Unfriendly encounter during an otherwise peaceful and loving demonstration.

STOP THE WAR COALITION
NEWSLETTER No. 1021
05 October 2007
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
T: 020 7278 6694
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) BANNED MARCH IS LEGAL SAYS LIBERTY
   WE WILL MARCH MONDAY 8 OCTOBER
   ALL TROOPS OUT NOW: NOT ONE MORE DEATH
2) HELP STEWARD OCTOBER 8 DEMONSTRATION
3) NEW BOOK: WAR WITH NO END

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1) BANNED MARCH IS LEGAL SAYS LIBERTY
   WE WILL MARCH MONDAY 8 OCTOBER
   ALL TROOPS OUT NOW: NOT ONE MORE DEATH
We will be marching to Parliament on Monday 8 October, despite
the government insisting that our protest is banned. Human rights
group Liberty says our march is legal and we will be exercising
our democratic right to protest peacefully on the day Gordon
Brown makes his long awaited speech on Iraq to the House of
Commons.

Stop the War has been flooded with messages of support and a
commitment to join our protest, including from Shami Chakrabarti
(Liberty), Tony Benn, Walter Wolfgang (Labour Party NEC, Bob
Wareing MP, musician Brian Eno, comedian Mark Thomas, author Iain
Banks, poet Benjamin Zephaniah and playwright David Edgar (SEE
QUOTES BELOW).

We urge everyone who has opposed the British government's support
for George Bush's war, and who agrees that our right to peaceful
protest must be defended, to join us on Monday

ASSEMBLE 1PM TRAFALGAR SQUARE FOR RALLY
(Speakers include Tony Benn, , Brian Eno, Mark Thomas, Walter
Wolfgang, George Galloway and Ben Griffin (ex SAS trooper)
MARCH TO PARLIAMENT

WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN US:

In the run up to this much anticipated general election, the
leaders of each major political party have claimed to champion
our civil liberties. No doubt they will now unite to ensure that
this peaceful demonstration takes place.
SHAMI CHAKRABARTI, Director of Liberty

The authority for this march derives from our ancient right to
free speech and assembly enshrined in our history. It is only
fair to tell you that the march will go ahead, in any case, and I
will be among those marching.
TONY BENN, in letter to the Home Secretary

A protest demanding all the troops out now is of national
significance. To try and stop that protest is a major
interference with free speech. The march should go ahead whether
it is formally permitted or not.
WALTER WOLFGANG, Labour Party NEC

The government want to bury the issue of their disastrous war.
They will not succeed. We will be marching in our thousands on
Monday.
LINDSEY GERMAN, Convenor Stop the War Coalition

In a democracy we expect peaceful protest to be permitted. We are
not yet in the kind of tyranny that the Burmese people have to
suffer, I hope the authorities will reconsider.
BOB WAREING MP

Gordon Brown cannot praise protesters in Burma and then ban a
protest in London. I will be protesting on Monday, regardless of
whether Police permission is granted.
BEN GRIFFIN (ex SAS trooper)

If people aren't allowed to have their say on all our streets,
what kind of Parliament are we meant to be defending?
MICHAEL KUSTOW, theatre director

This is rather a ham-fisted attempt to prevent us from
demonstrating. What the government and police do is up to them.
We will just ignore them and we have the moral and logical
high-ground. I will be marching on Monday 8 October.
MARK THOMAS, comedian

It's becoming remarkably hard to escape the feeling we're ruled
by people who are basically paranoid authoritarian incompetents.
IAIN BANKS, author

It is depressing that our democratic rights are being whittled
away bit by bit. We will look back and wonder how this happened.
They wouldn't get away with this in one go. First an arrest for
reading names, then a ban on marches. What will be next?
BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH, poet

The stop the war demonstration on 15 February 2003 was arguably
the most politically influential march in Britain since the
1970s, so it's no surprise that politicians are immobilising
anti-war demonstrations now. At a time when the political debate
at Westminster occupies ever narrower ground, it's vital that
voices from outside are heard.
DAVID EDGAR, playwright

************************************
2 HELP STEWARD OCTOBER 8 DEMONSTRATION
If you would like to help steward our Troops Out Now
demonstration on Monday 8 October, please come to the stewards
meeting at 12 noon in Trafalgar Square.

A sweet victory (of sorts)

Glitterati at Leviev’s New York Gala Stunned by Palestinian Rights Protest

Leviev’s diamonds fund repression in Angola, and violations of international law in Palestine.

11.14.2007 | NYC Indymedia (UK)
By Adalah-NY
Email Contact: justiceme@gmail.com

Over 100 well-dressed, well-heeled New Yorkers attending the invitation-only opening of diamond mogul Lev Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store this evening appeared stunned and aghast to find their evening derailed by a noisy protest against Leviev’s construction of illegal West Bank settlements. Gala attendees set down their champagne glasses and gathered by windows to view the signs and Palestinian flags, and hear protesters’ chants.











Over 100 well-dressed, well-heeled New Yorkers attending the invitation-only opening of diamond mogul Lev Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store this evening appeared stunned and aghast to find their evening derailed by a noisy protest against Leviev’s construction of illegal West Bank settlements. Gala attendees set down their champagne glasses and gathered by windows to view the signs and Palestinian flags, and hear protesters’ chants.

30 New York City human rights activists chanted, “You’re glitz, you’re glam, you're stealing Palestinian land.”, and “All your diamonds cannot hide, your support for Apartheid.” Protesters called on New York City’s upscale residents to boycott Leviev’s diamonds. Disconcerted attendees hastily exited to their limousines to loud chants of, “Occupation is a drag, just say no to your gift bag.”

Lev Leviev is one of Israel’s richest men. He built his enormous fortune trading in diamonds with Apartheid-era South Africa. His company now buys diamonds from the repressive Angolan government. Leviev uses profits from diamond sales to fuel the conflict in Palestine and Israel by funding the construction of suburban developments for Israeli settlers on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, undermining the prospects for Middle East peace, and threatening farmers' ability to survive and remain in their homes. Leviev’s diamonds are “conflict diamonds” in a broad sense of the term, funding repression in Angola and violations of international law in Palestine.

Leviev and his former US partner Shaya Boymlegreen have also angered New Yorkers with their abusive local developments schemes. Leviev has invested $1 billion in real estate in New York City over the last year. In New York City, Leviev and Boymelgreen have employed underpaid, non-union workers in hazardous conditions and violated housing codes to construct luxury apartments that displace low-income and moderate-income residents in Brooklyn, provoking local branches of the Laborer's International Union and ACORN to launch a campaign against these abuses (www.shayaiscoming.org). Brooklynites remain concerned that Leviev and Boymelgreen are key developers in the planned Gowanus Village project.

Leviev’s real estate empire in Israel is building homes for Israelis in the West Bank settlements of Mattityahu East and Zufim, according to Gadi Algazi in the August, 2006 Le Monde Diplomatique, and in Maale Adumim and Har Homa, according to The Jerusalem Post. He has also built homes in the settlement of Ariel. All the settlements in which Leviev has built homes seize vital Palestinian water and agricultural resources and carve the West Bank into disconnected Bantustans, destroying hopes for a viable Palestinian state. All Israeli settlements built in the Occupied Palestinian Territories violate international law.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth also reported on January 28, 2004 that Leviev is a primary donor to the Israeli organization the Land Redemption Fund, which allegedly uses fraud and intimidation to extort land from Palestinian farmers for Israeli settlement. While Leviev donates to UNICEF and OXFAM, 50% of families in the farming village of Jayyous are now on food aid, according to the Financial Times, because they are being choked by Leviev’s expansion of the all-Jewish settlement of Zufim. Leveiv and Boymlegreen are building the settlement of Mattityahu East on the village of Bil’in’s land. Bil’in has earned international acclaim for its three year campaign of nonviolent protest against the construction of settlements and Israel’s wall on their farmland.

"Leviev's new Manhattan store hides the devastating use of its owner's fortune underneath shimmering facets of polished diamonds. As long as Lev Leviev violates international law by building settlements in the West Bank and attacks New York's communities with invasive luxury development, there can be no business as usual for him," said Daniel Lang/Levitsky of Jews Against the Occupation/NYC. Adalah-NY will hold a second protest at Leviev’s 700 Madison Avenue jewelry store on Tuesday November 20 from 4:30 – 6:00 PM.

For more info: Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East: www.mideastjustice.org

By Adalah-NY
justiceme@gmail.com