Video from delivery of 400 photos of Gazan children to MN Trade Office 2/09

Where: Leaving from the State Capitol steps in Saint Paul and marching to the Minnesota Trade Office (32 Minnesota Street, St. Paul)

Early Monday morning, The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was raided by Israeli military commandos in international waters who fired live ammunition on the civilian passengers, killing at least 9 people and wounding scores more. The flotilla was a humanitarian aid convoy of 6 ships en route to the Gaza strip carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including food, medical supplies, construction materials. On board were more than 600 passengers from over 40 countries including activists, parliamentarians, journalists, and doctors. The flotilla’s stated purpose was to break the inhumane Israeli blockade of Gaza’s borders, which has deprived its population of more than 1.5 million of mobility and access to basic needs since 2007. While the violent raid of the Freedom Flotilla in international waters is itself a horrific assault on human life and a repressive act of state violence by Israel, it is but one expression of Israel’s ongoing apartheid program in Palestine.

On Tuesday, Minnesotans entered Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office to demand a political response to both the killings on the flotilla and the inhumane blockade of Gaza. This Friday, we will go to the MN trade office to demand an end to local economic relations between Minnesota and the State of Israel as part of a larger project of relinquishing all US financial sponsorship of the Israeli war economy. The Minnesota Trade Office facilitates the relationship between Minnesota-based corporations and the State of Israel. In 2008, Minnesota companies made over $10 million on goods exported to Israel. The blockade of Gaza and the occupation of Palestine cannot be sustained without the military and financial support of the United States. This year alone the US will give a total of $2.8 billion to the state of Israel. The US also supports the occupation of Palestine through military aid in the form of technology, training, and weapons. In Minnesota, companies with Israeli contracts directly profit from the systematic violent assault on Palestinian life in the occupied territories.

Join us Friday to show that we will NOT tolerate the murder of activists and the undue persecution of Gazans. March on the Trade Office and demand NO MORE TRADE! TAKE DOWN THE BLOCKADE!

Media coverage of Tuesday’s action at Amy Klobuchar’s office here.

Media coverage of Tuesday’s protest in Duluth here.

Updates on the imprisoned flotilla activists and resistance to the blockade around the world here.

6/4/10: Autopsies reveal 9 men on Gaza aid boat shot, 5 in head

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) — Autopsy results by forensics experts in Istanbul revealed that all nine of the men killed by Israeli commandoes aboard the humanitarian convoy that had planned to dock in Gaza died of gunshot wounds.The autopsy results give clues about how the violence unfolded after Israeli commandoes stormed the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in the pre-dawn hours on Monday. Five of the men died with bullet wounds to the head, said Dr. Haluk Ince, the director of Istanbul’s Medical Examination Institute, said Friday.
One casualty, a 19-year-old dual national Turkish-American citizen named Furkan Dogan, was found to have bullet wounds in his head and multiple bullets in his body, Ince said…(read more)

6/4/10: Interview with Al Jazeera’s Jamal ElShayyal: One of the passengers on the Mavi Marmara

6/3/10: Sabotage on the High Seas

On Tuesday, Colonel Itzik Tourgeman told the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that two more ships are on their way to try and break the naval blockade of Gaza. The head of research in the operations division said, “The ships have not reached their target as of today because covert action was taken against them”…(read more)

6/3/10: Turkey Buries Its Gaza Flotilla Dead

Emotions are running high in Turkey at funerals for nine activists, all Turkish or of Turkish origin, killed in Israel’s raid on the Gaza aid flotilla. The bodies were flown from Israel to Istanbul, along with more than 450 activists, to a heroes’ welcome. Israel has said there is no need for an international inquiry into the incident, insisting its own will meet the “highest international standards”…(read more)

6/2/10: MV Rachel Corrie Continues En Route to Gaza

Yesterday’s Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in which up to 19 human rights activists were murdered in international waters has not deterred the Irish cargo ship the MV Rachel Corrie which is currently en route to Gaza and hopes to arrive this Saturday. Meanwhile the fall-out from the attack has pressured Egypt into opening the Rafah Crossing…(read more)

6/2/10: Gaza Flotilla Activists Resist Deportation Until All Are Released
At least 37 British citizens currently held by Israel are resisting attempts to deport them until all flotilla prisoners are released at the same time. Israeli spokespeople have said all foreign activists will be deported by the end of the day. However four Palestinian citizens of Israel among the activists have been remanded and face criminal charges. Free Gaza Movement activists say they will non-violently resist any attempts to deport them until all prisoners are released together…(read more)

Thursday, February 11th at 4pmLeaving from in front of the Central Library in Downtown MinneapolisMarching through the streets and skyways

Press Release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Minneapolis, MN February 9, 2010—Direct Action to Stop War & Occupation (DASWO), a local anti-war organization, has called for a march in response to growing U.S. involvement in Pakistan and Yemen. The march will leave from outside the Minneapolis Central Library at 4 pm on Thursday, February 11^th with the intention of disrupting business in the streets and skyways of downtown Minneapolis.  The organization calling for the march is not cooperating with police in any way and has not requested permits for the march.

For the past two years, the United States has been providing military and financial support to the Pakistani government in order to facilitate the expansion of the war in Afghanistan into neighboring Pakistan. The U.S. is maintaining a presence of roughly 200 active military service members and is providing the Pakistani military with fighter jets, helicopters, and other military equipment and weapons. The U.S. is also involved in training a Pakistani paramilitary organization known as Frontier Corps. The U.S. military has carried out over a dozen acknowledged aerial drone strikes within Pakistan in 2010 alone. For every al-Qaeda member killed in a drone strike, an estimated 140 civilians are killed, and over a thousand civilians have been killed since the U.S. began drone strikes.  American defense contractors including Blackwater and DynCorp are maintaining an active armed presence in the region and are training Pakistani forces and arming U.S. drones.

Since mid-2008, the United States has expanded its defense-related spending to support military violence in Yemen. The U.S. has nearly doubled its military spending in Yemen and plans to spend $70 million in the next 18 months to train and equip the Yemeni army and other state military groups. Although officials in the U.S. have been largely silent concerning our military activity in the country, they have admitted that US has been providing intelligence and fire-power to support the Yemeni government in strikes against militants. There have also been reports of the U.S. carrying out bombings in the region.

In their announcement for Thursday’s march, DASWO called for participants to “disrupt business as usual” in response to “the expansion of U.S. military violence into Yemen and Pakistan.” A member of DASWO stated, “We are calling for this unpermitted march in order to force public attention onto this expansion of U.S. war and occupation. The American government is spending millions of dollars and  providing weapons, training, and troops to Yemen and Pakistan without public debate of any kind. It is up to us as residents of this country to take action against this largely unacknowledged expansion of war.”

DASWO called for the unpermitted march last December in response to President Obama’s announcement of the surge of 30,000 new troops in Afghanistan. Several hundred people attended that march. Eleven people took part in civil disobedience during the march and were arrested. The eleven were charged with misdemeanor unlawful assembly. All charges have been continued for dismissal pending the completion of 8 hours community service.

More information about Thursday’s march can be found at daswo.wordpress.com. Join the DASWO twitter by texting “follow DASWO” to 40404.

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Direct Action to Stop War and Occupation is a Twin Cities anti-war and anti-occupation organization.  To contact DASWO, email daswo.tc@gmail.com. Press inquiries should be directed to Nick Huelster (651 260 3988) or Peter Valelly (610 909 4551).

A full report on the march and the sit-in action can be found here: http://twincities.indymedia.org/2009/dec/anti-troop-surge-protest-clears-streets-downtown-minneapolis-push-withdrawl-occupied-afghan

Another unpermitted march has been called by Direct Action to Stop War & Occupation in response to the expansion of US military violence into Yemen and Pakistan. The march will take place on Thursday, February 11th, leaving from the central library in downtown MInneapolis at 4pm and disrupting business as usual in the streets and skyways. For more information and to get twitter updates, text “follow DASWO” to 40404.

Meet in front of the Central Library in Downtown Minneapolis at 4pm on Thursday, February 11th for an unpermitted march. No more business, no more war.

More updates coming soon…

Legal update: In total, 11 were arrested and charged with Misdemeanor Unlawful Assembly. 9 of those 11 were released late last night on $50 bail and the other two stayed the night and were released around noon today after going before a judge without paying bail. Their next court appearance is scheduled for mid-December.

Stay tuned for more organizing and legal updates as we have them. No more troops, no more war.

-Direct Action to Stop War & Occupation (DASWO)

www.daswo.wordpress.com

daswo.tc@gmail.com