalling. Unfortunately my take on it includes most of the old Knesset being victims of the Holocaust so there is a lot of distorted thinking there - the normal projections onto others is to inflict suffering as we have suffered - the Palestinians do play in to this role rather well unfortunately - there is never a pure lily white victim as they have also been at the hands of tyrants.

"Yes lets go for this one. The world can change and has changed from such actions - in my view - consumers taking their responsibility is the real key - I know none of my friends will be buying Israeli products no matter whether they sign the list or not."

We are always saying about the reality ills, "But what can we do?" Well, boycott Israeli goods and services is one thing we can do, for integrity's sake. Active engagement is not, for me, a question of effectiveness, though that comes into it. Much more deeply, it is a question of creative, nonviolent, putting oneself on the line response.

In friendship,

Boudewijn
* ICA is a major consumer chair store in Sweden.

---

Note from Jean: I also received an email from David Crockett Williams who is planning A Peace Walk from Bethlehem to Jerusalem next December 25, 2001 to deliver a "Message of Peace" to the Peace Council in Jerusalem, David is seeking messages/letters/proclamations of support for this project which will be posted at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jerusalem-peace-council and he requests that a signed hardcopy (on letterhead if available) be also mailed to the Jerusalem Peace Walk and Council, PO Box 147, Tehachapi, CA 93581, USA. Contact David at gear2000@lightspeed.net for more details.


See also:

In Israel, Panel Urges Settlement Freeze and an End to Terror
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/06/world/06MIDE.html







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