Please add my signatory too - thank you
Christine Ward
Clinical and Community Psychologist
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Burton <[log in to unmask]>
To: COMMUNITYPSYCHUK <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 9:25
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Gaza Statement: proposed text
Thanks to all the positive responses so far. That's hugely encouraging.
To sign, just confirm by return email, to me today, or to whoever
volunteers to complete the process (see my email below, line 5)
tomorrow!
Carl, thanks for your suggestion of a formal approach to the BPS
section ctee. - Yes please do.
Finally, UNWRHA mentioned 64,000 children in conditions of severe psych
trauma on R4 this morning. I'll check the figure and add that in.
Mark
From: Mark Burton
Scholar-Activist.
Visiting Professor, Manchester Metropolitan University
37 Chandos Rd South Chorlton Manchester M21 0TH, UK
Telephones:
+44 (0)161 881 6887 landline
+44 (0)777 594 9479 mobile
skype name: markburton52
http://steadystatemanchester.net Steady State Manchester
http://libpsy.org Liberation Psychology Network
http://www.compsy.org.uk Community Psychology UK
http://uncommontater.net personal blog including information on my
publications
http://houghendhall.org Friends of Hough End Hall
-----Original Message-----
From: Helen Beckwith <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 9:12 AM
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Gaza Statement: proposed text
Hi Mark.
Reads well - thank you. Please add my name to the list.
Helen Beckwith
From: Mark Burton
Sent: Thursday, 17 July 2014 01:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Reply To: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
Subject: Gaza Statement: proposed text
Here is a draft text for this statement. I think this would work
better on an opt-in basis with a minimum of 12 signatures before it is
sent. It would not come from an official organisation, either the
network of the BPS section since this will take too long to get some
kind of representative agreement from members.
I propose that we use Thursday 18th for amendments - these can be
suggested via this email list by 21.00hrs.
Then we have Friday to get signatures with a view to sending it out by
21.00 Friday.
I am happy to handle the first part of the process but will be away
from Friday p.m so suggest someone else puts the signatory list
together.
Finally I have drafted it rather like a press release. I sugest it is
sent to the 4 "quality dailies" and the Morning Star, is posted on the
CPUK libpsy.org and other websites and circulated via our networks.
And we must send it to the main organisations concerned with
palestinian solidarity MAP and PSC as a minimum and those contacts we
have in Palestine.
Mark Burton
Statement of support and solidarity with the people of Gaza, July, 2014.
As Community Psychologists in the UK weagain extend our support for and
solidarity to the people of Gaza. We are calling upon the British
government and the British people to take all feasible steps, beginning
with immediate boycotts, divestments and sanctions against the state of
Israel, to oblige Israel's political administration to: abide by
international law; dismantle its apartheid regime spanning both the
occupied territories and Israel; immediately and unconditionally end
its assault on and seige of Gaza; end the occupation of the West
Bankand East Jerusalem, including its illegal settlements; abandon all
claims to possess or control territory beyond its 1967 borders; and
commit to pursuing a long-lasting, just peace.
We condemn all attacks on civilians, including the rocket retaliation
from Gaza,noting that combatants have an obligation to protect
civilians under international law. However we draw attention to the
disproportionality of Israel's attacks on Gaza, which includes the
indiscriminate killing of men, women and children by the armed forces
of a supposedly democratic State whose citizens they still are (since
only limited autonomy has been granted to the Palestine Authority).We
are concerned by reports from doctors that DIME munitions areagain in
use which cause extremely destructive damageto the bodies of those near
the blast. The Israelimilitary deliberately targets hospitals, civilian
shelters and prevents medical aid reaching the injured and medical
supplies and equipment from entering the Gaza Strip and destroys Gaza's
infrastructure of roads, water supplies, sanitation, food production,
food distribution, food security, electricity, social services,
education services, health services, law and order, housing,
environmental services, and broader social support structures.We
particularly note that during armed conflict, international
humanitarian lawrequires that health care facilities, ambulances,
medical personnel and the wounded and sick are all afforded specific
protection.
As psychologists we also draw attention to the impact of this and other
attacks on Palestinians on the psychological and social health and
well-being of all sections of the population, particularly children,
the elderly and those with additional vulnerabilities. The extreme
constraints placed on thePalestinian health services, UNWRA and the
various NGOs and civil society organisations can only make this
situation far worse, despite the admirable and inspiring capacity of
the Palestinian people to maintain and celebrate their cultural
traditions.
The massacre of civilians in Gaza is the latest, terrorist phase of a
war that successive governments of Israel (supported by the USA and
Britain) have been waging against the people of Palestine for more than
60 years, since Britain's botched abandonment of its mandate triggered
the Palestinian Nakba of 1948. The goal of this war has never changed:
to use overwhelming military power to eradicate the Palestinians as a
political force capable of resisting Israel's ongoing appropriation of
Palestinian land and resources. CPUK believes that for the sake of
justice and global peace, the Israeli State must not be allowed to
achieve this. Our belief in the right of the Palestinians to democratic
self-determination, and to resist military aggression and colonial
occupationmeans we stand with the people of Palestine, whether in Gaza,
the West Bank, occupied Jerusalem or the (pre-1967) boundaries of the
State of Israel in their struggle against that racist, colonial State
and its government.
Additional notes
The blockade means asevere shortage of medicines and other vital
supplies.Before the current attack the Gaza health services were
alreadysuffering from an acute shortage of fuel and supplies, with 54
percent of medical disposables and 28 percent of essential drugs at
zero stock. Now some hospitals are reporting that they do not have
sutures, materials to treat bone injuries, or enough reactive agents to
perform routine blood tests. On 15 July 41 organizations warned of an
extremely severe Palestinian health sector crisis, with, in Gaza's
hospitals the cessation ofmost primaryservices andwomen's health
services.
80% of Gaza's population are refugees or their descendants.
The Gaza population of 1.7 Million is confined in a small area,no
bigger than the Isle of Wight. There is no escape from the missiles and
naval bombardment, nor the frequent army incursions. There is clear
evidence(for example BBC Radio 4 reports, 17 July)that Israel's claim
to warn civilians of missile attacks is meaningless. Unlike Israel, the
Palestinians do not have air raid shelters.
Primary Source: Medical Aid for
Palestinianshttp://www.map-uk.org/news/41-organizations-warn-of-palestini
an-health-sector-crisis.aspx
Signatories
--
From: Mark Burton
Scholar-Activist.
Visiting Professor, Manchester Metropolitan University
37 Chandos Rd South
Chorlton
Manchester
M21 0TH; UK
Telephones:
+44 (0)161 881 6887 landline
+44 (0)777 594 9479 mobile
skype name: markburton52
http://steadystatemanchester.netSteady State Manchester
http://libpsy.org Liberation Psychology Network
http://www.compsy.org.uk Community Psychology UK
http://uncommontater.net personal blogincluding information on my
publications.
___________________________________ There is a twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK (to post contact Grant
[log in to unmask] To unsubscribe or to change your details on
this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the
website:http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK
E-Mail scanned for viruses by The Co-operative Phone & Broadband.
___________________________________There is a twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK (to post contact Grant
[log in to unmask] unsubscribe or to change your details on this
COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the
website:http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK___
________________________________There is a twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK (to post contact Grant
[log in to unmask] unsubscribe or to change your details on this
COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the
website:http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK
___________________________________
There is a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK (to post contact Grant [log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe or to change your details on this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the website:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK
|
